Chapter 1 Introduction
1.2 The Major Issue and Background
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Secondly, what marriage migrants contribute to or deteriorate household finance in their destination families, owing to their original inferior and unfavorable educational and socio-economical backgrounds plus contemporary insufficient aids and policies associated with migrants. Thirdly, Taiwan, in some ways, is not completely immigrant-friendly and there are lots of to do for building foreigner-friendly environment in public and private sectors. Under such an unfavorable circumstance marriage migrants existing, i.e. generation dissonance, culture shock, experiences of discrimination such as somehow anti-immigrant sentiment both in labor and marriage markets, how marriage migrants find a way out and fulfill their original dream and what steps the government may take to improve or build an immigrant-friendly society and allow marriage migrants possess the sense of belonging and be more economic-independent to support and secure their families.
1.2 The Major Issue and Background
Migration has a long history of development and has accumulated to tremendous amounts of migrant population in the past century. Siddiqui (2008) stated that over the last 25 years, the number of international migrants has almost doubled. In the 1980, 99 million people were living outside their country of origin. In 2005, it became 190 million (United Nations, 2006). Compared to the 1960s, growth rate of migrant populations is rather high. Therefore the migration has been a trend of no end.
The statistics of International Migration Report 2006 of United Nations indicated that there were more than 175 million people who migrated to another country in 2000. Furthermore, since more than 175 million people live outside their country of birth, destination country impacts are, indeed, important (Pfeiffer and Taylor, 2008).
Between 1960 and 2005 the number of international migrants in the world doubled, and in 2005 about 190 million people —– roughly 3 percent of the world’s
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population —– lived outside their country of birth (United Nations, 2006; Morrison et al., 2008).
Piper (2005) indicated that international migration has become an established feature of contemporary social and economic life globally. It has both positive and negative features and opportunities for the countries and individuals involved. As a result, cross-border mobility has, in general, attracted a great deal of international policy attention in recent years.
Moreover, the gender aspect of migration is also an important element in relative researches on migration. As Piper (2005) claimed that global estimates by sex confirm that for more than 40 years since 1960, female migrants reached almost the same numbers as male migrants. Since then, the share of female emigrants among all international migrants has been rising steadily. By 2000, female migrants constituted nearly 51 percent of all migrants in the developed world and about 46 percent of all migrants in the developing countries. The fact which Taiwan’s marriage migrants mainly consist of women from Southeast Asia and Mainland China just complies with the global trend. Especially, according to the statistics from MOI, the number of foreign spouses is over 420 thousand in 2009 and represents almost 90 percent of total migrant population.
International migration has received increasing attention in recent decades.
However, migration issue in Taiwan was not always a hot topic as it is today; on the contrary, migration has been a heated issue around the world, especially in those developed countries.
However, along with surge of globalization, unceasingly migration waves flow worldwide. Inevitably, Taiwan, a developing country in the international community, is also confronting the migration wave and facing the effects and problems caused by it. And migration issue has attracted researchers’ interest and has been the main
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concern of the government.
From historic point of view, Taiwan has long been a migration destination through its development process. Moreover, transnational marriage as a pattern of cross-border migration is not a novelty in Taiwan. As Cheng (2008) indicated that a few researchers mentioned that the formation of transnational marriages had experience a long process. At the very early period of transnational marriage were mainly from studying abroad, emigration or jobs; from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, some overseas Chinese arranged partners for the veterans. At the midst of 1980s, along with Taiwanese Businessmen invested in South-east Asia, more and more single males on the edge of marriage market married foreign spouses on the basis of breed, especially those from Thailand and Philippines. Foreign spouse and new female migrant influx started from the 1990’s, females from Southeast Asian countries married Taiwan’s males so that arouse a heated wave of transnational marriages (Ye, 2006). That is what Cheng (2008) declared the three waves of marriage immigrants occurred and occurring through different periods of economic and social development in Taiwan.
Taiwan, an island state selected by the women migrants from South-east Asian countries as the destination country, accepts migrants via transnational marriages to great proportion. In consequence, the female spouses constitute the major part of the body of the total marriage migrants in Taiwan. Therefore, the female marriage migrants may lay much influence on our society, culture, ethnicity and politics and etc.
Throughout the 1990s and the early period of 2000s, approximately twenty percent of all marriages registered in Taiwan involved a Taiwanese man and foreign born woman (Wang, 2007) and the total number of such women has reached nearly
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400,000 (out of a population of 23 million),4 namely constructing so-called Taiwan’s fifth ethnic group called the “new immigrants”.5 The presence of such women is more acutely seen in rural communities, where, as will be discussed later, a kind of
“chain-marriage-migration” is found as one married woman may encourage a sister or cousin to marry another man later in the community.
Sandel and Liang (2009), conducting interviews across Taiwan, found it not uncommon for two Taiwanese brothers in one family to be married to two Vietnamese sisters or cousins. The term Waiji Xinniang, however, has become associated with negative undertones and is contentious, marked by the public television program that was aired in Taiwan from 2007-2008 entitled, Bie Jiao Wo Waiji Xinniang —– Don’t call me a foreign bride. The show dramatically portrayed the struggles of Vietnamese women who met and married Taiwanese men in Vietnam, and then followed them as they moved to Taiwan and learned to adjust. Part of their resistance to being called Waiji Xinniang is that the term implies the sense that no matter how well they adjust to life in Taiwan, they are forever foreign and unable to be accepted as competent
“women.” And no matter how long they have been married, they cannot get rid of the term Xinniang which is used for a newly-wedded woman. As a result, foreign bride has long been the stereotype name of the marriage migrant no matter how old they are and how long they have stayed in Taiwan.6 As Hsia (2005) pointed out that middle-aged women complained that even though they are pretty old, they are still called “new”.7
Therefore, the term generally used to call marriage migrants has changed
4 The newly released statistic data showed the number is above 428 thousand in November of 2009.
5 The women immigrated to Taiwan via transnational Migration are called from foreign brides, foreign spouses, daughter-in-laws of Taiwan, new immigrants to new residents through the development process of marriage migration in Taiwan. No matter whether the name implies discriminative denotation, the marriage migrants urged for the name they are comfortably to be called and the government implemented responsive measures.
6 The term “bride” spoken in Chinese denotes “new” wife.
7 See http://www.allacademic.com/one/www/research/index.php?click_key=1&PHPSESSID=de0cc 023fd18138e1ea5d835b0240f6c
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respectively from foreign brides, foreign spouses, new immigrants, and new residents through the development process by their resistance and claim as well as NGOs and NPOs’ assistance. In this paper, the terms-foreign brides and foreign spouses are regarded as neutral nouns in distinguishing the spouses or brides coming from foreign countries from those being born and residing in Taiwan.
As Jones and Randas (2004) indicated that some significant marriage trends in East and Southeast Asia are delayed and non-marriage and cohabitation are probably increasing, even far less prevalent in the West. The globally transforming marriage trend and bi-sexual relations have laid influence on the marriage pattern and need-and-supply gender balance in the marriage market of Taiwan.
In rural Taiwan, many men of marriage age without a high paying job, advanced degree, or home in one of Taiwan’s cities, without a wife or child, requisite symbols of success and maturity in this Confucian-influenced society. With few opportunities for marriage in sight, they intended to pursue a path toward marriage as thousands of other men taking in Taiwan: he contacted a professional marriage broker, who for a fee arranged to have him fly to Southeast Asian Countries where he could meet women interested in marriage. Only if he found some woman attractive who assented to his request, and they were married in a brief ceremony. Then after a short
“honeymoon” with their brides, the Taiwanese men flew home, while the women remained in homeland for several more months until the marriage company arranged their spousal visas, which allowed them later to fly to Taiwan and begin married life.
This kind of story happened repeatedly in Taiwan’s society.
Nowadays, due to prevailing globalization worldwide in economics, culture and politics in the recent few decades, countries in different regions interact much more frequently. Thus, international migration tends to occur simultaneously. The causes for migration are diversely ranged from economic, educational, cultural and political
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dimensions such as for business, family reunion or refugee seeking for asylum, etc.
However, Taiwan is a special case. The main migrants influx is from transnational marriage and the source countries are chiefly South-east Asian countries and Mainland China.
Basically, Taiwan’s luxurious and lively images presented in the global stage are attractive to people of Southeast Asian countries of poverty and stagnation; therefore, women in the above-mentioned nations may embrace and pursue for the dream of better future via transnational marriage.
On the basis of marriage slope theory which marriage tendency of women is to search partner of better condition; conversely, that of men is look for someone inferior to them. On the contrary, men of inferiorly socioeconomic and educational background in Taiwan are facing the imbalanced relation of marriage supply and need and are frustrated to find a partner in homeland. Thus, they turn to Southeast Asian women for establishing a family. Consequently, the transnational marriages in Taiwan are increasing in the past two decades and maintain in recent years in spite of decrease
for several years due to executing interview mechanism to block pseudo marriages.
Since soaring increase of transnational marriage between Taiwan’s grooms and Southeast Asian countries’ brides, migrants draw more and more attention by the mass media and the general public, especially for once a racially homogeneous nation.
Definitely the ethnicity, culture, society and economy in Taiwan are influenced gradually to different extent. Furthermore, not only the government but the private sectors offer assistance service for the new immigrants.
Nonetheless, what a pity is that in spite of all the commitments made to satisfy and assist the marriage migrants or something around them, the marriage migrants still fight for their rights and welfare they deserved via various channels. As a result, migrants are no longer a chat topic or an issue but a concern to be concentrated in
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Taiwan. This arouses the author’s individual interest in exploring and discovering what the government and the private sectors may offer marriage immigrants further assistance they actually need in improving their economic situation and whether insufficient payoff the family, society and even nation returned for what they contributed.
In the past, immigrants to Taiwan mainly from the mainland China, of same language and ethnicity, may easily adapt to Taiwan’s society. With regards to different cultural, ethnic and economical background, marriage immigrants through interracial marriage may struggle over adjustment to Taiwan’s society and face more obstacles for survival from discrimination from their family and the general public. They migrated here for better opportunities, life or promising future. Now if their dreams come true? Whether they live really better than they were in their original countries?
In recent years, the main sources of immigrants are from transnational marriage, especially the brokered marriage. The statistics from MOI show that the number of foreign spouses amounts to around 430 thousand at the end of the year 2009.
Moreover, comparatively speaking, the birth rate of female marriage immigrants is not definitely higher than that of Taiwan’s married women, but it is prevailing that female marriage migrants are less reluctant to be pregnant right after their marriage.
Ye (2006) stated that foreign spouses, especially Vietnamese Spouses, are pregnant for the first time at the first year of their marriage; as a result, the second generation of transnational family has gradually occupied ten percent of the total newborns.
At the early stage of this new century, low birth rate of native couples is increasingly serious and the second generation of transnational couples is accumulating. Foreign spouses become the major fertility force, one eighths of newborns are of mother from foreign countries or mainland and estimated increase to one fourths of newborns are from transnational marriage family (Huang, 2008).
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As Ye (2006) indicated that the population structure of Taiwan has transformed dramatically in this decade due to soaring immigrants; moreover, the increase of international marriages has led to more and more marriage-related female immigrants flow into Taiwan’s society. Will marriage immigrants be the burden or be productive to society? Are the descendents of transnational marriage family inferior to their peer group in academic performance? The debates over marriage immigrants’ positive and negative effects on the original and receiving countries never end. The marriage immigrants have become the main concern of policymakers that also arouse the author’s individual interest in studying the marriage immigrant economic situation and suggesting responsive policies which the government and the private sectors may implement.