At a news conference for the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Sunday, Zhang Chunsheng, the official in charge of legal affairs at the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said they had passed an amendment to the family planning law that cancels the special leave for those who marry late.

The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women; those marrying three years or more after these ages were able to enjoy longer leave. As part of the family planning policy, the leave was aimed at encouraging people to marry and raise children later in life, so as to ease the population pressure. However, as China adopts fundamental changes to the family planning policy and is encouraging couples to have two children, the State no longer wants to encourage people to marry later in life.

Zhang also said that the average marriage age for domestic residents is 25, already higher than the previous late marriage standard, which makes the late marriage leave no longer necessary. The amendment to the family planning law will come into effect on Jan 1, 2016.

(China Daily 12/29/2015 page8)