CHINA, SOCIETY: Eighty-two Marrying Twenty-eight, a problem?
By Amelia Liu
82-year-old professor Yang Zhenning, the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize, recently announced his engagement to marry a 28-year-old graduate student. The young lady, Ms. Weng Fan, is pursuing her master's degree in a university in Guang Dong province. The couple intends to marry in January next year. Talking about his fiancée, Yang referred to her as, "the last gift that God sent to me," and said she gave him, an aged man, the pleasure of regaining his youth.
The coming marriage is the source of much debate in society. Most relatives and friends of Professor Yang and Weng applaud their engagement. They consider it understandable and congratulate them. Others argue that it is totally unbelievable: How can two people with an age gap of 54 years live happily ever after? They will face so many problems, both physically and mentally.
The first reaction of one of my teachers when informed of the news is interesting. Apparently viewing it in the light of their physical gap, he couldn’t help blurting out: "Goddamn! Love? How's he going to satisfy her?"
Regardless of that aspect of marriage, however, many people think the couple will have an inevitable difference of worldviews due to their age gap. Though they are happy together now, they might find more and more differences as well as difficulties between them as time goes on. For these and similar reasons people are expressing deep reservations about the marriage.
Personally speaking, I don’t expect too much of it, either. Besides the reasons listed above, I also wonder about the motivation of Miss Weng’s engagement with professor Yang. Did she mean it when she said: "Youth has nothing to do with ages, but spirits. It is because of his spirit that I think he is attractive." Though maybe not speaking it publicly, many people are connecting her engagement with professor Yang's social status, reputation and wealth.
Are they more "attractive" to Miss Weng? We don't know. Of course, Miss Weng won't tell us. Even the reason why she loves professor Yang is a secret to journalists. She refuses to accept any interviews. The love between Yang and Weng is of such public interest that Weng is in the media spotlight, catching the attention of more and more journalists.
I don't know whether she likes all of the attention or not, but I should say, unfortunately, so far it has not been a good thing for her. Just a few hours ago I saw a rumor on the Internet that she had been in love with another guy while having a romantic relationship with professor Yang. How will she react to this? Moreover, how will he react to this? It seems that their marriage may not be as peaceful as they wish.
Anyhow, as an unrelated outsider, I simply wish them good luck.
82-year-old professor Yang Zhenning, the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize, recently announced his engagement to marry a 28-year-old graduate student. The young lady, Ms. Weng Fan, is pursuing her master's degree in a university in Guang Dong province. The couple intends to marry in January next year. Talking about his fiancée, Yang referred to her as, "the last gift that God sent to me," and said she gave him, an aged man, the pleasure of regaining his youth.
The coming marriage is the source of much debate in society. Most relatives and friends of Professor Yang and Weng applaud their engagement. They consider it understandable and congratulate them. Others argue that it is totally unbelievable: How can two people with an age gap of 54 years live happily ever after? They will face so many problems, both physically and mentally.
The first reaction of one of my teachers when informed of the news is interesting. Apparently viewing it in the light of their physical gap, he couldn’t help blurting out: "Goddamn! Love? How's he going to satisfy her?"
Regardless of that aspect of marriage, however, many people think the couple will have an inevitable difference of worldviews due to their age gap. Though they are happy together now, they might find more and more differences as well as difficulties between them as time goes on. For these and similar reasons people are expressing deep reservations about the marriage.
Personally speaking, I don’t expect too much of it, either. Besides the reasons listed above, I also wonder about the motivation of Miss Weng’s engagement with professor Yang. Did she mean it when she said: "Youth has nothing to do with ages, but spirits. It is because of his spirit that I think he is attractive." Though maybe not speaking it publicly, many people are connecting her engagement with professor Yang's social status, reputation and wealth.
Are they more "attractive" to Miss Weng? We don't know. Of course, Miss Weng won't tell us. Even the reason why she loves professor Yang is a secret to journalists. She refuses to accept any interviews. The love between Yang and Weng is of such public interest that Weng is in the media spotlight, catching the attention of more and more journalists.
I don't know whether she likes all of the attention or not, but I should say, unfortunately, so far it has not been a good thing for her. Just a few hours ago I saw a rumor on the Internet that she had been in love with another guy while having a romantic relationship with professor Yang. How will she react to this? Moreover, how will he react to this? It seems that their marriage may not be as peaceful as they wish.
Anyhow, as an unrelated outsider, I simply wish them good luck.
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