Transnational marriages in the Sino-Vietnamese border areas of China
Transnational marriages in the Sino-Vietnamese border areas of China have rapidly increased since the re-opening of the border in the 1990s. In the Sino-Vietnamese border areas, the building of intimation relationship is usually between a Chinese man and a Vietnamese woman. Historically, transnational marriages were common due to unclear state and ethnic boundaries in border areas. In the modern era, the formation of transnational marriages here is multifold. Thereinto, imbalanced economic development in border areas of China and Vietnam is one of the most significant incentives. For transnational spouses in the Sino-Vietnamese border areas, Vietnamese wives usually follow their local Chinese husbands and live with their husbands’ families in China's borderlands, usually in villages or small towns. Some of them are officially married and finish the process of registration in the local administration. Yet, the cases of undocumented marriages are still in a huge number. The welfare and conditions of those Vietnamese women who are de facto wives of local Chinese men but unofficially recognized are one of the major concerns researched by many scholars. The option to join an international intimacy, on the one hand, is sometimes voluntary both for Vietnamese women and especially Chinese men in the Sino-Vietnamese