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.
