Full Description
This is the first interdisciplinary work on marriage migration from the former Soviet Union to Reform-era China, almost invariably involving a Slavic bride and a Chinese husband. To understand China better as a destination for marriage migration, Elena Barabantseva delves into the politics and lived experiences of desire, marriage and race, all within China's pursuit of national rejuvenation. She brings together diverse sources, including immigration policies, migration patterns, TV portrayals, life stories, and digital ethnography, to present an embodied analysis of intimate geopolitics. Barabantseva argues that this particularly gendered and racialised model of international marriage is revealing of China's relations within the global world order, in which white femininity embodies the perceived success of Chinese masculinity and nationhood. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Contents
Introduction: in search of the 'Russian brides' village; 1. Marriages with foreigners, national security and Slavic wives; 2. Chinese-slavic romance in Chinese screen culture; 3. Journeys of escape: the value of Slavic female bodies and the trap of marriage; 4. Navigating racial patriarchy; 5. Eurasian children, embodied geopolitics and citizenship contestations; 6. Belonging and othering in digital China; 7. Hyperreal marriages and the Chinese male gaze at the Chinese-Russian border; Conclusion; Bibliography; Appendix: List of interviews; Index.
