China's 'hot mum' web craze

The hot mum contest triggered some unexpected discussion though, as some "mothers" uploaded photos claiming they were born in the late 1990s. Since the legal age of marriage in China is 20 for females, this would mean that those young "mothers" gave birth at an illegal, premature age. Though some users have already deleted their photos and admitted the photos were in fact taken with their siblings or cousins, others kept their profiles unchanged.

A mother claiming to be born in 1995 posts a picture with her kid. [Photo/Sina Weibo]

The contest also stood in stark contrast to the so-called left-over women or men of China, those singles who are well above the marriage age. As China's younger generations now receive a longer education and face more challenges in their career, their marriage age has gone up significantly. Thus some single netizens jokingly commented that they were "feeling rather pressured" after seeing these hot "mums."