A man searches through a matchmaker agency website to find an Asian woman life partner. Increasing numbers of southeast Asian men, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are marrying foreigners because fewer women in their homelands are willing to wed, a new study said Monday.
Increasing numbers of southeast Asian men, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are marrying foreigners because fewer women in their homelands are willing to wed, a new study said Monday.
The phenomenon, which dates back more than a decade, has even created a detectable trend in women's migration, said the study by Daniele Belanger of the University of Western Ontario University.
"Since the beginning of the 1990s, more and more men in southeast Asia are looking abroad to find a wife," wrote Belanger in the journal of France's National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED).
In Taiwan, 15 percent of wives were of foreign origin in 2009; eight percent in South Korea.
In Japan, the phenomenon started earlier, in the 1980s, but has remained at a modest level: only five or six percent of marriages in the mid-2000s involved foreign wives.
But in all three places, foreign brides represented the largest group of new immigrants apart from the temporary workers, wrote Belanger. And the reason was the lack of women at home, she added.
With women's education levels rising so was their representation in the workplace, she explained.
Increasing numbers of them were not willing to settle for the traditional role of a wife -- at least as it exists in its current form. They preferred to keep their jobs and stay single.
For men however, "they have the responsibility to continue the paternal line by giving birth to a son and, in many cases, looking after their aged parents," Belanger wrote.
They could not therefore remain bachelors.
There were even marriage agencies specialising in this sector, charging the man's family between 5,000 and 10,000 euros.
本周一发布的一项最新调查称，由于当地的愿嫁女越来越少，东南亚越来越多的男性开始娶外籍媳妇，这一现象在日本、韩国和中国台湾地区最为突出。
这项由加拿大西安大略大学的丹尼尔•贝朗格开展的研究称，这一现象在十几年前就开始出现，甚至催生了一股明显的女性移民潮。
贝朗格在发表于法国人口研究所期刊上的报告中写道：“自上世纪90年代初以来，东南亚地区越来越多的男性开始娶外国老婆。”
据统计，中国台湾地区2009年的外籍媳妇比例为15%，韩国的这一比例为8%。
在日本，这一现象出现于更早的80年代，但外国媳妇这一群体的数量一直没有大的增长：21世纪初期中叶，日本“洋媳妇”的比例仅为5%至6%。
贝朗格写道，在以上三个地区，外籍媳妇成为除临时劳工外最大的新移民群体。据她分析，这一现象的主要原因是这些地方想结婚的女性越来越少。
她解释称，随着女性受教育水平的提高，她们在职场的地位也得以提升。
越来越多的女性不再满足于做一个贤妻良母——至少目前存在这种情况。她们希望能继续工作，不着急结婚。
贝朗格写道，但对于男性来说，“他们肩负着传宗接代的任务，很多人还有照顾双亲的重任。”
因此他们不可能到了一定的年龄还不结婚。
一些地区甚至还有此类的婚介机构，费用为五千至一万欧元不等。
detectable:可发觉的；可看穿的
settle for: to be satisfied with（满足于）