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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/174504 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Jin, Hong, 金红 |
| Contributors | Kuah-Pearce, KE |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Source | http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47849460 |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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