Transnational marriages: More about finding true love

A recent survey shows that about half of foreign experts surveyed in China are willing to marry a Chinese, and more than 70 percent of them said they would like to have a Chinese son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

According to a survey conducted by the International Talent magazine and China Society for Research on International Professional Personnel Exchange and Development, among the 1,500 respondents, 19 percent of them said they are more than glad to marry a Chinese, and over 36 percent said marrying a Chinese is one of their choices.

That explained why the number of transnational marriages in China is increasing year by year. In Shanghai, for example, there are over 10,000 Chinese married to foreigners from 1996 to 2002, seven times more than that in the 1980s.

"As their opportunity to get along with the Chinese increase, they share more of their cultural identity, and that's why transnational marriages develop," said Ding Jinhong, director of the Institute of Population Research at East China Normal University.

Despite the fact that in these marriages, the couples are usually a Chinese woman and foreign man, Ding Jinhong said that changes are taking place.

"Twenty years ago, we often see a well-educated old foreign man marry a less educated young Chinese woman, but now we have foreign girls marrying Chinese men. What's more, the age gap in such marriages is narrowing, cultural identity is strengthened, and they can better communicate with each other," said Ding.

In fact, as foreigners do their business in China, and get acquainted with the Chinese way of doing business, they also get to know more about the Chinese people with some of them growing fonder of Chinese culture.

Majdi Alhmah, a Syrian expat living in Changchun, Jilin province, says that "The Chinese are rather family-oriented, and I love that. My greatest gain in China is my Chinese wife and our son."

Alhmah came to China alone seven years ago, now he is the Director General Manager - BFG International China. Last year, he was awarded the Friendship Award by the Chinese government, the highest level of recognition awarded to expats who have made great contributions in China. Ma said he is half a Chinese, and he that "loves to chat with the Chinese here in Changchun."

Transnational marriages in China are changing through the years, they are no longer simply about marrying a gentle and obedient Chinese wife or a handsome and romantic foreign man, as the survey showed a clear positive correlation between the time a foreigner spent in China and the possibility of marrying a Chinese.

According to the survey, 21.9 percent aged between 18 and 30 working in China would like to live in China, and 42.5 percent for those over 50. Respectively, their tendency to marry a Chinese climbs from 56.5 percent to 78 percent.

With more foreigners speaking better Chinese and assimilating themselves to the Chinese culture, it seems that transnational marriages in China are more about finding true love: someone that you can talk to and share things with rather than someone you live and bear with.