Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Chinese Wife-seekers embroiled in dance of love and hate in Vietnam
South China Morning Post ^ | July 27, 2010 | He Huifeng

Posted on 07/28/2010 7:47:50 AM PDT by PGR88

Nanjing dance school owner Dai Wensheng probably epitomises the complex love-hate relationship between China and Vietnam better than most in an officially designated friendship year that marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two neighbours.

Dai, 42, first visited Vietnam in September and returned home with a Vietnamese wife. He has since become a marriage broker, leading hundreds of bachelors on trips to find Vietnamese brides, after stories appeared in the mainland media about his shortcut to romance.

To tens of thousands of bachelors from across China who cannot find wives at home because of the widening gender imbalance and skyrocketing house prices, Dai is a pioneer blazing a trail to a land of young, obedient and affordable women, all longing for a life north of the border.

The demand for them is huge in a country expected to have 24 million unmarriageable bachelors in 2020.

But to many Vietnamese, he is an unwelcome visitor who is bringing shame and trouble to their nation.

The two views of the one man pretty much sum up decades of complex and sensitive Sino-Vietnamese relations, torn between fraternal alliances and historical suspicion.

Li Li, an attendant on a long-distance bus between Nanning , Guangxi province, and Haiphong, the third largest city in Vietnam, says many freelance marriage brokers and bachelors board her bus and set out for Vietnam each week.

Dai operates out of Haiphong's Thanh Long hotel and arranges blind dates with Vietnamese women. Complaints by local residents about his activities have been increasing.

"Thanh Long is a small hotel and was unknown to the public before, but now it's notorious," Ruan Chi Van, 21, a Vietnamese woman whose boyfriend is a Haiphong policeman, said. Ruan said mainland men frequently checked in and out and had attracted many Vietnamese women.

"My boyfriend and his colleagues thought there might be transnational prostitution going on there," she said. "They rushed to the hotel and caught the illegal matchmakers and the Chinese men.

"I heard the Chinese man had been fined at least US$5,000. That's really uplifting, to hear the Chinese being held to account. What they did in our country is so foul and wicked."

An official from the Chinese embassy in Hanoi said it adopted a hands-off approach to civil affairs.

"We won't support it openly," he said. "But it should be OK if they have all the required [marriage] certification done."

Hostility among Vietnamese has risen along with negative reports about the cross-border marriage trade. One mainland tourist, Kou Liyue, said he was assailed by a taxi driver in Ho Chi Minh City in May.

"The driver was angry. He asked me in English why China has always been making trouble for Vietnam. He said we Chinese have robbed Vietnam of everything: its territory, wealth - and now its women," Kou said.

No other Southeast Asian nation has a relationship with China quite as complex as Vietnam's. The country bitterly recalls 1,000 years of Chinese occupation in ancient times - and a brief border war in 1979.

Decades later, the two nations, at least in public, call each other friend, despite tension over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea.

But there are signs of continued antipathy within official circles in Vietnam. The country's US$55 billion high-speed rail programme may be an example. Hanoi is sticking with a costly Japanese railway system rather than opt for a cheaper Chinese one that could be ready much sooner.

The Chinese-language magazine Yazhou Zhoukan says some Vietnamese politicians oppose the adoption of Chinese high-speed rail technology because of fears that China might use the line to invade Vietnam. Last year, a plan to let a mainland company build a bauxite mine in Vietnam triggered a rare public outcry from more than 130 Vietnamese intellectuals. In a petition to the National Assembly, they said the environmental and social damage would far outweigh any economic benefit.

The most prominent opponent was General Vo Nguyen Giap, 97, who led Vietnam's defeat of French colonial forces and then the US-backed South Vietnamese regime.

In open letters to the government, he warned of the danger to the environment, to the lives of ethnic minorities and to the country's "security and defence".

Such concerns have not stopped a surge of mainland investment in Vietnam. But the influx of mainland people and capital seems to be increasing Vietnamese resentment.

"There are more and more Chinese people travelling and living in Haiphong. They just come to Vietnam to use our labour, resources and land," Ruan said.

"They look much richer than us. Made-in-China products are everywhere, but many Vietnamese don't like Chinese. To us, they just eat up everything and leave nothing."

Some mainland scholars echo Ruan's comments.

"Many Chinese think the relationship between China and Vietnam is a kind of affiliation," said Xu Yingwen, a professor from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Jinan University. "That's why reports about Vietnamese brides and labourers are popular on the mainland.

"Each strong country will try to pursue profit and increase its influence on its neighbours. But it will definitely encounter protests and rejection if it cannot treat the weaker side equally."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: china; marriage; vietnam
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last
To: MimirsWell

What on earth is propagandistic about that post? Lighten up, Francis.


21 posted on 07/29/2010 10:55:36 AM PDT by denydenydeny ("Why should I feed pirates?"--Russian officer off Somalia)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: denydenydeny

Have you read the rest of his posts Samurai?


22 posted on 07/29/2010 11:40:50 AM PDT by MimirsWell (Get them Chicoms on FR! Artaxerces, I'm watching you Tong Zhi!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: thethirddegree

This news report is surprisingly honest - albeit from a Chinese reporter. However his dates are a bit off, by two years, Vo Nguyen Giap is now 100, the Chinese Bauxite mining in VN central highland took place nearly 2 years ago and is still going strong despite huge continued protest.

And the name of the Vietnamese lady from Hai Phong has become Sinocized. I don’t believe any Vietnamese would have their name spelled RUAN, male or female. Unless Ruan is the Chinese transliteration of “Nguyen” which is a very familiar Vietnamese last name.


23 posted on 07/29/2010 2:16:27 PM PDT by Bach Viet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson