Love Becomes Major Factor for Chinese Marrying Foreigners

SHANGHAI, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- When Xiao Zhang, an ordinary Shanghai girl, was 
studying English at university six years ago, Peter, her husband, first came to 
the city from the US to teach foreign languages.

Their different cultures and closeness in age (Zhang is half a year older than 
Peter) did not stop the couple from getting married because they love each 
other. They now have two children.

In China today, more and more young people like Zhang have narrowed the age 
differences with their foreign spouses since lovebegan to play a decisive role 
in international marriages.

Statistics from the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau show that theaverage age 
difference between those spouses has narrowed from seven years in 1998 to five 
years in 2001. Love has also begun to be a crucial factor in such marriages, 
according to the statistics.

This is in sharp contrast with most Chinese international marriages of about 10 
years ago, which were once described by someforeign scholars as "totally a tacit 
contract and nothing but a deal".

It was usual for foreign men to be over ten years older than their Chinese 
brides in the past. Foreigners took only the beauty and obedience of their 
Chinese wives into account while their Chinese spouses were only after money and 
the chance to live abroad.

However, China's rapid development in recent years has ended most of these "fake 
marriages" or "marriages for a visa".

"Money, living abroad and foreign citizenship are not as important today in 
marriages to foreigners as they might once havebeen because Chinese are getting 
rich," said Yu Hai, associate professor in sociology at Fudan University.

Many young Chinese were now on an equivalent level to their foreign counterparts 
in jobs, education and knowledge, Yu said.

The number of Chinese marrying foreigners has dropped in some cities. There were 
533 marriages to foreigners in China's boomtownShenzhen in 1998, down from its 
peak of 1167 in 1988.

But in a new trend, in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing it is becoming more 
common for Chinese men to tie the knot with foreign brides. Enditem