Hong Kong short of brides

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 12

Hong Kong short of brides

A would-be bridegroom in Hong Kong, paid $6OOO to the family of a girl he wanted to marry in China. Another Hong Kong resident, paid $2BOO to a middleman to arrange for a Thai girl to marry him. ■ •• ; These are two recent examples of the effect of Hong Kong's shortage of women: in their search for wives, many men have to look outside the colony. The vast majority look to China, where their relatives can act as middlemen. About 10,000 people, nearly all of them men, applied last year to, Hong Kong's immigration department for an “absence of Marriage” certificate, which is needed in China to prove they are not already married. That is 10 times the figure of three years ago. Most would-be bride grooms are in their thirties

or early forties, of low income, and live in male dormitories or at their place of work. They cannot offer a bride a place of their own and, as single men, cannot apply for public housing. Such a man is not an attractive proposition to a Hong Kong girl but is extremely desirable to women in China, especially as emigration to Hong Kong, both legal and illegal, is becoming increasingly difficult. Such a marriage offers her the prospect of getting into Hong Kong legally. Many bride-hunters prefer their wives initially to stay in China, while they save up for a place of their own. During the last three years, travel across the border has become easier, so wives can be visited frequently and families started.. The cost of marrying in

China is usually cheaper than in Hong Kong. The bride’s family will certainly expect some gift from the.colony, but the cost of a reception in China, often held in the village with food made by the family, is much less than in Hong Kong where the relatives will expect a.full-scale banquet as well as presents. The procuring of wives from Thailand is a more complicated affair. Middlemen from Hong Kong go to Thai villages, especially in the poor north, and promise girls, often in their teens, jobs here at 10 times their present salary. They enter Hong Kong on a tourist visa; after it expires, they are at the mercy of a matchmaker.

The Thai Consulate in Hong Kong said it had helped more than 300 stranded girls return home in the past few years, and a Bangkok paper has put the figure at 3000.

The economic disparity between Hong Kong and China has led to increased opportunities for sexual exploitation, says the acting director of Hong Kong’s Family Planning Association, Mrs Peggy Lam.

Girls visiting the Association have described being assaulted while waiting to cross the border. After crossing,.some fell into the hands of gangsters who abused them sexually or sold them into prostitution. Their illegal entry gave them no legal protection. China’s lower cost of living has also led to the sale of personal services. An estimated 10.000 Hong Kong women travel to China annually for $4O abortions. This is nearly, double the number of legal abortions performed last year in Hong Kong. Copyright — London Observer Service.