100 'Vietnamese brides' go missing in Hebei province  

邯郸百名越南媳妇集体失踪 村民怀疑被骗

Victims are seen on their way to a police station. (File photo/Chinanews.com)

(ECNS) -- More than 100 Vietnamese brides had gone missing by the end of November in Handan, a city in Hebei province, the Yanzhou Evening News reports.

A man surnamed Ding paid 115,000 yuan ($18,620) for a Vietnamese wife in July, a deal brokered by a local villager named Wu Meiyu, also from Vietnam.

Ding was assured that his new wife would not run away within five years. Wu provided her ID card as collateral, but by November 21 she was nowhere to found.

Nearly 100 other Vietnamese women in the region have also disappeared, along with the marriage broker Wu.

Vietnamese brides have become a popular choice for local villagers because of the high cost of marrying a Chinese woman. It is customary for the groom to offer cash gifts to the bride's family, which usually means around 120,000 to 160,000 yuan in cash, along with a car worth at least 40,000 yuan and a furnished house.

Police have warned against foreign matchmaking services, as they could be illegal and involve human trafficking.