Sketching the location of landmarks in Ho Chi Minh City on a piece of paper, Zhou Jiazhen, a Vietnamese woman who married a Chinese man in early 2011, was homesick and raised her head to look into the distance.
Sitting in her Vietnamese specialty shop in Huzhu village, Yanxi town in Zhangzhou, East China's Fujian province, Zhou drew the map at the request of a single man who was planning to leave for Ho Chi Minh City to seek a bride himself.
Zhou was the first Vietnamese bride to move to the village and now there are 145 there. Zhou opened her specialty shop to serve the group early last year and business was good at the time, China News Week reported.
But the good times did not last long. With dozens of Vietnamese brides going missing, Zhou's business went down, which led to an even more grim situation - she may not be able to get a Foreigner Permanent Residence Certificate, better known as the Chinese green card, next year due to lack of funds.
A foreigner, married to a Chinese citizen, can apply for a green card, after they marry and live in the country for 5 years and have a property of their own or a lease agreement.
The green card guarantees a foreigner enjoys social security, including medical insurance, automatic permission to work and the right to enter and leave the country freely.
In Zhou's case, she will meet the time requirement next year, but her family does not have a house or legally rent one. Housing is the reason she has to make money as soon as possible in order to get a Chinese ID card.
"Until the end of 2014 the number of Vietnamese brides in Zhangzhou exceeded 2,000. They often ask about green card application, which is only approved by the Ministry of Public Security not bureaus at local level," said a member of staff, surnamed Lin, at the Zhangzhou Public Security Bureau.
"Until now no more than 10 foreigners have acquired a green card in Zhangzhou," said Lin.
The process of applying is difficult. According to a Xinhua report last year, more than 4,700 foreigners managed to get green cards by 2011, a small number compared to the 600,000 foreign inhabitants.
Zhou is not the only one facing the dilemma.
Yang Qimei, also from Ho Chi Minh City, married her 42-year-old husband and came to China in May, 2011.
Yang and two other Vietnamese brides found jobs at a local toy factory. Though not having social security, they are satisfied with their salary of more than 2,000 yuan ($323) a month, twice the salary they could earn in Vietnam.
