It is difficult for older men and young people in rural areas to marry and love, does international marriage work?

The Paper reporter Zhong Yuhao

Recently, in response to the problem of marriage and love among older young men in rural areas, Ding Changfa, an associate professor at the Department of Economics of Xiamen University, put forward a proposal of "opening up international marriage and introducing overseas young women of appropriate age", which has aroused heated public opinion.

Among them, the "Southern Rural Daily" commented that the background of the marriage problem of older young men in rural areas is complex, involving multiple factors such as economic and social development, population mobility, urban-rural development differences, and traditional customs. To some extent, the experts' proposal to open up international marriage seems to provide a new solution to this dilemma. However, whether this proposal is feasible and whether it can truly solve the underlying problems requires in-depth analysis and careful assessment.

International marriage is not new, and the mainland does not explicitly prohibit it, the key is whether it complies with relevant laws and regulations. The Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign-related Marriage Introductions stipulates that it is forbidden to make profits on the grounds of "introducing transnational marriages". At the same time, the Civil Code prohibits arranged marriages, the sale of marriages and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage;

According to the analysis of the above-mentioned article, the so-called "bring in and go out" strategy of experts, in the field of marriage, its essence is to build an "international matchmaking platform". However, the construction of this platform is not an easy task, and it requires a lot of manpower and material resources to solve problems such as language barriers, verification of the authenticity of information on both sides, etc. Otherwise, there may be scams and disputes like the "Vietnamese bride". Through this platform, rural youth have solved the language barrier and improved their own quality. Even if you can learn a foreign language, why worry about not finding a wife? Therefore, the actual effect of this strategy is debatable.

In fact, in some cases in recent years, many foreign brides have encountered challenges in the process of integrating into local life, and many problems have arisen.

For example, in December 2023, the Education Bureau of Qingyuan County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, introduced in a letter in response to the proposal that Qingyuan is a revolutionary base area in southwest Zhejiang and one of the province's 26 mountainous counties. Due to unfavorable factors such as economic development and regional transportation, it is difficult for some older young people to obtain local wives. In order to solve the problem of marriage and childbirth, in recent years, relying on marriage intermediaries, the phenomenon of young men in the county marrying women from neighboring countries (such as Vietnamese and Cambodian) has increased year by year, and these foreign brides have settled down in Qingyuan, married and had children. As of April 2023, a total of 726 children of foreign brides in the county are enrolled in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, including 1 in junior high school, 567 in primary school, and 158 in kindergarten. The schools are mainly distributed in urban migrant children's schools, surrounding primary schools and private kindergartens. Due to the relative poverty of most foreign brides' families, coupled with the large gap between living habits and understanding concepts and the local area, mothers lack Chinese culture and education, which extends many educational problems of foreign brides' children, which has become a major topic of Qingyuan education.

According to the statistics of the Qingyuan County Education Bureau, among the 567 primary school students, there are 216 poor students (including the low-income students), accounting for 38.09 percent, among the 158 young children, 42 are poor children (including the low-income children), accounting for 26.58 percent, and among the children of foreign brides studying in primary schools and kindergartens, 239 students and 31 children's mothers have returned to their hometowns in various ways, and single-parent families account for 42.15% and 19.62% respectively.

In addition, compared with children of the same age, children in kindergarten have habits in terms of hygiene and discipline; children in primary school are mainly concentrated in the first to third grades of primary school, limited by family conditions and parents' education level, and are unable to tutor and educate children's learning and life, and there is a clear gap in grades and performance compared with children in the same grade. Affected by the family environment, there is a gap between the children of foreign brides and children of the same age in terms of academic performance and behavioral performance, especially some single parents and poor children have low self-esteem and conceit due to lack of care, or are unwilling to communicate with classmates and teachers, or bully, quarrel and fight, damage public property in order to highlight themselves, and their behavior and habits need to be corrected urgently.

Qingyuan County Education Bureau said that in real work, the practice of caring for foreign brides' children will present many problems, and how to effectively solve them requires the attention and support of government departments and all walks of life. The education system will set up a research group according to the actual situation of the children of foreign brides in the county in school (kindergarten), and implement precise policies to let them share the same blue sky.

In Linhai City, Taizhou, which also belongs to Zhejiang, due to factors such as the growth of the demand-side market caused by the difficulty of older men and young men in rural areas to get married, the number of foreign brides such as Vietnamese and Burmese in Linhai City has been increasing in recent years.

According to the Linhai Municipal Public Security Bureau, as of May 2023, the number of registered foreign brides in Linhai City is 172. Due to the new crown epidemic and other reasons, although the overall number of people has dropped significantly compared with the peak of about 350 people around 2018, it is still a special group with a large base, which has brought new challenges to the city's foreign-related management.

The Linhai Municipal Public Security Bureau also pointed out that there are still many problems in the management of foreign brides:

First, it is difficult to find employment. Registered foreign brides in Linhai City generally come to China for marriage registration through private visas, and then apply for reunion visas and residence permits to stay in China, but due to identity restrictions, employment, social security, and travel are blocked. According to mainland law, foreigners must hold a work permit (visa, residence permit) or a permanent residence permit for domestic employment. The threshold for obtaining a green card (permanent residence permit) in mainland China is very high, and foreign brides in Linhai City basically have no relevant skills, and mainland individuals are not qualified to hire foreigners to work for them, resulting in foreign brides being unable to work normally in China. At present, only foreign brides are allowed to do some manual work at home.

Second, it is difficult to participate in insurance. According to the Interim Measures for the Participation of Foreigners Employed in China in Social Insurance, foreigners employed in China can register for the basic medical insurance for employees in accordance with the relevant regulations, so foreign brides cannot participate in the insurance. According to the provisions of Zhejiang Medical Insurance Lianfa [2019] No. 15 document, for residence permit holders who choose to participate in the medical insurance for urban and rural residents, the individual shall pay according to the same standard as local residents, and the financial departments at all levels will give subsidies according to the same standards as local residents, but foreign brides cannot apply for residence permits and therefore cannot participate in insurance.

Third, it is difficult to assess. The Linhai Municipal Public Security Bureau has achieved certain results in the daily management of foreign brides, but it cannot achieve the whole chain and no dead end management by relying on the support of the public security alone. The management of foreign brides involves many departments, and although there are many foreign brides in Linhai, they are still a minority group compared to the domestic permanent population and foreign population in Linhai, and it is difficult for the relevant departments to have the energy to take care of them.

The Linhai Municipal Public Security Bureau finally said that it will work with relevant departments to actively explore foreign brides' employment, medical insurance, town and street assessment, etc., so that foreign brides can better integrate into the local life of Linhai, enhance their sense of belonging to the local area, promote the family happiness of foreign brides, and maintain social harmony and stability.

Le'an County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, is located in a mountainous area, with a large population and an underdeveloped economy, and many older rural youths are unable to marry local wives, which also leads many to marry foreign brides. The Le'an County Public Security Bureau revealed in 2019 that there are 171 resident foreign brides in the county, mainly Vietnamese, distributed in various towns and villages in the county.

Earlier, a local representative of the National People's Congress reported that "foreign brides disappeared for no reason", and the Le'an County Public Security Bureau said that there are three main reasons for this: First, foreign brides are unable to adapt to local rural life because of language barriers and different living habits, and are prone to conflicts that lead to divorce or run away from home. The second is that most of these foreign brides come from Southeast Asian countries, and they marry other countries in order to live a comfortable and good life, but the Chinese men who marry them are often poor family conditions, low education, older age, and some even have intellectual problems or physical defects, and the gap between longing and reality leads to the bride's psychological dissatisfaction, and the marriage relationship is difficult to maintain, resulting in running away from home. Third, men and women generally have no emotional foundation, there are communication barriers between the two parties, and there are differences in social background, religious beliefs, language and culture between the two parties, which can easily lead to divorce or running away from home. As for whether there is a bride for the purpose of cheating marriage, this should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. If it is verified that it is true, the public security organs will certainly crack down hard and do their utmost to help the people recover their losses.

The Le'an County Public Security Bureau also said that in fact, in recent years, problems such as running away from home, economic disputes and even marriage fraud caused by foreign brides marrying into the county have indeed occurred, but this involves comprehensive social governance, and only all departments of society have increased management efforts to promote foreign brides to change from "foreign daughters-in-law" to "local daughters-in-law", so that they and their children can be integrated into local life, so as to avoid the occurrence of the above problems as much as possible and further maintain social security and stability.

Senior editor of this issue: Zhou Yuhua