Fear and regrets haunt Vietnamese brides in China

By Wu Yan (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-05-07 15:10

Huang Chunxiang, a Vietnamese bride, and her 9-year old daughter in Raoping county, Chaozhou of South China's Guangdong province on Mar 20, 2015. Huang has neither a Chinese marriage certificate nor a green card, so her daugther also does not have legal identification, which hampers her enrolling in school. [Photo/CFP]

Sketching the location of landmarks in Ho Chi Minh City on a piece of paper, Zhou Jiazhen, a Vietnamese woman who married a Chinese man in early 2011, was homesick and raised her head to look into the distance.

Sitting in her Vietnamese specialty shop in Huzhu village, Yanxi town in Zhangzhou, East China's Fujian province, Zhou drew the map at the request of a single man who was planning to leave for Ho Chi Minh City to seek a bride himself.

Zhou was the first Vietnamese bride to move to the village and now there are 145 there. Zhou opened her specialty shop to serve the group early last year and business was good at the time, China News Week reported.

But the good times did not last long. With dozens of Vietnamese brides going missing, Zhou's business went down, which led to an even more grim situation - she may not be able to get a Foreigner Permanent Residence Certificate, better known as the Chinese green card, next year due to lack of funds.

A foreigner, married to a Chinese citizen, can apply for a green card, after they marry and live in the country for 5 years and have a property of their own or a lease agreement.

The green card guarantees a foreigner enjoys social security, including medical insurance, automatic permission to work and the right to enter and leave the country freely.

In Zhou's case, she will meet the time requirement next year, but her family does not have a house or legally rent one. Housing is the reason she has to make money as soon as possible in order to get a Chinese ID card.