Cross-border Marriage Between Vietnam and China

Presenter: Nguyen Duc Anh Huy, Institute for Social Development Studies, Hanoi
Date: Tuesday 30 January 10:00-11:30am
Location: ISDS office, Phòng/Suite 1804, PH floor, The Garden, Me Tri, Ha Noi, Vietnam

Rationale and Objectives of the Research

Gender birth selection in favour of boys combining with low fertility during last decades has
led to skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) and gradually resulted in excess of males and the so-
called male “marriage squeeze” in Vietnam and China. However, each country is
experiencing this phenomenon in distinctive way. While the “marriage squeeze” has taken
place in China since mid 1990s, this phenomenon will only occur in Vietnam in the next
decade. This is because the SRB in China started skewing since mid 1980s but in Vietnam
this has not occurred until mid 2000s. However, at this stage, Vietnam has already
experienced the effect of the “marriage squeeze” of China. Numerous studies and media
reports have documented the increase of cross-border marriage both through voluntary
migration and cross-border trafficking of Vietnamese women to China. While much effort
has ben made from both countries to improve governance of this process, both Vietnamese
brides and their new families in China are still facing with many problems.

To contribute to better governance of cross border marriage between Vietnam and China as a
measure to mitigate negative effect of gender-biased sex selection on demographic structure
and social development of both countries. The study aims to explore the social and cultural
factors underlying the exploding of cross border marriage, which include cross border
marriage and human trafficking for forced marriage. The ultimate objective is to contribute to
better governance of cross border marriage between Vietnam such as providing evidence for
policy dialogue and refine the existing interventions to counter the gender imbalance and its
consequences on social structure. In order to do that, the research set out to answer the
following key questions:

1) What are the key cultural and social interactions which drive Vietnamese women
migrating to China?

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 2) Which demographic characteristic are involved in the explode of the recent illicit
migration and to what methods are being used to exploit the current circumstances
3) An in-depth analysis of how cross border marriage has been governed from both side
as well as how cross border policies are being implemented in practice.

Research methods
The study combines a review of literature on the topic and analysis of data collected from 39
interview including 25 experts of the field, government officers, local authorities and 14
women who returned from China. The fieldwork was conducted in Hanoi, Lao Cai and Bac
Giang during October 2017.

Hanoi Lao Cai Bac Giang Total

Individual interview
Local authorities 2 2 4
Staff of functional agencies 6 2 1 9
Returned women 8 6 14
Family members of returnees 3 5 8
Broker 1
Leader of self-help group 1
Total 6 15 16 39

Main findings
Based on our field trip research, economic motivations and the desire to improve
one’s material life indeed are important themes emerging from the data, however, marital and
reproductive desires also figured predominantly in many of the stories and trajectories.
Factors such as the way in which communities along each side of the Chinese-Vietnamese
border view their counterparts, their degree of appreciation and understanding of one another;
their representation of women, men, romance, and marriage also play a key part in shaping
their migration decision. Since they have the same original culture, they share common
customs, means of livelihood, festivals, and rituals in marriage and family. Owing to such
close ethnic relationships, marriage and family relationships are easily set up; young people
of marriageable age have favorable conditions to choose a cross-border spouse of the same
ethnic group. These aspects of cross border marriage are rarely considered even though from
the in-depth interviews and other researches these factors have all show up as some of the
key reasons affect their decision to cross the border.

The second part of the report, our study looks further into the unique demographic in

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the border areas between Vietnam and China to explore how these characteristics can lead to
an explode of trafficking for forced marriage. Especially, by bringing ethnic minorities and
gender lens into the analysis we tried to highlight that with a large number but dispersed
ethnic minorities communities reside along the borderline are very likely to be prime targets
for human traffickers then previous researches have reported. Since minorities tend to be
economically and politically disadvantaged, which leads to further inequalities, such as a lack
of education. Thus, they are more likely to migrate for better economic opportunities.
Furthermore, ethnic people have historically experienced debt bondage and are likely
exploited by nonminority members. Besides that, strong traditional gender roles and
expectations especially within ethnic minorities also have a role to play in this marriage
market. For instance, Hmong adult daughters are not expected to live with parents all their
lives; they will have to follow their husbands after they get marriage. At the same time, they
are expected to contribute financially to their family of origin in exchange for their parents’
efforts and work towards their upbringing. This context leads some families to send their
daughters away for marriage in exchange of a sum of money. Without fully realizing what
they are doing, some parents participate in the trafficking and selling of their daughter. Hence
trafficker can easily take advantage of parental expectations towards daughters and of
daughters’ very strong desire to help their parents. We also include a brief analysis of how
the gender imbalance in China can create an acceptance culture for marrying human
trafficking victim as well as encouraging, facilitating the illicit border movement from
Vietnam and further complicate the issue. In addition, when we were compiling reports on
the recent cross-border trafficking case in Viet Nam, there has been a record increase in the
number of children using mobile phone and were left exposed to traffickers and opportunists.
While the human trafficking of minors continues to expand across multiple platforms, the rise
of mobile technology and social network are particularly troublesome and may fundamentally
transform the trafficking for forced marriage in the border areas. All of the victims in our data
are either illiterate or semi-illiterate ethnic women who only have rudimentary knowledge of
the surrounding villages and can be easily tempted. As no other communication technology
in history, including the Internet, has been adopted so rapidly in Vietnam. Human traffickers
and criminal networks are taking advantage of technology to reach larger audiences and to do
illicit business more quickly and efficiently across greater distance.

Based on the interview of our key informant about the ambivalent position of the two
governments, we have tried to study the behavior of governance in the border area and found

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out that the current gender imbalance has push the Chinese government into a difficult
position in regard to the management of border movement. Beside the intense cultural
pressure to marry, traditional dowries, the current gender imbalances in combination with
China’s embrace of unbridled capitalism have also deterred China intention on clamping
down on human trafficking for forced marriage and illegal Vietnamese wives settling along
China border. A strong clamping down position on this border movement can make millions
of Chinese bachelors unmarried for life and seriously put the future of China’s workforce,
economic development, and long-term stability at stake. On the other hand, Chinese
authorities also have the responsibilities to control and regulate migration to discourage the
long-term settlement of undocumented migrants. This has forced the Chinese government to
vacillate between two possible ambivalent position and has further the gap and severely
hinder the effectiveness of the anti-human trafficking program between Chinese-Vietnamese
governments. Another factor we want to highlight is the complexity of governance in border
areas. Governing in border regions usually have to muddle through the interaction dynamics
between state and non-state, local and national actors and their intertwined relationships. In
the case of cross border marriage, people is more influenced by traditions rather than follow
regulation from a distant central government, these intertwined interactions and the strong
resistance from non-state actors have created a gap between official migration policies and
actual practices of governance at the local level.

We strongly believe that the current ambivalent position of governmental bodies

regarding the cross-border marriage and human trafficking for forced marriage is severely
hampering its ability to carry out their agenda and create severe disturbance in local
communities. As the current governance is exploiting the costly bureaucratic process to deter
marriage registration from cross border couples rather than focusing on deter the motivation
for trafficking. It goes without saying that these efforts only debilitating the rights of cross
border families and many of these women find ways to return to China anyway. If the two
countries are serious about stamping out illegal immigration it will need to do more than just
expel illegal immigrant and based on the findings from this study, we suggest that:

1. Strategies and program addressing gender-biased sex selection should include the
issues of cross-border marriage or cross-region marriage. A long term vision and
proper responses should be developed to minimize the negative effects of this process.

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2. Government officials must focus on changing the cultural norms around marriage and
patriarchy, no effort to stop trafficking and illegal immigration will be successful until
the gender imbalance is resolves and marriage is no longer seen as a financial
transaction.

3. Combating the trafficking practice should not be limited to eradicating the crime itself,
but to eradicating the existing, conventional patriarchal perception, to deter the
motivation for trafficking rather than deterring the rights of cross border families.

4. A multi-dimensional approach should be used to address and eradicate the trafficking

practice like raising nationwide consciousness-raising program in women’s human
rights, status and values to further women’s emancipation and transform it to a
voluntary women’s movement

5. We need more research on the diffusion of technology-facilitated trafficking. Further

research in the area such as focusing on victims and survivors and their relationship
with technology and mobile phones. These researches could aid the development of
tools which could aid vulnerable individuals by promoting awareness and behavioral
change.