Michael S. Chen & Doris Y. Lin International Workshop on the Changing Asian Family:

1. Vietnamese Brides in Taiwan on a Lesser Wedlock: Improvising a Bride for the son at the Expenses of the Grandchildren ? Michael S. Chen & Doris Y. Lin International Workshop on the Changing Asian Family: A Support System With Holes? Asia Research Institute & Department of Sociology National University of Singapore May 24-26, 2004

2. Significance of the Issue • An issue of historic significance; • Literally puts a “new face” on Taiwan; • And changes the definition of “Taiwanese” forever.

3. Introduction

4. “Women Should Have No Resistanceto the Fate” A woman is like a seed of some humble plant drifting in the air, and, wherever she settles, she takes roots, grows up, extends family lineages.（女人就是油蔴菜仔命，飄到哪裡，生養到哪裡。） – A Taiwanese analogy for the fate of women.

5. Women Should Follow Her Man Wherever (Whatever) He Turns Marrying a chicken, and you follow the chicken, marrying a dog, and you follow the dog.（女人嫁雞隨雞、嫁狗隨狗） – A Taiwanese teaching for women’s attitude toward marriages.

6. An Analogy that Foretold the Fate of Women of Different Origins • Ironically, it is exactly the will to go against the grains on the part of the Taiwanese women that caused the “phenomenon” of the “foreign brides” in general or of the Vietnamese brides in particular.

7. Interracial Marriages in Taiwanin Historical Perspective • As a society of immigrants, men from China often came single (lo-han-jiau, 羅漢腳, man of age without a wife) and then married the native women. • Therefore, many of the Taiwanese are offsprings of “foreign brides” in some sense. • Yet, the woman-ancestors’ names are often not written at all in the family book. (Can find the male ancestors, can’t find the female ancestors. 有唐山公、無唐山嬷）

8. The Multi-faceted Nature of the Issue • A matter of the globalization of everything; • Thesis of “central-peripheral” -- an extension of the “marriage gradients” to a macro level; • Tacit efforts towards a new national identity.

9. Purposes of this Article • To analyze (anatomize) the “Received Views” of the issue in question; • As an effort to partially demystify the Received Views, to weigh the pro’s & con’s of the phenomenon in terms of intergenerational “accounting”; • To propose policy recommendations in the light of the intergenerational “accounting”.

10. An Analysis of the “Received Views”

11. A Quantitative Profile • By early this year, there were 304,924 “foreign brides”, including 197, 127 (64.65%) from Mainland and 107,797 (35.35%) from all the other countries, and those from Vietnam made up 2/3 of this group. • Of all the marriages in 2002, 12% were cross-national; • One out of 8 babies was born by the “foreign brides”; • School pupils from the cross-national marriages will quadruple in 6 years.

12. An “Alleged” Qualitative Profile • Most men marrying foreign women were either physically or mentally handicapped. • The single most important purpose of improvising a foreign bride was to “keep the incense burning and candles lighting” （延續香火）; • Children from the cross-national marriages were retarded in mental development; • Domestic violence was rampant, and the brides always had a secret plan of running away or apt to be “spoiled” if allowed to go out freely and establish her own social network.

13. “A lousy suitor not necessarily makes a lousy husband.” – the Authors

14. The “Received Views” • “Foreign brides are slaves of the modern time.” • “The problems of international marriages are a consequence of the morbid worldwide marriage market.” • “Interracial marriages caused more problems than solved.”

15. An Anatomy of the “Received Views” • A paradigm of “Central vs. Peripheral” that extended the thesis of “marriage gradient” and implies that the women married to Taiwan were of lower education and socio-economic status; • Media coverage perpetuated the “miserable” image and stigma of the cross-national marriages. • Low-key for the successful marriages, widespread for the failed ones.

16. Compromising the “Received Views” • Elements of the “received views” could be true, yet not sufficient evidence to support; • Nationwide surveys have yet to come out, and many surveys were limited in certain senses; • Whether the problems are socio-economic in nature or specifically cross-national is in doubt; • The trend moved so fast that it’s hard to hang a moniker on the problem. (More and more white-collar professional men are seeking cross-national marriages. So do the women, only less conspicuously.)

17. Tai-Viet Marriages in Perspective And at Work

18. Factors Conducive to Tai-Viet Marriages • Economic contrast which allowed the “marriage gradients” to take effect; • “Southward policy”, proposed in 1993, facilitated closer relationships between two nations, and extended the social network for Taiwanese to get the access to the Vietnamese society, in the wake of getting into Vietnam’s economy; • Policy against marriages with the Mainland China women made room for women from other countries; • Vietnamese women, diligent, tender and with similar cultural background, own the “good qualities” becoming of a good Taiwanese daughter in law.

19. Tai-Viet Marriages at Work • Marriages of love: Romances in the office; • Marriages through social networks: Being fixed up by friends or relatives; • Marriages through brokers: service provided at a fee; there are promoting signs and ads everywhere in Taiwan, particularly in the countryside.

20. “Accounting” Tai-Viet Marriages

21. A Profile of the “stakeholders” in the Tai-Viet Marriages – the First Generation • The first generation: particularly the “grandmother”, who usually masterminds the marriage, mainly for “keeping the incense burning and candles lighting”, could be unable to give thorough consideration for the grandchildren. For instance, could get torn between giving better opportunities to the “bride” (better for the grandchildren) and preventing the bride from being “spoiled”; • Often the key for the quality of the marriage.

22. A Profile of the “stakeholders” in the Tai-Viet Marriages – the Second Generation • The husband: more often than not happy with the marriage; possibly the “net-gainer”; • The “bride”: • Seeking for a better future; could gain in economic security (on Maslow’s hierarchy of the Needs), • Yet fate still uncertain, at the mercy of factors mostly out of her hand.

23. A Profile of the “stakeholders” in the Tai-Viet Marriages – the Third Generation • Could be the victim of the stigma, if not the real problems; • More difficulties to cope with, yet could be a blessing in disguise.

24. Policy and Measures Revisited and Recommended

25. Policies and Measures Revisited • Assistance in adaptation to a new life ; • Medical care ; • Employment assurance ; • Promotion of education and culture ; • Assistance in nurturing the children ; • Personal security protection.

26. Policy Recommendations based on Intergenerational “Accounting” • Making the training programs compulsory for the “bride”, • Courses beneficial for the bride, and therefore for the children • Programs give the opportunity for the bride more time out side of the family; • Only happy mothers can make happy children. • Making the training programs compulsory for the husband, too, for a better husband and father ; • Providing employment opportunity – economic security is the single most important factor for a happy marriage; • Re-calibrating the nature of the phenomenon of the foreign brides: • Media balancing the picture with more successful stories; • Academia conducting thorough surveys to profile the nature of the problems.

27. Concluding Remarks

28. Food for Thought • Lacking support of solid evidence, the “received views” are not to be aptly received; • A new national identity is in the making? • What would happen to the men in Taiwan without the cross-national marriages? • What has happened to the disadvantaged women in Taiwan with the “prosperous market” of inter-racial marriages?

29. “It’s most beautiful to have dreams in a row, as promising hopes will be in the tow.” （有夢最美，希望相隨） – President Chen Shui Bean