Chinese Whispers: How China's mail-order brides are taking back control
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The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
It turns out that it’s not so much young and uneducated Chinese women looking to marry out of the country anymore, and more middle aged and financially well off divorcees, looking for something different.
The mail order bride industry is changing as the women involved are becoming more empowered with their growing wealth – and more demanding.
On this episode, Cindy Yu speaks to sociologist Monica Liu, whose new book, Seeking Western Men, is all about these changing dynamics of race, class, gender and, ultimately, power. She writes about the book in an article for Sixth Tone.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Spectator's prestigious, economic, Innovator of the Year award in partnership with InvestTech |
| 0:05.6 | and now in their sixth year. Wherever you're based in the UK, we can't wait to hear about the |
| 0:10.7 | success of your business and the impact you're making on the economy and society in 2023. |
| 0:17.1 | Applications are now open and will close June 16th. To learn more and apply, please visit |
| 0:22.8 | spectator.com.com.uk forward slash innovator. |
| 0:36.2 | Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. |
| 0:39.7 | Every episode, I'll be talking to journalists, experts and long-time China watchers |
| 0:43.4 | about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more. |
| 0:47.5 | There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge |
| 0:50.3 | and some context as well. |
| 0:52.2 | How do the Chinese see these issues? |
| 0:56.5 | Did you know that there is a booming male-order bride industry linking up Chinese women to Western suitors? Except, |
| 1:03.2 | it might not be quite what you expect. It turns out that it is not so much young and uneducated |
| 1:08.2 | women looking to marry out of the country anymore, and more |
| 1:11.2 | middle-aged and financially well-off divorcees, looking for something different. The male-order |
| 1:16.5 | bride industry is changing, as the women involved are becoming more empowered with China's growing |
| 1:21.4 | wealth. And they're also becoming more demanding. On a podcast today, I speak to sociologist |
| 1:27.1 | Monica Liu, whose new book, |
| 1:29.2 | Seeking Western Men, is all about these changing dynamics of race, class, gender, and ultimately, |
| 1:35.0 | power. Monica, thank you so much for joining us. I first came across your work through an article |
| 1:40.3 | you wrote for Sixth Tone, which I can link in the description for listeners. And it really intrigued me your point about how the mail order bride industry is changing. |
| 1:49.2 | But I wondered if, first of all, we can start with an overview of that whole industry. |
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