The history of international marriage of Vietnamese women was rooted during the colonial period and Vietnam War, where there were Vietnamese women who married Europeans and Americans. The issue is controversial. Some of them have married Viet Kieu men in the west and faced the problem of diaspora marriage, but nevertheless were people who were not culturally nor racially distant,Thai, H. C. (2008). For better or for worse: Vietnamese international marriages in the new global economy. Rutgers University Press. whilst some have married people from other backgrounds, which is far more controversial. 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. In almost all cases, the "Vietnamese mail-order bride" is an illegal and unethical business that is a violation of human rights. Human and sex trafficking are related criminal offenses. International marriage has often been viewed as taboo since its perception of linkages with colonialism, exploitation, and differences in cultural and racial background. Although such marriages may be seen as breaking down racial and cultural barriers, the children of such marriages, especially if they are from very divergent cultural backgrounds, will fit into none of their parent societies, only being called the derogatory "halfie" or "người Lai" (倘騾 in Hán-Nôm Vietnamese, meaning mule or crossbreed) and may be seen as less than human or not normal due to their diverse and multicultural background. There is also a sense of pervasive and unwelcome gender imbalance where Vietnamese women were more likely to marry out (causing them to be called leftovers, undesirable women, or "not normal") then Vietnamese men (who were expected to conform to tradition). Gender equality is a difficult subject to discuss but nevertheless is a area of concern.
The target audience were mostly young girls in rural areas with poor education, difficult economic circumstances, or no stable jobs, are gullible and lacking in understanding. Precise ethnicity is uncertain or was not measured.
Overview
All the 63 provinces of Vietnam have the cases of international marriage between Vietnamese citizens (both male and female) and foreigner nationals.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
Table 1: Number of Vietnamese people who married with foreign nationals over years by sex YearTotalMaleFemalePercentage of females200821,80516242018192.6200919,79515271826892.3201020,80215201928292.7201118,42017301669090.6201217,89115501634191.3201318,63623181631887.6201417,74625721517485.5201518,72627331599385.4
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/territoriesNguyen, 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 YearTotalChina (includes Taiwan)KoreaUSAOthers20082018142777655447237772009182683458662345693618201019282339684254198326320111669032296957392525792012163412849634341363013201316318320560665105194220141517435474374478644092015159934395415851192321
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.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
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.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.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. 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.
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, while their husbands marry them predominantly at the average age of 29. 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.
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.Bélanger, D. (2016). Beyond the brokers: Local marriage migration industries of rural Vietnam. positions: East Asia cultures critique, 24(1), 71-96.
History
Vietnamese women and girls were mass trafficked from Vietnam to China during French colonial rule by Chinese and Vietnamese pirates and agencies. French Captain Louis de Grandmaison claimed that these Vietnamese women did not want to go back to Vietnam and they had families in China and were better off in China. Vietnamese women were in demand because of a lower number of Chinese women available in China and along the borderlands of China there were many Chinese men who had no women and needed Vietnamese women. Vietnamese women in the Red River delta were taken to China by Chinese recruitment agencies as well as Vietnamese women who were kidnapped from villages which were raided by Vietnamese and Chinese pirates. The Vietnamese women became wives, prostitutes, or slaves.
Vietnamese women were viewed in China as "inured to hardship, resigned to their fate, and in addition of very gentle character" so they were wanted as concubines and servants in China and the massive traffick of Tongkinese (North Vietnamese) women to China started in 1875. There was massive demand for Vietnamese women in China. Southern Chinese ports were the destination of the children and women who were kidnapped by Chinese pirates from the area around Haiphong in Vietnam. Children and pretty women were taken by the pirates in their raids on Vietnamese villages. A major center for human trafficking of the slaves was Hai Phong. The Vietnamese children and women were kidnapped and brought to China to become slaves by both Chinese and Vietnamese pirates.
Muong, Hmong, Thái, and Nùng minority women in Tonkin's mountains were kidnapped by Vietnamese pirates and Chinese pirates to bring to China. The anti-French Can Vuong rebels were the source of the Vietnamese bandits while former Taiping rebels were the source of the Chinese rebels. These Vietnamese and Chinese pirates fought against the French colonial military and ambushed French troops, receiving help from regular Chinese soldiers to fight against the French. Chinese and Nùng pirates fought against Hmong. The Thái hated the Viet Minh and fought against them in 1947. Nung were said to be fit for banditry and piracy.
Brothels in Bangkok bought kidnapped Vietnamese women fleeing South Vietnam after the Vietnam war who were taken by pirates.
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.
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 willingness to ‘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 international marriage between local men and Vietnamese women.
Marriage squeeze