International marriage of Vietnamese women

The history of international marriage of Vietnamese women has lasted for centuries. During the colonial period and Vietnam War, there were Vietnamese women married Europeans and Americans. However, the trends of international marriage among Vietnamese women rose in more contemporary time. Since 1990s, more and more Vietnamese women have married internationally and settled down in foreign countries with their husbands. Some of them have married Viet Kieu men in the west and faced the problem of diaspora marriage,[1] while most of them have Koreans, Americans, Australians , French ,Taiwanese. The largest amount of international marriage of Vietnamese women attracted attention in the respect of the reasons for international marriage, the living conditions in destination countries and the images of these Vietnamese brides.

## Contents

* 1 Overview
* 2 Reasons for international marriages
* 2.1 External reasons
* 2.1.1 Economic considerations
* 2.1.2 Marriage squeeze
* 2.2 Internal reasons
* 2.2.1 Seeking a better life in migrants’ destinations
* 2.2.2 Improvement in familial status
* 2.2.3 Romantic love
* 3 The approaches of marrying internationally
* 3.1 Intermediary agents
* 3.2 Social networks among Vietnamese
* 4 Living conditions of Vietnamese brides
* 4.1 Social life and involvement
* 4.2 Women's status within the household
* 5 The images of Vietnamese brides
* 5.1 In Vietnam
* 5.1.1 Mainstream media in Vietnam
* 5.1.2 Local people in sending communities
* 5.2 In migrants' destinations
* 6 See also
* 7 References

## Overview

All the 63 provinces of Vietnam have the cases of international marriage between Vietnamese citizens (both male and female) and foreigner nationals.[2]

Table 1 Number of Vietnamese people who married with foreign nationals over years by sex[2]

Year  | Total  | Male  | Female  | Percentage of Female among the totals

|
|
|
|

2008  | 21,805  | 1624  | 20181  | 92.6
2009  | 19,795  | 1527  | 18268  | 92.3
2010  | 20,802  | 1520  | 19282  | 92.7
2011  | 18,420  | 1730  | 16690  | 90.6
2012  | 17,891  | 1550  | 16341  | 91.3
2013  | 18,636  | 2318  | 16318  | 87.6
2014  | 17,746  | 2572  | 15174  | 85.5
2015  | 18,726  | 2733  | 15993  | 85.4

Note: Figures for 2008-2012 do not include date from Nghe An

Source: Department of Civil Status, Nationality and Authentication, Ministry of Justice, 2015 and 2016

Table 2 Number of Vietnamese female who married with foreign nationals over years by the concerned countries/territories[3]

Year  | Total  | China (includes Taiwan)  | Korea  | USA  | Others

|
|
|
|
|

2008  | 20181  | 4277  | 7655  | 4472  | 3777
2009  | 18268  | 3458  | 6623  | 4569  | 3618
2010  | 19282  | 3396  | 8425  | 4198  | 3263
2011  | 16690  | 3229  | 6957  | 3925  | 2579
2012  | 16341  | 2849  | 6343  | 4136  | 3013
2013  | 16318  | 3205  | 6066  | 5105  | 1942
2014  | 15174  | 3547  | 4374  | 4786  | 4409
2015  | 15993  | 4395  | 4158  | 5119  | 2321

Note: Other countries/territories include Cambodia, Europe, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and other country/territory

Source: Department of Civil Status, Nationality and Authentication, Ministry of Justice, 2015 and 2016

According to Table 1, most of these Vietnamese citizens who involved in international marriage are Vietnamese women. Meanwhile, Table 2 shows that most of Vietnamese brides marry males from Korea, China and USA.[4]

As for the basic information about Vietnamese women involved in international marriage, there are some commonalities of Vietnamese brides in the respect of educational level, age of entering marriage and original residences in Vietnam.

In most cases, the educational level of Vietnamese brides who marry Korean and Taiwanese men is less than high school level.[5][6] The educational level of Vietnamese women in foreign countries is relatively lower than local women and women from other countries. For example, the educational level of Filipino women and Chinese women who marry Korean men is higher than Vietnamese women.[5]

The average ages of entering international marriage of Vietnamese women are quite stable over time. According to the data collected in 2004, about 70 percent of Vietnamese women marry at the age between 18 and 22,[6] while their husbands marry them predominantly at the average age of 29.[5] Moreover, according to the data collected in 2013, the age gap between Vietnamese brides and their husbands was eight to nine years, and the average marry ages of their husbands were still 29, which means the ages of entering marriage of Vietnamese brides did not change at all.[5]

The trends of marry foreign Asian men initially began in mid-1990s in south where most women married overseas Vietnamese and then spread to the north after 2000s. There are two provinces: Can Tho and Hai Phong, which are believed to be the most important original residences of Vietnamese women who migrated to Taiwan and South Korea.[7]

## Reasons for international marriages

The reasons of involving in international marriage are complex, some people view Vietnamese brides as objects without mentioning their agency; thus, they view the reasons of international marriage of Vietnamese women mainly from the perspective of external factors. However, some people find that it is necessary to focus on the agency of Vietnamese women, which means focusing on the internal factors which drive the decision of getting married with foreign men.

### External reasons

The external reasons for international marriage comes both from sending communities and migrants’ destinations. Furthermore, the external reasons mainly based on economic and social factors.

#### Economic considerations

In the sending communities of Vietnamese brides, the external reason always associated with the economic disadvantages of Vietnamese brides’ original families. In the cases which Vietnamese brides are lack of the language skill of communicating with their foreign husbands, these Vietnamese women are often asked to marry foreign men by their parents due to the economic difficulties in their original families. Moreover, most of these Vietnamese brides will send remittance to their parents in Vietnam to support their original families.[4]

In migrants’ destinations, economic consideration also leads to the shortage of local women who are willing to marry local men. For example, the local women in rural areas in Korea are not willing to marry local men, because they have to carry the family burden both from their own families and their husbands’ families after marriage. Most of these local women tend to marry men in urban area where they can find jobs rather than farming. Thus, the willing of ‘marry up’ (note: ‘marry up’ means people marry partners whose living conditions is better than themselves; for example, women from rural areas choose to marry men in urban areas who have better occupations than men in rural areas.) leads to the imbalance of marriage market in rural areas in migrants’ destinations, which causes the rising of international marriage between local men and Vietnamese women.

#### Marriage squeeze

Marriage squeeze happens both in sending communities and migrants’ destinations, but the marriage squeeze which leads to the rising of international marriage of Vietnamese women mainly happens in migrants’ destinations. The marriage squeeze is a prominent phenomenon in Chinese rural areas. The main characteristic of marriage squeeze is the imbalanced sex ratio. Caused by the preference to sons in Chinese rural areas, the sex ratio in the rural areas in Guangxi province is 114.02 and 109.45 (100 = female) based on the statistics in 2000 and 2010.[8][9] Other than the imbalanced sex ratio, many local Chinese women choose to marry men from other parts in China. More and more women from rural areas in the west part of China come to the developed eastern part of China to find jobs and get married. This factor also leads to the deficit of women in rural areas and the severe marriage squeeze in border areas.[10] The situation of marriage squeeze in China leads to the rising of finding wives from adjacent areas including Vietnam.

### Internal reasons

#### Seeking a better life in migrants’ destinations

Following with the trends of globalization and the opening of Vietnamese to global market, more and more Vietnamese especially those who live in border areas gradually involved in border trades with China. The prosperity of border trades attracts some Vietnamese women to seek for the opportunities to earn a better life. The most convenient way of being legally involved in border trades is marrying Chinese men in border areas. In some research, the business success of these Vietnamese women in China is proved. For example, Vietnamese brides in Chinese border areas often engaged in the occupations such as being factory workers, running exotic restaurants and organizing transnational transportation. In fact, Vietnamese women comprehensively participate in the local life of these borderlands.[11] According to the survey about the satisfaction of Vietnamese women's international marriage, the results show that 83.6% of them are happy with their marriage mainly because the improvement of material conditions of their lives.[12]

#### Improvement in familial status

In the original families of Vietnamese brides, their status is often lower than their brothers due to the preference of sons in Vietnam. These Vietnamese brides choose to marry foreign men because they can earn more money than staying in their hometowns, after earning money they will send remittance back to their parents to show that they can also support the families like sons do. The sending of remittance not only maintain the link between Vietnamese brides and their original families, but also change their status in the original families. For these Vietnamese women, sending remittance does not only means being a responsible daughter but also being a semi-parent in birth family. In fact, marrying foreign men are always associated with earning more money in migrants’ destinations, which shows the agency of Vietnamese brides to be more supportive in their birth families. Instead of being viewed as the brides who are pushed by their parents to marry foreign men, some of them choose to marry internationally to support their birth families based on their own willing. By supporting their birth families, these Vietnamese brides also have the intentions about improving their status in birth families.

#### Romantic love

Apart from the internal reasons mentioned above, the factor of love is also important in some cases. According to the survey in Sino-Vietnam border areas, some Sino-Vietnam spouses know each other at a very young age because they live close to each other since childhood. These spouses get married after grown up, they can communicate smoothly with each other, and they usually have the same background with each other.[13] In other cases, due to globalization, more and more Vietnamese women become migrant labors in other countries and marry local men based on the love between them. There are some Vietnamese meet with their foreign husbands in Vietnam and emigrate to their husbands’ countries after getting married.[12]

## The approaches of marrying internationally

### Intermediary agents

The intermediary agents from Vietnam and migrants’ destinations rises following with the trends of international marriage between Vietnamese women and foreign men. The intermediary agents in Vietnam are often considered as illegal agents which involved in deceiving and human trafficking. See also this video about how Vietnamese women were deceived and trafficked to China. There were cases about Vietnamese agents being caught by police when holding the meeting between Vietnamese women and foreign men.[7] To adapt to the matchmaking market in South Korea, some Korean agents also involved in sending Vietnamese women to South Korea.[5]

### Social networks among Vietnamese

Social network in Vietnam also help Vietnamese women marry foreign men. In the cases of Vietnamese women marry overseas Vietnamese men, social network in Vietnam plays the most important role in the process of international marriage. Overseas Vietnamese men often ask their relatives in Vietnamese to find proper women for them.[1] Social network also influence the international marriage in border areas where Vietnamese have close connections with Chinese.[13] In other cases, Vietnamese women who marry foreign men also introduce their relatives in Vietnam to marry foreign men.

## Living conditions of Vietnamese brides

The living conditions of Vietnamese women in their migration destination are too complex to give a thorough introduction. To measure the living conditions of Vietnamese brides, it is important to measure to what extend they involved social life and household. See also the video from Channel NewsAsia about Vietnamese women's living conditions and the impacts of their international marriage.

### Social life and involvement

There are some cases that Vietnamese women were trafficked or deceived to marry Chinese men. These cases always happen in the rural border area between China and north Vietnam. In these cases, Vietnamese women faced the situation of de facto marriage which means their marriage rights cannot be protected by the law of China.[10] The living conditions of these Vietnamese women are often negative, they are under the control of their husbands. Thus, their involvement in social life is slight, even their human rights are abused under some circumstances.

In other cases which Vietnamese women have their agency to marry foreign men, the living conditions are different. These Vietnamese women can find their own jobs though sometimes the wage is low. Moreover, language is an obstacle for Vietnamese brides in the process of adapting to new society. According to the survey in Taiwan and South Korea, some Vietnamese women indicates that they often face the difficulty of language, and their husbands do not allow them to attend language class. Due to the difficulty of language and the lack of education, some Vietnamese women face problems after becoming mothers.[14]

In recent research result which focuses on Vietnamese brides in China, the living conditions of them are different. In the border area between China and Vietnam, more and more Vietnamese wives actively participate in local economic life by running restaurants with their husbands. However, the restaurants always registered under the name of their husbands while the real manager are Vietnamese women.[11]

### Women's status within the household

Overall, the status of Vietnamese women in household is mainly subordinated to their husbands. This is because the traditions in East Asian communities, the concept about how women should be obedient to their husbands is prevalence in rural areas where most Vietnamese women resident with their foreign husbands in Korea and mainland China.[5][11] Thus, Vietnamese women are always considered as housewives who support their husbands by doing housework and raising children. The rights of making decisions are controlled by their husbands due to the East Asian traditions.[11]

## The images of Vietnamese brides

### In Vietnam

The images of Vietnamese brides are portrayed both by Vietnamese mainstream media and local people. The images of Vietnamese brides are constructed differently by different subjects.

#### Mainstream media in Vietnam

To summarize the images of Vietnamese brides constructed by mainstream media, the results are always associated with ‘innocent, trafficked, deceived and traitorous’. The dilemma faced by Vietnam society and Vietnamese single men caused this kind of perceptions.[15] Though most of Vietnamese brides send their remittance back to their original families in sending villages, local parents still face the problem of their sons cannot marry on time because most village girls marry abroad. The dilemma of single men's marriage caused by international marriage leads to the broad complaint across the country,[15] which influences the way how Vietnamese mainstream media write the reports about international marriage and the way how they ‘label’ Vietnamese brides.

#### Local people in sending communities

Among local people in sending communities, especially those who have daughters married internationally. The images of Vietnamese brides are ‘responsible, reliable and supportive’. Due to the large amount of remittance sent by Vietnamese brides, the household of their birth families improved prominently. According to the survey conducted in 2010, the living standard of the birth families of Vietnamese brides changed a lot after the migration of their daughters. For example, the proportion of poor level families has fallen three time compared with the situation before migration. The proportion of upper average level families increase ten times than the situation before migration.[12] The activities of Vietnamese brides in supporting their birth families help them gain the positive perceptions from their parents and local people.

### In migrants' destinations

In migrants’ destinations, the images of Vietnamese brides have changed over time. For example, initially, the perceptions of Vietnamese female from Chinese male are mainly stereotypes caused from the occupations, tourism propaganda and status in family of Vietnamese women. The images of Vietnamese brides in migrant country are negatively portrayed by officials and natives due to the exaggeration of problematic issues and unchanged stereotypes. However, if we try to view the life of Vietnamese brides from their own perspectives, things will be different. Based on the sociological fieldwork conducted by Huang in Sino-Vietnam borderland during 2011 to 2012,[11] Vietnamese women successfully engaging in household and formal occupations. Due to their ability of making money and maintaining household, they gain mostly positive comments and perceptions from their husbands and local employers. The economic ability of Vietnamese women not only make them easily dispose family affairs in their new families, but also allow them to give remittance to their original families which then prove to their parents and the traditions of preferring boys to girls in Vietnam that daughters can do better than sons. All these positive factors show how Vietnamese women marry abroad to earn money for their parents and pursue their happiness. In contrary to what has been demonstrated in the previous research, Huang's research proves that Vietnamese women should not be solely taken as victims and ignorant girls in their international marriage. At least in China, the previous situations have changed a lot due their broadly participation in economic life.

## See also

* Vietnamese migrant brides in Taiwan
* Asian migrant brides in Japan

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thai, H. C. (2008). For better or for worse: Vietnamese international marriages in the new global economy. Rutgers University Press.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nguyen, T., & Nguyen, T. (2017). International Labour and Marriage Migration: Vietnam Country Paper 2016 (p. 24). Daejeon: Asia Pacific Population Institute. Retrieved from http://www.appi.re.kr/eng/YZboard/file_down.php?code=eng_bbs_14&no=11&file_number=0
3. ↑ Nguyen, T., & Nguyen, T. (2017). International Labour and Marriage Migration: Vietnam Country Paper 2016 (p. 25). Daejeon: Asia Pacific Population Institute. Retrieved from http://www.appi.re.kr/eng/YZboard/file_down.php?code=eng_bbs_14&no=11&file_number=0
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nguyen, T., & Nguyen, T. (2017). International Labour and Marriage Migration: Vietnam Country Paper 2016 (p. 25). Daejeon: Asia Pacific Population Institute. Retrieved from http://www.appi.re.kr/eng/YZboard/file_down.php?code=eng_bbs_14&no=11&file_number=0
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Lee, B. S., & Klein, J. L. (2017). Changing trends in international marriages between Korean men and Southeast Asian women, 1993–2013. Asian Population Studies, 13(3), 226-249.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Thi, H. X. N., & Hugo, G. (2005, December). Marriage migration between Vietnam and Taiwan: A view from Vietnam. In Ceped-Cicred-Ined Conference on Female Deficit in Asia: Trends and Perspectives. Asian MetaCenter for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis, Singapore.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bélanger, D. (2016). Beyond the brokers: Local marriage migration industries of rural Vietnam. positions: east asia cultures critique, 24(1), 71-96.
8. ↑ National Bureau of Statistics. (2000). Tabulation on the 2000 Population Census of the People's Republic of China. National Bureau of Statistics.
9. ↑ National Bureau of Statistics. (2010). Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of the People's Republic of China. National Bureau of Statistics.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Maochun, L., & Wen, C. (2014). Transnational undocumented marriages in the Sino-Vietnamese border areas of China. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 23(1), 113-125.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Huang, P. (2017). Dependent or breadwinner? Vietnamese brides reshaping gender roles at the China-Vietnam border. The Journal of Chinese Sociology, 4(1), 16.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Nguyen, T., & Nguyen, T. (2017). International Labour and Marriage Migration: Vietnam Country Paper 2016 . Daejeon: Asia Pacific Population Institute. Retrieved from http://www.appi.re.kr/eng/YZboard/file_down.php?code=eng_bbs_14&no=11&file_number=0
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Maochun, L., & Wen, C. (2014). Transnational undocumented marriages in the Sino-Vietnamese border areas of China. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 23(1), 113-125
14. ↑ Bélanger, D., Lee, H. K., & Wang, H. Z. (2010). Ethnic diversity and statistics in East Asia: ‘Foreign brides’ surveys in Taiwan and South Korea. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(6), 1108-1130.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Bélanger, D. (2016). Marriage migration, single men, and social reproduction in migrants’ communities of origin in Vietnam. Critical Asian Studies, 48(4), 494-510.

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