Xinhua Insight: Teen moms in fishing villages expose supervision loopholes

Sixteen-year-old Pan Hong (not her real name) is expecting her second child.

The five-month pregnant teenager spends most of her time watching TV while caring for her two-year-old girl.

"Eating, feeding the baby, watching TV, that's all I do, every day," she says calming her crying baby with one hand while switching TV channels with the other.

Like other teenagers, Pan likes playing with her smartphone, watching Korean TV series, and eating "latiao," a spicy snack favored by kids.

Pan lives in a fishing village on China's island province of Hainan. Her "husband," 17, fishes with his father everyday, while her mother-in-law, 40, stays at home with Pan and the baby.

In China, the legal age of marriage is 20 for a woman and 22 for a man. Yet, teenage parents, like Pan, are not unusual in Lingao County.

According to the county hospital, 20 girls aged under 16 delivered babies from May 2015 to February 2016, equal to two to three teenagers becoming mothers every month. The youngest mother was only 13.

As underage marriage is illegal, there are no official statistics on the true size of the problem.

FRUIT, NOT FORBIDDEN

Pan and the father of her child met at an Internet cafe when she was 13, and soon a relationship developed.

According to Pan, underage sex is "no big deal," as many of her classmates "did it" already. She dropped out high school when she was three month's pregnant.

"I was vomiting every day, I had no idea what was wrong until the doctors told me I was pregnant," she laughed.

Supported by her parents, she moved into her boyfriend's family home and the couple started their "married life," albeit without a legal marriage.

Her father-in-law owns a boat and employs a dozen fishermen. Fishing brings the family almost 10 times the local average per capita income, which is around 8,800 yuan (1,300 U.S. dollars) a year.

"I'm pleased with my life, and I think I am a good mother," she smiled.

According to Chen Jideng, dean of Xinying Township High School, as children are often left at home alone when their parents fish for long hours, underage sex is not rare.

Chen said the school has banned public displays of affection on campus, but, yet, female students like Pan, continue to drop out of school after falling pregnant.

According to Chen, many parents turn a blind eye, and some even expect their children to produce a grandchild as early as possible.

Fishermen in China are aware of the dangers of their profession, and there is a tendency for those in the community to marry and have children young to carry on their family line as a tradition in the country.

"Fishing is seen as a 'big money' job," Chen said, adding that half of the teenagers from the township's villages had left school early.

To "secure" an ideal daughter-in-law, parents are known to wait at the school gate to identify a perfect match for their sons. "If they see a girl they like, they will visit her family to talk about an engagement," said Chen.

"Others will get the best girls if we don't act fast," said one parent waiting outside the school, who only wanted to be identified as Mr. Chen. He said in the eyes of his peers, girls are considered "leftover" if she is not married by the time she is 20.

CALLS FOR GOV'T INTERVENTION

Wang Chenghui, deputy head of Diaolou Township Health Center, said labor at an early age will not only do harm to the young mothers, but also increase the risks to their babies.

Teen mothers are more likely to experience hemorrhaging and a difficult labor, he said.

Population control officials have tried to educate the locals, but to no avail.

"What can we do about it once they are already pregnant?" said an official with the county's population and family planning bureau, who asked not to be named. "All we can do is fine them."

Xinying Township in 2015 generated more than 1.2 million yuan from fines of 210 babies of these teen parents without marriage permit.

The official also noted because these youngsters lacked legal protection of their "marriage," many ended up separating before they had even come of marriage age, resulting in many single parents.

"Some find a new partner, while others just leave for the city and never come back," he said.

Liao Hui, head with Hainan Lawyers' Association, said local-level officials were to blame for the number of underage mothers, and unregistered "marriages."

He called related authorities to improve their education strategies to protect the area's young girls.

"Motherhood is too heavy a burden for such a young shoulder," he said. Endi