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Outsiders Within: ¡§Mainland Brides¡¨ in Taiwan
Introduction
The increasing phenomenon of Cross-Straits marriage is receiving more and more attention and has become a highly contentious issue in Taiwanese society today. The existence and phenomenon of ¡§Mainland brides¡¨ signifies some of the most sensitive issues in Taiwan; namely, national identity, ethnical identity, and democratic consolidation. The paradoxes inside the island and across the Straits lead to the unfairness Mainland brides are suffering. What will be presented here includes the objective environment of these Mainland women in Taiwan, the kinds of unfairness they are encountering, and the source of this unfairness that frustrates their self-identity. The final part will be a reflection upon the unfavorable situation of Mainland spouses in Taiwan. ... However, Taiwan, at this time, is still not mature enough to be a substantial democratic polity capable of providing them with these rights. ...
¡§Definition of the Term ¡§Mainland Bride¡¨
The term ¡§Mainland bride¡¨ requires clarification. It generally refers to women of the Mainland area married to people of the Taiwan area. Under this rough definition some categorizations are necessary: those so-called ¡§Mainland brides¡¨ are women emerging since martial law in Taiwan ended. Since the government permitted ¡§visiting the relatives on the Mainland¡¨ and started to lose control over economic and cultural contact and exchange with the Mainland, the amount of cross-straits marriage grows rapidly. These cases of Taiwanese men marrying Mainland women occur far more frequently than do cases of Taiwanese men marrying woman of other nationalities . ... This trend can be understood for the same ethnicity (though doubtful to a good number of people in Taiwan), and the same cultural and historical background are shared between Taiwan and the Mainland.
Relating regulations
The Mainland Affairs Council, officially set up by ROC Executive Yuan in 1991, is in charge of handling matters related to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan area and the Mainland area. The handling of Mainland spouses is based on ¡§ACT Governing Relations between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area¡¨, which was first issued in 1992 for the purposes of ¡§ensuring the security and public welfare in the Taiwan Area ¡§before national reunification. ... Within the first two years of marriage, Mainland spouses can only apply for ¡§Visiting relatives¡¨, which requires them to return to China every six months. After marriage for two years or having given birth to a child, Mainland spouses can apply for residence but with a quota restriction of 3600 per year; and those on the waiting list can apply for ¡§family reunion¡¨ which requires them to return to China every year. ... To worsen matters, there was even a recently planned amendment to the ¡§Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area¡¨ that attempted to extend the time Chinese spouses must wait to get Republic of China identification cards from eight years to 11 . Other foreign spouses only have to wait six months to obtain right of residence in Taiwan and four years to get identification cards. The common term ¡§Mainland bride¡¨ thus possesses its duality: ¡§Mainland¡¨ refers to the unusual cross-straits relations, and ¡§bride¡¨ refers to the long process within which they remain exotic to the land they plan to settle into. ... Explained by Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, this new proposal would considerably reduce the number of trips Chinese spouses were forced to take between China and Taiwan and make their life easier. ... the government intended to be stricter about granting identification cards in order to carefully handle the increasing number of relatives brought by Chinese spouses to Taiwan that would have a considerable impact on the society . This amendment seriously angered many Mainland spouses and was vehemently opposed. ... TSU (Taiwan Solidarity Union), the most independence-oriented ¡§fundamentalist¡¨ organization, whose moral leader was the former President Lee Tung-hui, strongly opposed the concession MAC made and even proposed to extend the process to 15 or 20 years . ...
Another aspect that considerably affects the rights and interests of Mainland spouses is the right to work. During the stage of ¡§visiting relatives¡¨, Mainland spouses are not permitted to work. ... Otherwise, Mainland brides are not given permission to work until they get the right of residence, which is usually after six to eight years after getting married. ... The contrast between Mainland spouses and other foreign spouses is apparent: in the case of other foreign spouses who get both the right of residency and the right to work almost as soon as they are married.
Features of Marriages between Taiwanese Males and Mainland Spouses in Taiwan
Cross-strait marriages in Taiwan possess several main features. ... A large number of cross-straits marriages are between Mainland spouses and old veterans who followed the KMT to ¡§retreat¡¨ from the Mainland in 1949 after the Communist victory. ... Their affection for the Mainland made most of them eager to ¡§return to hometowns¡¨ . ... Most of the ¡§Mainland brides¡¨ of this kind were divorced or unemployed women who were under realistic pressures and wanted to improve their current life by marriage. ... Most of these women intended to work and earn their own savings after coming to Taiwan even if it was not permitted under the regulations, since their rights and future were less assured, since once their husbands passed away, they would be sent back to the mainland. ... The first category emerges with the increasing numbers of Taiwanese men engaging in business on the Mainland who met their future wives there. ... Both the Mainland spouses and Taiwanese males enthusiastic about introducing opportunities to friends, and most of their interested friends willingly make trips to the Mainland to meet their possible future mates. The marriage agencies, which have sprung up in recent years, usually without exception create the image of Mainland women as beautiful, docile, diligent, frugal, highly obedient to elders, and possessing all the traditional virtues of Chinese women, in order to cater to Taiwanese men¡¦s longing for an ¡§ideal wife¡¨. ... Compared to these men, the socio-economic background of their Mainland female spouses are often much more complex, with some of them holding college degrees and having formerly drawn in satisfactory incomes in China. ...
Another type of Mainland bride is worth noting. In coastal provinces like Fujian and Guangdong, there is a trend for Chinese girls to use marriage as a channel to seek jobs in Taiwan. They pay to the ¡§snake heads¡¨, the illegal local ¡§agents¡¨, and those agents contact their conspirators in Taiwan, waiting for them to look for willing ¡§fake husbands¡¨. After finally getting to Taiwan, those women start to work in an illegal way, and large numbers of them gain their money as prostitutes. ...
The Unfair Situation Mainland Brides Face, and the Sources of this Unfairness
Types of unfairness were discussed in the prior section about the regulations. But what really matters is the impact those regulations pose to the society which the Mainland brides live in. ... Widespread biases against Mainland brides, both legally and politically and also within the societal realm, decisively shadow their self-identity and self-realization.
Approximate Word count = 5811
Approximate Pages = 23.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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