Abducted Vietnamese women are seen at the border of China and Vietnam when they were returned home Jan 22, 2015. (File photo/Xinhua)
(ECNS) -- It is estimated that of the more than 100,000 Vietnamese "wives" in China, over half are not legally married, China Newsweek reported in its latest issue.
Most of these women now live in the Chinese countryside, suffer from poverty, and have no proper identification.
Marriages between Chinese and Vietnamese started in 1991 when both countries restored diplomatic relations. Since 2002, intermediary marriage agencies started bringing more Vietnamese women to China.
Single Chinese men who struggle financially and Vietnamese girls seeking a better life in China appear to make a match, even though they may not understand each other's language.
The network originated in Guangxi and Fujian, expanded to Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and even to northeast China.
Yanxi town of Zhangzhou in east China's Fujian province is known for having many Vietnamese wives.
Local Chinese women prefer big cities like Xiamen, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, not being far from town, and apply pressure to find their other half among local bachelors.
As Yanxi has a similar climate to Vietnam, many women have chosen to get married there, according to Yang Jinrong, who as a government official in Fujian also researched the issue.
A total of 146 Vietnamese women have settled in the town, though some are Vietnamese Chinese.
Zhou Huizhen, a woman from Vietnam, also introduced her 19-year-old sister to a potential husband in the town. In 2014, she opened a store to sell specialties from her homeland, though she didn't identify herself as either Chinese or Vietnamese.
Many new Vietnamese wives have jilted their Chinese husbands. Ye Jincheng, 46, spent 47,000 yuan ($7,500) securing a Vietnamese bride, who went missing after only half a month. His fifth wife, also a Vietnamese woman, escaped one month later at an airport in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.
Wu Yanhua, a Phd graduate in sociology from Xiamen University, said the reasons for cross-border marriage failures are complicated.
It can be caused by human trafficking, fraud for economic interests, or Chinese men lying to their brides.
