CHANGSHA - For most women, marriage means falling in love and planning a romanticwedding. But for 18-year-old Yang Jinmei, marriage arrived at knife point.
A Vietnamese woman, Yang Jinmei (Chinese name) says three years ago four traffickersabducted her near the border of China and Vietnam. They put a knife to her cheek and tookher to Shuangfeng county in central Hunan province.
Around this time, Hu Xinfa was looking for a wife. At 35, he was divorced, raising a daughter,and finding it difficult to remarry. Eventually, he borrowed money from relatives to "buy" a wife.
The 15-year-old Yang had a price tag. She literally cost 35,000 yuan ($5,468). Hu paid it. Themoney went to traffickers who claimed they were Yang's relatives, and he and she became manand wife.
But not really. In practicality, they were as good as married, but legally they were not becauseYang had entered China illegally. Yet there was little risk to either, as authorities are known tolook the other way.
Not surprisingly, no honeymoon followed, and in fact, the "newlyweds" could not even speak toeach other for a long time, as Yang only spoke Vietnamese.
During most of the first year Yang was with Hu, she resented and resisted the coercedmarriage.
"In fear and protest, I threw outside the bananas and apples my husband bought for me," Yangrecalled. But Hu's patience and kindness eventually won her over.
After the birth of her daughter, about one year into their relationship, she reached a point ofacceptance, though she still missed dearly her parents, both old and frail.
Mercenary marriage
Hu Xinfa and Yang's situation is not unusual in rural villages, as a significant gender gap hascreated a market for "mercenary" marriages.
Hu Jianhe, who lives in Hunan's Shuizhou village about 3 km away from Hu Xinfa's home village,paid marriage brokers more than 36,000 yuan three years ago for his Vietnamese "wife,"whose Chinese name is Ma Zhengfen. She and Yang became friends.
But Ma disappeared in May, leaving behind her two-year-old daughter.
Two months later, she called, saying she had been abducted and asked Hu Jianhe to pay20,000 yuan for her release -- otherwise she would be resold, Hu's father recalled.
Hu Jianhe opted not to pay. He suspected it was all a scam from the beginning, yet he initiallychose not to report it to the police, because he worried he might be accused of trafficking.
And Hu isn't the only one in the village who bought a wife. Hu Qiulai did as well -- also fromVietnam, and his wife disappeared just like Ma.
In recent months, there have been a number of purchased wives reported missing, which hasled to a Shuangfeng county anti-trafficking campaign and an investigation of illegal marriages.
Its public security bureau has sent a few police officers to southwestern Yunnan province,which borders Vietnam, to look into the case. But apprehending traffickers and stopping theflow of girl and young women across the border will require more than a few county officers.
As Ma planned to flee back to Vietnam, she tried to persuade Yang to come with her.
Yang refused to go. She could not leave her daughter.
"My husband treats me very well, and I don't want to leave the family," Yang says, in her nowfluent Chinese.
But Yang, originally brought to China against her will, will soon be deported to Vietnam --against her will. Authorities say no exceptions will be made.
Police suspect at least nine women came from Vietnam and formed families in Shuangfengcounty illegally, said Liu Daoguang, a senior official with the county's public security bureau.
Once their identities are confirmed, they will be deported to their home country, as their stay inChina is illegal, Liu said.
"My family might be ruined," Yang said, trembling with a cup of tea in her hand.
Her husband, Hu Xinfa, said he was in agony, too, as he did not want to lose his wife, and hisdaughter could not afford to lose her mother.
He claims he did not know Yang was brought to China against her will, but believed thetraffickers whom he paid were in fact her relatives, and he says he was shocked when Yangtold him the truth, once she learned to speak the language sufficiently.
According to the law, the crime of purchasing a wife can mean a three-year prison sentence orlonger, depending on whether it is also categorized as detainment with sexual assault.
But a Changsha-based lawyer, who requested only to be identified by his surname Zeng, saysit is unlikely Hu will be prosecuted, and men in this situation almost never face legalrepercussions because it is difficult to prove, and also because authorities generallysympathize with the men.
Gender gap
Experts say the widening gender gap in China is making it increasingly difficult for rural men toget married, and has subsequently created the demand for mercenary marriages and thetraffickers to supply them.
China's sex ratio at birth was 118.06 males for every 100 females in 2010, higher thandemographic norm of 103 to 105 boys per 100 girls, according to a latest census last year.
As an increasing number of urban bachelors seek rural girls, the impoverished rural populationis left with less choice for marriage, said Zhai Zhenwu, a sociologist at Renmin University ofChina, according to an August report of the People's Daily.
Zhai warns that millions of Chinese men of marrying age might not be able to get married by2020 due to the gender imbalance, and adds that it is a trend that will threaten social stability.
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