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A road divides two neighboring villages in Fujian province. Eight villages used to ban intervillage marriages. [Photo/qzwb.com]

Inter-village marriage ban abolished

Young people who were barred from marrying neighboring villagers under a 400-year-old local custom are now free to tie the knot, Quanzhou Evening News reported on Monday.

Eight villages in Jinjiang, in East China's Fujian province, had long banned inter-village marriages, but officials announced at a meeting on Nov 30 that the rule had been abolished.

Inter-village lovers, facing social pressure, usually gave up instead of tying the knot. But a brave couple broke the mold and married in 2012.

"We have been living so close by but it seemed that we were millions of miles away. The ban has got to stop," Suo Tianzuo, a 75-year-old local man said.