Men without women forcing China to smuggle wives from Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar

India Today

27-05-2025

In a warning issued on Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh urged its citizens to steer clear of illegal cross-border marriages and deceptive online matchmaking schemes. The statement, widely reported in Chinese state-run media, cautioned people against the notion of "buying a foreign wife". But, what is behind this deceptive cross-border marriage scheme is called shengnan shidai, or "the age of leftover men" in China. Not just from Bangladesh, women are smuggled into China from several other countries, including Nepal and Myanmar, according to a Human Rights Watch report.advertisementTrafficking seems to have become a "quick-fix" for a long-festering demographic imbalance in China.As the first generation of those born under the peak of sex-selective abortion in the 1980s reaches middle age, the pressure is mounting. The number of men of marriageable age far outnumbers that of women. The problem seems to be far more severe in China's rural areas.
Between 2020 and 2050, some 30 to 50 million Chinese men will likely never marry, according to media reports.The situation has reached such a point that political figures are proposing to lower the marriage age for women to increase the marriageable pool."The growing demand for these brides, particularly in rural areas, has fuelled a rise in illegal marriages," writes Lund University researcher Ming Gao. "This includes marriages involving children and women who have been trafficked into China primarily from neighbouring countries in South-East Asia."FOREIGN BRIDES FOR THE 'LEFTOVER' MEN IN CHINAadvertisementThere has been a rise in bride-trafficking, with tens of millions more men than women in China.Bangladesh and Nepal have become a hunting ground for human traffickers looking for young women. Both countries have vast rural populations living in poverty, and traffickers exploit this vulnerability.China is quietly "importing wives" from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Many of those trafficked are from vulnerable communities, according to a Human Rights Watch report from 2019.The trend is part of a desperate attempt for the continuation of family lines for many in China.China has witnessed extreme gender imbalance. Reports suggest 121 boys were born for every 100 girls in the early 2000s.In response, a shadow industry has emerged. Chinese brokers and traffickers operate under the guise of employment or migration services, entering remote, underserved communities in these countries. They offer women and girls from countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar the promise of a job or a better life in China.'AT THE MERCY OF TRAFFICKERS': LIFE OF A FOREIGN BRIDEUpon reaching China, these women find themselves at the mercy of traffickers. Their documents are taken, and their movements restricted.Many are "sold" to men for sums ranging between $5,000 and $20,000, depending on age and appearance, News.com.au, an Australian media outlet, reported in March.advertisementIn many cases, the transaction is seen as a "marriage", but there is little consent involved.Once "purchased", many women are taken to far-flung rural villages, locked up, raped, and pressured to bear children as quickly as possible.Human Rights Watch in 2019 documented dozens of such cases, particularly from northern Myanmar, but the same patterns are now appearing in Nepal and Bangladesh.Women are sold through informal and often illegal networks, with little protection or recourse. Those who attempt to escape are often treated as illegal immigrants by Chinese authorities and face stringent punishment.Meanwhile, Chinese men — many of them farmers or manual labourers — are lured by these human traffickers with promises of affordable "foreign wives" through expensive matchmaking services and "marriage tours".These traffickers take advantage of their loneliness and fear of being left behind in a society that still equates manhood with marriage and fatherhood.A 112-page report titled 'Give Us a Baby, and We'll Let You Go: Trafficking of Kachin Brides' from Myanmar to China reveals harrowing testimonies from 37 women who escaped the trafficking trade, along with accounts from several families of the victims.advertisementThe women, primarily from Myanmar's conflict-hit Kachin and northern Shan states, were deceived with promises of jobs, and then sold across the border in China for sums ranging from $3,000 to $13,000.Their stories follow a devastating pattern: confinement, repeated sexual assault, and forced childbirth. Locked away in remote Chinese homes, these women were treated not as wives but as vessels for reproduction.The Chinese government knows this is happening. But its response has been tepid. Most likely because any clampdown on such societal imbalance could see fierce reactions.On paper, marriage agencies are legal, but they're barred from facilitating cross-border marriages. In practice, though, little is done to prevent or punish trafficking.Trending Reel