Marriage Migration in China

Abstract

This article shows that marriage migration is an important form of migration for women in contemporary China, accounting for between a quarter and a third of all female migration, and for over half the female migration from the poorer provinces. Uneven development and greatly improved communications have both contributed to the development of marriage migration as a significant phenomenon in post-reform China. Sometimes women themselves use marriage to escape poverty-stricken homes and to move up through the spatial hierarchy to more prosperous areas. In other cases their families arrange marriages for them in more developed places, even if these are very far away, in order to take advantage of the higher bride price prevalent in wealthier communities. Agents make money by effecting introductions and moving women physically, sometimes over thousands of miles. While doubtless some such marriages are advantageous for all parties, they often have adverse effects both for the vulnerable women involved and for the poorer areas, which suffer a net loss of women to the richer coastal areas.