I'm a 36-year-old grandma, people think I set a 'terrible example', but in my hometown this is nothing unusual | The Sun
A 36-YEAR-OLD grandma said people think she sets a "terrible example" but claims in her hometown it's nothing unusual.
Zhang caused a stir online when she posted a video of herself outside a maternity ward in China holding her firstborn grandchild.
"Welcome to the new life," the glam gran captioned the video, which has now received more than 240 million views on Weibo – China's version of Twitter.
The baby belongs to Zhang's eldest son, who is only 18 and cannot legally register his marriage in China because he's too young, according to the South China Morning Post.
On July 13, the 36-year-old from central China posted a follow-up video in which she announced she had become a grandmother.
"I am officially a grandmother now. I was born in the 1980s and have not had the time to be filial to my parents or to perform my motherly duties, and I am now a grandmother," she said.
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"I should be with my seven-year-old son right now helping him get to sleep, but instead I’m taking care of my newborn grandson."
The clip went viral and sparked a heated debate online about getting married and having children at a young age.
One supporter defended Zhang saying that young nan had simply completed her "life tasks" early.
"She is truly a life winner who completed her life tasks ahead of schedule, and she still looks young for a grandmother," they said.
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Others slammed the Chinese gran and blamed her for encouraging people to have kids too young.
One person wrote: "Teenage parents can hardly bear the responsibility of raising a child.
"It is easy to predict that the family will be unable to obtain a proper education, trapping them in a cycle of poverty."
Days later Zhang took to social media saying that becoming a gran in her 30s is "not something to be proud of".
She explained she dropped out of school and left home at a young age to work in big cities where she met and married her husband at 19.
"I had planned to send my son to get a good education, but he ignored our advice and chose another path in life," she said.
She also claims that being a grandma at 36 is "nothing new" in her hometown.
"People who dropped out of school early commonly marry young, but they may not post videos to tell their stories," she explained.
She then apologised for setting a "negative example" for others, adding: "It was my fault that my child was not properly educated, and I’d like to say sorry to you all."
It comes as Rifca Stanescu was crowned the youngest grandmother in the world at age 23.
Stanescu, from Vaslui County, Romania, was just 12 when she had her first child Maria who just gave birth to her own son at 11, according to the World Record Academy.
Meanwhile, Becca Keeley, 21, is believed to be Britain's youngest gran.
The Brit married 56-year-old granddad Mark after they got engaged on holiday in Tenerife and is now a step-gran his seven-month-old granddaughter Mollie.
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The couple met at a rock concert when singer Mark was performing with his band when Becca was just 16.
Becca is six years younger than one of singer Mark’s four children from a previous relationship.
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