More men say 'I do' to mail-order Vietnamese women

Vietnam's mail-order bride business is booming, fueled by surging demand from Chinese men who have given up hope of finding a compatriot wife and are lured by the prospect of a bargain bride bought in a group purchase. Though international marriage agencies are officially illegal, loopholes in China have allowed the industry to flourish and prompted calls from experts to regulate such businesses so they can be more closely supervised.

For a group purchase price of 30,000 to 40,000 yuan ($4,727-$6,303), an attractive Vietnamese bride aged between 18 and 25 can be "bought" from a marriage agency based in Yunnan Province, which regularly posts online advertisements.

Heading south for love

The agency, ynxn1314.com, is registered as a Chinese dating service in the provincial capital Kunming. It organizes group tours to Vietnam for single Chinese men and arranges dates for them with Vietnamese women selected from a catalogue as a possible mate for marriage.

The cost of the tour includes travel expenses, translation services, gifts for the women's families and the wedding ceremony. If dates fail or men are unsatisfied with the women they have chosen, the agency charges clients just 2,000 yuan for the tour. They also assume responsibility for finding clients a new bride if the first one flees after the wedding, according to a report by Kunming-based newspaper the Spring City Evening News.

The legal status of mail-order brides has been questioned in China since "group buying" of Vietnamese brides took off several years ago.

According to a State Council notification on international marriages in 1994, Chinese marriage agencies are not allowed to source spouses from other countries and individuals cannot engage in international matchmaking for profit.

Agencies found to have breached these regulations can be shut down by the police, civil affairs authorities and industry and commerce administrators; however, there is no concrete punishment stipulated by law.

Ynxn1314.com issued a statement online on May 19 outlining the legality of its business and distanced itself from the practice of "group purchasing" Vietnamese brides, which it termed "inappropriate."

"We're gathering Chinese clients for group tours to Vietnam to arrange dating activities, not group purchasing," an agency employee surnamed Hu told the Global Times, adding "more than 80 percent" of clients find brides.