"Mother? No, Mother-in-Law"... The Story of a Chinese Family Where In-Laws Became Married

Introducing Her Mother to Her Father-in-Law
Living Together After Registering Their Marriage in 2021

A story from China about a married couple who actively introduced the wife’s widowed mother to the husband’s widowed father, ultimately leading to their remarriage, has attracted significant attention.

According to Daxiang News in China on September 16, Xiao married Qian in 2018, and then introduced her mother—who had been divorced for more than 20 years—to her father-in-law, who lost his wife about 20 years earlier.

The story behind the in-laws getting married has become a hot topic. According to Baidu, China.

After getting married, Xiao discovered her father-in-law’s admirable character and personality. After much discussion with her husband, she decided to help bring the two elders together. Xiao’s mother, Ms. Ji, confessed, “At first, both of us refused because we were afraid of how others would view us and worried about rumors.” She admitted that it was not easy for in-laws to become a married couple.

However, after repeated encouragement from their children, the two met several times and discovered that they got along well. Ultimately, they completed their marriage registration in 2021 and have been living together ever since.

Xiao said, “Now that my mother has become my mother-in-law, I don’t have to worry at all about the usual tensions between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law, or feeling like I have to be careful around my in-laws. I can speak comfortably, and since she is both my mother and my mother-in-law, she understands everything, which makes me very happy.”

The media reported that this unusual family arrangement poses no legal issues. According to China’s Civil Code, marriages between direct relatives or collateral relatives within three degrees are prohibited. However, an in-law relationship is not related by blood but is established through the marriage of their children, so the remarriage of the two is not legally problematic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.