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Representations and Regulations of Marriage Migration from Russia and Vietnam in the People's Republic of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2019

Elena Barabantseva
Affiliation:
Elena Barabantseva ([email protected]) is Senior Lecturer in Chinese International Politics at the University of Manchester. Caroline Grillot ([email protected]) is an independent scholar and Research Associate at Lyon Institute of East Asian Studies (Lyon, France).
Caroline Grillot
Affiliation:
Elena Barabantseva ([email protected]) is Senior Lecturer in Chinese International Politics at the University of Manchester. Caroline Grillot ([email protected]) is an independent scholar and Research Associate at Lyon Institute of East Asian Studies (Lyon, France).
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Abstract

Marriage migration has developed as a discursive field and a new direction of governing practices in the relations of post-Mao China with Russia and Vietnam. This article examines China's developing governing regime for international marriages from the perspective of its sovereign concerns related to border stability, population management, and national security. These concerns are considered through the analysis of material and affective processes informing and shaping the regulations and representations of marriage migration to China. This discussion not only shows how the Chinese state revises its administrative and legal terms of international marriage, but also highlights the historical, racialized, and gendered forces that shape the process. The regulatory framework of marriage migration is informed by the shifting structures of feeling shaping the contours of belonging in Chinese society. These intersecting spheres of state affective and regulatory practices signal new relations of power and inequality coalescing in China's relations with its neighbors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2019 

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