Rise in number of urban Chinese tying the knot at young age

BEIJING: Amid unprecedented economic boom, an increasing number of university students in major Chinese cities are choosing to get married soon after graduation.

But divorce rates are also up. According to the Civil Affairs Department of Xuhui District, Shanghai, about 1,221 university graduates aged 22 to 24 applied for marriage registration last year in the district, an increase of 50 per cent since 2005.

Besides Shanghai, the number of young people getting married just after leaving campus have been soaring in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang and some other big cities in China, statistics from civil affairs departments show.

This is a sharp contrast to the 1980s and 1990s when many urban youngsters wait till they became "old" enough - in their 30s or even 40s -- to tie the knot.

Critics have warned that marriages without enough life experience and deep understanding of each other would easily lead to divorce.

Statistics from Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau show that 5,786 pairs, aged below 24, applied for divorce last year. Among them, 970 were married for less than one year and 52 less than one month.

"Marriage without thorough consideration tend to break up easily," an official with Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, Li Ziwei, said.

"Most of newly married young couples were born after the 1980s after China's family planning policy was adopted," Li said.

"They are the only child of their family and usually very self-centered, and they value their personal feelings more than family responsibility."