A tragic story from China has gone viral on social media and this has led to a debate about marriage and women’s rights. A 19-year-old woman named Tongtong died by suicide after her family forced her into an engagement with a man she had met only five days earlier.
Tongtong and her mother ran a small clothes shop in their hometown. Her mother wanted her to marry the man because he was financially better and she thought it would make Tongtong’s life easier. Even though Tongtong was reluctant, her mother and a matchmaker convinced her to accept his proposal.
At the engagement ceremony, the man’s family gave Tongtong’s mother a bride price of 270,000 yuan (about Rs 33,40,730). However, Tongtong did not like the man because he was rude and demanding. She tried to break off the engagement, but the matchmaker persuaded her not to because of her mother’s financial situation.
After seventeen days of the engagement, Tongtong made a drastic and huge decision to end her life by jumping into a river near her home. After her death, her fiancé demanded that her mother to return the bride price.
Tongtong’s mother gave him 180,000 yuan but refused to return the full amount because the man had lied about his age. The man’s family continued to demand the money. They blocked her shop with a car and played messages on a loudspeaker, insisting on the return of the bride price.
Meanwhile, Tongtong’s mother, the matchmaker, and the man all blamed each other for her death.
This sad story has made many people angry and has led to discussions about forced marriages and women’s rights in China. One user on Weibo said, “This is such a horror story. The girl is seen as a daughter, a wife-to-be, a good financial resource, but never herself.”
Forced marriages are still common in some parts of China, especially in less developed areas. In cities, unmarried women over 30 are often called as “leftover women” and face pressure from their parents to get married.
-Prisha Jaiswal