TY - JOUR
T1 - Transnational marriage in Yiwu, China: trade, settlement and mobility
AU - Sha, Heila
N1 - This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way
PY - 2020/8/17
Y1 - 2020/8/17
N2 - This paper explores intermarriage between Chinese women and foreign Muslim traders in Yiwu, China through a consideration of women’s experience of uncertainty in settlement and decisions regarding migration. In so doing, it argues that intermarriage plays an important role in anchoring trading networks for the traders. However, this anchor is not firm, as such households also face significant uncertainties due to the structural constraints resulting from the unstable nature of informal trade; state migration policies, both internal and border control; and challenges regarding children’s education. Furthermore, migration decision-making processes are equally impacted by personal dimensions of attachment, marriage (in)stability, family orientations and perceived cultural gaps. Women are active agents in negotiating and adapting to new situations but their agency is limited by structural constraints.
AB - This paper explores intermarriage between Chinese women and foreign Muslim traders in Yiwu, China through a consideration of women’s experience of uncertainty in settlement and decisions regarding migration. In so doing, it argues that intermarriage plays an important role in anchoring trading networks for the traders. However, this anchor is not firm, as such households also face significant uncertainties due to the structural constraints resulting from the unstable nature of informal trade; state migration policies, both internal and border control; and challenges regarding children’s education. Furthermore, migration decision-making processes are equally impacted by personal dimensions of attachment, marriage (in)stability, family orientations and perceived cultural gaps. Women are active agents in negotiating and adapting to new situations but their agency is limited by structural constraints.
KW - Trade
KW - anchoring
KW - migration
KW - settlement
KW - transnational marriage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074331475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1675500
DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1675500
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-183X
VL - 46
SP - 2326
EP - 2345
JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
IS - 11
ER -
