Marriage migration between Vietnam and Taiwan: A view from Vietnam

Abstract

There has been a substantial increase in the number of Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese men and moving to Taiwan via introduction agencies. There is also an increasing similar flow of Vietnamese young women to marry Chinese men in Southern China. The women are very young and mostly from rural areas and have low levels of education. There are age gaps between wife and husband as well as language gaps. In the destination, some girls are virtually treated as slaves by their husbands' relatives; some have been sold to brothels by their husbands or have become victims of domestic violence. This international marriage migration is attracting research attention of both Vietnamese and international experts. They have looked at the matter from different viewpoints. This paper differs from most in that it provides a view of this trend from the sending place. It uses data from a large-scale survey, which was conducted by the Institute of Population, Family and Children collaborating with the Department ofSociology at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University in Ho Chi Minh City. It included 1084 structured interviews with 624 households and 460 young people in 6 provinces in Cuu Long River Delta, Vietnam where most of the brides come from. Also, 110 in-depth interviews with 82 brides and 28 local authorities were completed. Moreover, 23 focus group discussions were conducted. Low socioeconomic status in the family of the young women was found to be a chief determinant of the marriage. Nearly all brides have chosen marriage to Taiwan men as a way to improve their life conditions and to help their families get out of hard circumstances. However, low level of skill and language barriers have let to many if not most of the brides facing difficulties in the destination. In the origin community, there is a growing concern about imbalance between the number of men and women in the marriageable ages because nearly 50% of girls aged 18-30 have married to foreigners in some villages. On the other hand, the areas where many of these women are moving to also have a deficit of young females although that is not the only structured factor, which underlies the migration.