Fact check: Does China allow making porn before 18 years old considering the age of consent is 14?

1. Summary of the results

The analyses reveal a complex legal landscape in China regarding age of consent and pornography laws that does not support the premise of the original question. While China's age of consent is indeed 14 years old ^[1], this does not translate to permission for minors to participate in pornography production.

Key findings:

• China's age of consent is 14, which is among the lowest in Asia, though sexual intercourse with girls under 14 constitutes statutory rape with severe penalties ^[1]
• Recent legal reforms have strengthened protections for minors, including new offenses for guardians having sexual relations with girls aged 14-16 and increased penalties for sexual violations involving minors ^[2]
• China has comprehensive child protection laws, including the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, which contains provisions protecting minors from harmful content including pornography ^[3]
• The country is actively cracking down on pornographic content, with recent arrests of women writers producing erotic material, demonstrating strict enforcement of obscenity laws ^{[4] [5]}

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question contains a fundamental legal misconception - conflating age of consent with permission to participate in commercial sexual exploitation. Several critical pieces of context are missing:

• Marriage age vs. consent age: China's legal marriage age is significantly higher than the age of consent - 22 for men and 20 for women - indicating different legal standards for various activities ^[6]
• Child trafficking concerns: Approximately 3% of girls in China are married before 18, with ongoing concerns about child trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors ^[6]
• Strict content regulations: China maintains rigorous laws against pornographic material, with authorities conducting nationwide crackdowns on online pornography and detaining content creators ^{[4] [5]}
• Emerging digital threats: The country is grappling with new forms of exploitation, including AI-generated deepfake pornography, requiring targeted legislation ^[7]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question contains significant misinformation by suggesting that a low age of consent automatically permits minors to participate in pornography production. This represents a dangerous conflation of concepts:

• False equivalency: The question incorrectly assumes that age of consent laws govern commercial sexual exploitation, when these are regulated by entirely separate legal frameworks
• Ignores child protection laws: The premise completely disregards China's comprehensive minor protection legislation that specifically prohibits exposing children to pornographic content ^[3]
• Contradicts enforcement reality: The question ignores China's active crackdown on pornographic content, with writers in their 20s and 30s facing detention for producing erotic material, indicating zero tolerance for such content involving minors ^{[4] [5]}

The question appears to perpetuate harmful misconceptions about child protection laws and could potentially be used to justify or normalize the sexual exploitation of minors by conflating unrelated legal concepts.