A marriage boom of sorts is underway in China, where a growing number of African men are tying the knot with Chinese women. While these new families are breaking long-held cultural stereotypes, they are also confronting a whole set of new challenges in the form of China’s byzantine legal system. China’s relatively new immigration law (2012) does not afford citizenship rights for spouses of Chinese nationals, and this combined with new restrictions on foreign visa-holders means that many bi-national families live in fear of being broken apart. South China Morning Post’s Jenni Marsh joins us to discuss her reporting on these new unions and the difficulties ahead for Sino-African newlyweds.
Recommendations:
- “Afro-Chinese Marriages Boom in Guangzhou: But Will it Be ‘Til Death Do Us Part’?” South China Morning Post, June 1, 2014