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China's dwindling marriage rate is fueling demand for brides trafficked from abroad

China's marriage rate is . There were 6.1 million marriage registrations nationwide in 2024, down from 7.7 million the previous year. This decline has prompted Chen Songxi, a Chinese national political adviser, to propose from 22 to 18.

The drop in China's marriage rate has been driven by a combination of factors. These include increased economic pressures, evolving social attitudes towards marriage, and higher levels of education.

Urban Chinese women, in particular, are increasingly pushing back against , which emphasize marriage and childbearing as essential life milestones. Rising living costs are also making it increasingly difficult for many young people to afford to get married.

At the same time, China is grappling with a longstanding gender imbalance, a legacy of the country's sweeping one-child policy and cultural preference for male children. In the early 2000s, when the imbalance was at its peak, at birth reached 121 boys for every 100 girls. For every 100 girls born in some provinces, there were more than 130 boys.

The gender imbalance is particularly pronounced among those born in the 1980s, a generation I belong to. This is due to the widespread use of from the mid-1980s onward, which offered parents the ability to terminate pregnancies if their child was female.

Unmarried men in China have become part of the so-called "era of leftover men" (shengnan shidai in Chinese). This is an internet term that loosely refers to the period between , when an estimated 30 million to 50 million Chinese men are to find a wife.

The conundrum is that many of these "leftover" men want to marry—I know this firsthand. Some of my peers from primary and secondary school have been desperately searching for a wife, but have struggled to find a spouse. A in China, "difficulty in getting married" (jiehun nan), encapsulates this struggle.

Unable to find a domestic spouse, some Chinese men have turned to foreign brides. The growing demand for these brides, particularly in rural areas, has fueled a rise in . This includes marriages involving and who have been trafficked into China primarily from neighboring countries in south-east Asia.

According to a Human Rights Watch released in 2019 on bride trafficking from Myanmar to China "a porous border and lack of response by law enforcement agencies on both sides [has] created an environment in which traffickers flourish."

The Chinese government has now pledged to crack down on the industry. In March 2024, China's launched a campaign against the transnational trafficking of women and children, calling for enhanced international cooperation to eliminate these crimes.

'Purchased' foreign brides

These marriages are often arranged through informal networks or commercial agencies, both of which are according to China's state council.

says that women and girls in neighboring countries are typically tricked by brokers who promise well-paid employment in China. They find themselves at the mercy of the brokers once they reach China, and are sold for between US$3,000 (£2,300) and US$13,000 to Chinese men.

Determining the extent of illegal cross-border marriages in China is challenging due to the clandestine nature of these activities. But the from the UK's Home Office suggests that 75% of Vietnamese human-trafficking victims were smuggled to China, with women and children making up 90% of cases.

, an award-winning documentary from 2022, follows the story of a trafficked Myanmar woman who was sold into marriage in China. The film exposes the harsh realities faced by many .

It captures not only the coercion and abuse many of these women endure, but also their struggle for autonomy and survival in a system that treats them as commodities. Larry, a trafficked woman who features in the documentary, explained that she saw her as her pathway to survival.

The Chinese authorities involving brides purchased from abroad. In November 2024, for example, two people over their involvement in an illegal cross-border matchmaking scheme. Chinese men were lured into extremely expensive "marriage tours" abroad with promises of "affordable" foreign wives.

There have also been cases where the undocumented brides themselves large sums of money before marriage arrangements are completed.

China's marriage crisis has far-reaching implications for the country's demographic future. A shrinking and aging population is often cited as the greatest challenge for Chinese economic growth and social stability. Beijing this characterization, saying that constant technological innovations will continue to drive economic growth.

The labor force is undoubtedly important when it comes to economic growth. But according to Justin Lin Yifu, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference advisory body, what matters more is effective labor—the product of both the quantity and quality of the labor force.

China has in education continually over recent years in anticipation of future challenges surrounding its aging population.

But, notwithstanding this, an even greater concern is the large number of leftover men, as this could pose a serious threat to social stability. Studies have between high male-to-female sex ratios and crime rates both in China and India, where there is also a significant gender imbalance.

In China, that skewed male sex ratios have accounted for around 14% of the rise in crime since the mid-1990s. And in India, that a 5.5% rise in the male sex ratio would increase the odds of unmarried women being harassed by more than 20%.

The question of who China's leftover men will marry is becoming a pressing issue for Beijing. The government's response will shape the country's future for decades to come.