By IPS Correspondents
DONGXING, China, Nov 13 2002 (IPS)

Deng Wendong, 50, is persistent. Thirteen years after his first Vietnamese wife left him and brought their daughter with her, he got another bride from across the border in Vietnam.

”She is 27 and was brought here by her father’s sister, wife of an overseas Chinese in here,” says Deng, who earns a meagre living from fishing and occasional rock-chipping in Ban’ai village, some 20 kilometres from this city on the border with Vietnam in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south-west China.

Deng still keeps on his wall a picture of his ex-wife, whom he bought for 300 yuan (36 U.S. dollars). “She’s very capable (of doing housework and farming). But I was too poor, so she gave up after living with me for seven years,” he muses.

Deng says he wanted a Vietnamese wife the second time around because of economic reasons.

“It costs dearly to get a Chinese girl for a wife,” he explains in an interview. ”People would look down upon you if you don’t have money or a wife. Having a Vietnamese bride is cheaper but will nevertheless earn you respect. At least you have a family.”

A month into his latest marriage, Deng says his new bride “looks hardworking”. But he says: ”Marriage is like gambling. I can never tell whether she will stay.”

Many residents in Dongxing City, which shares 35.77 km of boundary line and 42 km of coastline with Vietnam, view marriage with women brought across the border, whether by traffickers or other means, as a pragmatic matter.

Many do not find this practice in border areas strange, despite the fact that buying wives is illegal and concerns by officials and activists that Vietnamese women are often deceived or forced into these marriages.

From the viewpoint of the men here, they get in touch with an intermediary or matchmaker and have to give money to a bride’s family in traditional society, so it is not much different paying to get a bride across the border.

This trend is facilitated by the easy movement of people and goods along the border areas, since China normalised diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1989. Border residents from Vietnam come to China easily and freely on day passes, but many overstay.

A survey in Dongxing in 1999 showed that there 1,269 Vietnamese women who are illegal residents – there could well be more today. More than 80 percent of those women had primary school education at the most. ”Most of the Vietnamese women entered China illegally for marriage, some were trafficked in,” says Wei Xiaoning of the rights section of Guangxi Women’s Federation.

Of the eight brothers in Deng’s family, four have Vietnamese wives. His 32-year-old brother Deng Wenquan has a Vietnamese wife from Hanoi, for whom he paid about 400 yuan (48 dollars) when he took a fancy to her at a villager’s home.

”She is nice and good at housework. My parents treat her well. Life is now a little better than the days without her,” says Deng, who adds that he would like to visit his parents-in-law in Vietnam if he had the money.

Deng Wenquan seems surer of his wife than his elder brother. “I give her complete freedom,” he says. “She will stay if she wants to live with us.”

Mai, Wenquan’s wife four years his junior, is a high-school graduate. ”If he were an old guy, I wouldn’t have married him. I would try to report to the police,” she says. Mai did not know she was going to end up married to a Chinese man when she came to Ban’ai, and says she was deceived by an acquaintance of her aunt.

Still, she says she has since decided to stay on in China, despite her parents’ entreaties to remain in Vietnam after she visited them in Hanoi in 1999. ”They reported the trafficker to the Vietnamese people and got him arrested,” Mai adds.

”I want to live with my parents. But I’m not sure that I could marry a good man there. This man is good to me and never beats me although sometimes we do quarrel,” says Mai, showing the photos of her family in Vietnam and China.

More than 30 of the 1,500 Ban’ai villagers have bought Vietnamese as wives, village chief Tang Guoqiang says, not counting the women who go ahead and live with Vietnamese women without marriage.

“Most of these men are too poor or too old to marry Chinese girls,” says Tang. The usual tradition is a bridegroom has to pay 8,000 to 10,000 yuan (964 – 1,205 dollars) to the bride’s parents as betrothal gift, a fee too big for farmers like Deng Wenquan.

When talking about their wives, the men chat about how they keep house and take care of the family. They accept, in matter-of-fact fashion, that some women might decide to leave them one day.

Pei Xingfu, who had confessed to kidnapping a Vietnamese woman from the highway in broad daylight, estimates that 30 to 40 percent of his fellow villagers marry Vietnamese women.

”Thanks to the opening and reform, villagers here are better off and therefore can afford to marry Chinese brides,” says Pei, also from Ban’ai village. ”But I don’t understand why they still want to wed Vietnamese women, even those young men at their prime age of 26 to 30 want them,” he adds, puzzled.

The increase in cross-border marriages has also been seen in the seven other border areas with Vietnam in Guangxi autonomous region.

The women’s federation in Guangxi says that nearly 99 percent of the 8,002 Vietnamese women living there as of 1999 were married to locals, but none went through legal marriage formalities. Only 0.3 percent of the 9,745 children born from these unions were registered.

Police have been trying to crack down on traffickers and to repatriate victims, but this has not been easy.

”We treat them as victims, take good care of them and teach them legal knowledge. But for those who have lived in China for years and would not want to be repatriated, we could do nothing but treat them as illegal entrants,” says Qi Fuwei, chief of Dongxing public bureau.

”When we send them home, often no sooner had our officers set their feet back, these women had already returned to China,” he adds.

He says few buyers of trafficked women have been punished. The matter is even more complicated if a woman was first trafficked into China – without knowing she was to be married off – but after the marriage decides to stay on or refuses to return to Vietnam.

Officials also find it hard to deal with situations where repatriation would mean destroying a union that has been in place for years.

Chinese researchers say they have come across Vietnamese wives who say they are contented in China. ”After a brief research in Guangxi I feel very much puzzled myself as to whether this is illegal migration or human trafficking,” says Liu Meng, professor at the National Women’s University of China.

”The purpose of the Vietnamese women in China is to find husbands or make money. If they are willing to marry someone and money changes hands, the money could be interpreted as fees paid for matchmakers,” she argues.

But unlike traditional matchmaking in China, where the matchmaker knows the brides’ background, those in the marriage trade of Vietnamese women know little about those they send to China.

But whatever this movement of people is called, the influx of sold Vietnamese brides in Guangxi and further into inner China raises social issues.

Wei Xiaoning of the Guangxi Women’s Federation says the marriages, in some cases bigamy, are not in line with China’s Marriage Law and not protected by law. Unregistered children from these unions may lose out from health or other services.

(*This story was written under the IPS/Rockefeller media programme ‘Our Mekong: A Vision amid Globalisation’.)

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
DONGXING, Nov 13 2002 (IPS)

Deng Wendong, 50, is persistent.

. Thirteen years after his first Vietnamese wife left him and brought their daughter with her, he got another bride from across the border in Vietnam.”She is 27 and was brought here by her father’s sister, wife of an overseas Chinese in here,” says Deng, who earns a meagre living from fishing and occasional rock-chipping in Ban’ai village, some 20 kilometres from this city on the border with Vietnam in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south-west China. Deng still keeps on his wall a picture of his ex-wife, whom he bought for 300 yuan (36 U.S. dollars). “She’s very capable (of doing housework and farming). But I was too poor, so she gave up after living with me for seven years,” he muses.Deng says he wanted a Vietnamese wife the second time around because of economic reasons.”It costs dearly to get a Chinese girl for a wife,” he explains in an interview. “People would look down upon you if you don’t have money or a wife. Having a Vietnamese bride is cheaper but will nevertheless earn you respect. At least you have a family.”A month into his latest marriage, Deng says his new bride “looks hardworking”. But he says: “Marriage is like gambling. I can never tell whether she will stay.”Many residents in Dongxing City, which shares 35.77 km of boundary line and 42 km of coastline with Vietnam, view marriage with women brought across the border, whether by traffickers or other means, as a pragmatic matter.Many do not find this practice in border areas strange, despite the fact that buying wives is illegal and concerns by officials and activists that Vietnamese women are often deceived or forced into these marriages.From the viewpoint of the men here, they get in touch with an intermediary or matchmaker and have to give money to a bride’s family in traditional society, so it is not much different paying to get a bride across the border.This trend is facilitated by the easy movement of people and goods along the border areas, since China normalised diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1989. Border residents from Vietnam come to China easily and freely on day passes, but many overstay.A survey in Dongxing in 1999 showed that there 1,269 Vietnamese women who are illegal residents — there could well be more today. More than 80 percent of those women had primary school education at the most.”Most of the Vietnamese women entered China illegally for marriage, some were trafficked in,” says Wei Xiaoning of the rights section of Guangxi Women’s Federation.Of the eight brothers in Deng’s family, four have Vietnamese wives. His 32-year-old brother Deng Wenquan has a Vietnamese wife from Hanoi, for whom he paid about 400 yuan (48 dollars) when he took a fancy to her at a villager’s home.”She is nice and good at housework. My parents treat her well. Life is now a little better than the days without her,” says Deng, who adds that he would like to visit his parents-in-law in Vietnam if he had the money.Deng Wenquan seems surer of his wife than his elder brother. “I give her complete freedom,” he says. “She will stay if she wants to live with us.”Mai, Wenquan’s wife four years his junior, is a high-school graduate. “If he were an old guy, I wouldn’t have married him. I would try to report to the police,” she says. Mai did not know she was going to end up married to a Chinese man when she came to Ban’ai, and says she was deceived by an acquaintance of her aunt.Still, she says she has since decided to stay on in China, despite her parents’ entreaties to remain in Vietnam after she visited them in Hanoi in 1999. “They reported the trafficker to the Vietnamese people and got him arrested,” Mai adds.”I want to live with my parents. But I’m not sure that I could marry a good man there. This man is good to me and never beats me although sometimes we do quarrel,” says Mai, showing the photos of her family in Vietnam and China.More than 30 of the 1,500 Ban’ai villagers have bought Vietnamese as wives, village chief Tang Guoqiang says, not counting the women who go ahead and live with Vietnamese women without marriage.”Most of these men are too poor or too old to marry Chinese girls,” says Tang. The usual tradition is a bridegroom has to pay 8,000 to 10,000 yuan (964 – 1,205 dollars) to the bride’s parents as betrothal gift, a fee too big for farmers like Deng Wenquan.When talking about their wives, the men chat about how they keep house and take care of the family. They accept, in matter-of-fact fashion, that some women might decide to leave them one day.Pei Xingfu, who had confessed to kidnapping a Vietnamese woman from the highway in broad daylight, estimates that 30 to 40 percent of his fellow villagers marry Vietnamese women.”Thanks to the opening and reform, villagers here are better off and therefore can afford to marry Chinese brides,” says Pei, also from Ban’ai village. “But I don’t understand why they still want to wed Vietnamese women, even those young men at their prime age of 26 to 30 want them,” he adds, puzzled.The increase in cross-border marriages has also been seen in the seven other border areas with Vietnam in Guangxi autonomous region.The women’s federation in Guangxi says that nearly 99 percent of the 8,002 Vietnamese women living there as of 1999 were married to locals, but none went through legal marriage formalities. Only 0.3 percent of the 9,745 children born from these unions were registered.Police have been trying to crack down on traffickers and to repatriate victims, but this has not been easy.”We treat them as victims, take good care of them and teach them legal knowledge. But for those who have lived in China for years and would not want to be repatriated, we could do nothing but treat them as illegal entrants,” says Qi Fuwei, chief of Dongxing public security bureau.”When we send them home, often no sooner had our officers set their feet back, these women had already returned to China,” he adds.He says few buyers of trafficked women have been punished. The matter is even more complicated if a woman was first trafficked into China — without knowing she was to be married off — but after the marriage decides to stay on or refuses to return to Vietnam.Officials also find it hard to deal with situations where repatriation would mean destroying a union that has been in place for years.Chinese researchers say they have come across Vietnamese wives who say they are contented in China. “After a brief research in Guangxi I feel very much puzzled myself as to whether this is illegal migration or human trafficking,” says Liu Meng, professor at the National Women’s University of China.”The purpose of the Vietnamese women in China is to find husbands or make money. If they are willing to marry someone and money changes hands, the money could be interpreted as fees paid for matchmakers,” she argues.But unlike traditional matchmaking in China, where the matchmaker knows the brides’ background, those in the marriage trade of Vietnamese women know little about those they send to China.But whatever this movement of people is called, the influx of sold Vietnamese brides in Guangxi and further into inner China raises social issues.Wei Xiaoning of the Guangxi Women’s Federation says the marriages, in some cases bigamy, are not in line with China’s Marriage Law and not protected by law. Unregistered children from these unions may lose out from health or other services.(*This story was written under the IPS/Rockefeller media programme ‘Our Mekong: A Vision amid Globalisation’.)

Excerpt: