Malagasy Brides in China | The Paper “Paike”



Liao Xiong—The Paper

In China, the skewed sex ratio and the expectation of high dowries from grooms in rural areas are leaving a large number of men single. Under familial pressure to carry on their bloodlines, low-income men are buying foreign brides, who are frequently reported to come from poorer Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Cambodia. In 2018, photographer Liao Xiong discovered that there were 25 women from Madagascar married to Chinese men in an impoverished part of Zhejiang province. Language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of citizenship rights, are preventing these brides from integrating into Chinese society and making them prone to mistreatment, Liao writes.

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In China, the skewed sex ratio and the expectation of high dowries from grooms in rural areas are leaving a large number of men single. Under familial pressure to carry on their bloodlines, low-income men are buying foreign brides, who are frequently reported to come from poorer Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Cambodia. In 2018, photographer Liao Xiong discovered that there were 25 women from Madagascar married to Chinese men in an impoverished part of Zhejiang province. Language and cultural barriers, as well as a lack of citizenship rights, are preventing these brides from integrating into Chinese society and making them prone to mistreatment, Liao writes.