China-Vietnam marriages attract increasing public attention in China and trigger many discussions on the phenomenon of “Vietnamese brides”. The discussions are often linked to the rapid modernization of the border areas since the 1990s, caused by the re-opening of the border, the prosperity of the transnational economy, and the increase of cross-border mobility between the two countries. However, modernity in the borderlands has been “compressed” and unsystematic, which has a major impact on cross-border marriages. This study, thus, is designed to examine how individuals in China-Vietnam marriages have gone through the situation of compressed modernity. A qualitative research paradigm was adopted to guide this study and twenty-nine Vietnamese brides were identified as key informants and interviewed carefully for data collection. The aim is not only to refute the popular discourses that see Vietnamese brides as “traditional”, “money-loving” and “ignorant” women, but also to present how they construct a modern self, reclaim and reshape their identities as “Vietnamese brides”, and create different life chances and spaces through their cross border marriage and mobility. Findings and analyses show that Vietnamese brides’ making of a modern self is a continuing disembedment and re-embedment process within which gender relations are re-negotiated, reshaped, and reproduced. In terms of their different social class and positions, they have resorted to different ideals of femininities to recreate their images and identities as “Vietnamese brides”. Useful tactics, such as making concessions, running away, or excelling, have been developed or strategically adopted by these women to claim their agency and subjectivity in intimate relationships. Importantly, the specific context of the China-Vietnam border has provided varied opportunities and resources for Vietnamese brides to go beyond the state’s regulations and constraints on citizenship and to experiment the alternatives. Through taking advantage of the situations of 乱(chaos) and the benefits of living in the space “inbetween”, Vietnamese brides have developed different transnational networks and practiced their maternal citizenship at these border zones. Modernity is the outcome of globally connected histories but with uneven consequences. Although individuals are all included in modernity, they are differently positioned within it. Thus modernity is not monolithic and it is experienced differently and has varied consequences for gendered and sexual relations in different parts of the world. This research on Vietnamese brides has engaged with current academic debates around modernity and intimacy, and the purpose is to reveal the increasing complexity and diversity of patterns of intimacy in compressed modernity. It provides a good empirical case to elucidate that even within a relatively small specific region of the borderlands, there is also a highly complex and fluid social system of compressed modernity. Vietnamese brides’ varying practices of intimacy not only question the Western-centric theorization of modernity but also indicate their different ways to participate in and engage with modernity. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This is a research on Chinese women’s marriage migration to South Korea. I explore this topic by adopting the perspective of politics of intimacy. It aims to find out how the broad political and economic transformations in China and South Korea structure this migration flow and how the operation of transnational matchmaking as a business shapes marriage relationship. In addition, how Chinese women negotiate their intimate life and adapt to Korean society. I highlight the issue of intimacy in Chinese women’s marriage migration. Capitalist development and the change of economic structure in China and South Korea generate potential migrants, and the gendered mobility structure shaped by South Korean immigration policies particularly favors women’s marriage migration. Transnational matchmaking, organized on market principles, provides a means for brides and grooms to know each other. However, it also contributes to generating a marriage relationship without emotional basis, which contradicts with the discourse of love. Economic political forces and the operation of matchmaking as a business shape it is particularly difficult for Chinese women to build up a marriage relationship structured around love and emotion. However, in a situation that love and emotion are considered as the basis of “modern” marriage, a relationship without it has to be dealt with. I thus discuss their negotiation of intimacy in both premarital and marital relationships. In premarital intimacy, the discourse of love is manipulated by marriage brokers on behalf of men in a way that entraps women. After marriage, as both parties only barely know each other, the version of companionship they negotiate is different from that in other marriages and is often manifested in the issues of money and reproduction. However, both money management and reproduction are sites of power struggle between men and women. Men tend to use money to control women, and they press women to bear a child. However, when women are not sure about the relationship, they are usually reluctant to do so. Despite that women possess certain emotional power; in general they are in a weak position. Thus, they use the weapons of the weak, secret, non-confrontational methods to deal with the reproductive pressure. I thus demonstrate that intimacy is not negotiated by women and men of equal standing, but existing gender conventions are played out in the process of negotiation. Overall, I argue that it is important to discuss the issue of intimacy in transnational marriage as this is a perspective to avoid conflating women’s marriage migration with labor migration and reveal the emotional and human aspect of their marriage and experience. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Between 2001 and 2011, a total of 509,809 new immigrants have migrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong on the One-way Permit for family reunification, in which 69.7% were female who are typically wives of Hong Kong permanent residents. How these marriage migrants integrate into Hong Kong society and the assessment of their impact to Hong Kong is becoming a pivotal issue. Many studies and surveys indicated that these marriage migrants have encountered tremendous difficulties during their course of immigration adaptation, and many have resulted in severe psychological stress. Extensive literature has empirically documented that social support facilitates immigrants’ ability to make use of relationships to buffer their adaptation challenges and to promote their integration into the new environment. Yet hardly any studies have examined the determinants and changes of social support among these marriage migrants within a longitudinal framework. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of social support, including the structural, functional and the perception of social support. The “Social Support Mobilization Model” suggests that perceived stress leads to an increase in social support. On the contrary, the “Social Support Deterioration Model” suggests that persistent high level of stress erodes social support over time. This study test the Deterioration Model by examining the impact of lingering of stress levels on social support. Using a random sample of 211 Chinese marriage migrants from a two-year longitudinal secondary data, bivariate and multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the associations of social support with acculturation stress, persistent stress, psychological well-being, optimism and perceived neighborhood disorder. Findings indicated that marriage migrants have difficulties in re-establishing their social network outside their own community. Acculturation stress and psychological well-being were found to be the two most crucial factors affecting social support. Acculturation stress predicted both the structural and functional aspects of social support, but not the perceived social support. The psychological well-being, on the other hand, exerted significant influence on both the functional and perceived social support, but not on the structural social support. Results suggested that social support interventions should focus on alleviating acculturation stress, expanding social networking opportunity outside of their own immigrant community and enhancing psychological well-being. Besides, professional counseling and psychological support services should be provided to new immigrants, especially those who have experienced high level of stress. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy