Screenshot from the YouTube video ‘Bangladesh Brides: The Dark Side of China's Marriage Market’ by News China. Fair use.
On May 25, the Chinese embassy in Bangladesh issued a public notice urging Chinese citizens to comply with laws governing cross-border marriages and to be cautious about dating content on social media platforms, as well as illegal matchmaking agencies. The notice also cautioned against the idea of “buying a foreign wife,” and advised Chinese nationals to carefully consider marriage in Bangladesh, warning them to avoid “losing both money and person.” The embassy further reminded that Chinese nationals involved in unlawful cross-border marriages could face arrest and prosecution for human trafficking.
Bangladeshi brides
In recent years, marriage brokers have become increasingly active in pairing Bangladeshi women with Chinese men. A search for the term “Bangladeshi girls” (孟加拉女孩) on Chinese social media and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu (“Little red book”) reveals photos of young South Asian-looking women.
In the above screen capture from Xiaohongshu, the marriage brokers highlight that the young Bangladeshi girls are looking for “middle-aged men” (大叔) to live in China. Fair Use.
Many Chinese men believe that Bangladeshi women are eager to marry into China because of cultural differences in marriage customs. In China, the groom traditionally pays a caili (彩礼) or “bride price” to the bride’s family, while in Bangladesh, it is the bride who usually pays a joutuk (dowry) to the groom’s family. This contrast has led some to assume that arranged marriages with Chinese men could help Bangladeshi women escape the burden of dowry.
Stereotypes portraying Bangladeshi women as “sexually exploited” have further fueled the matchmaking industry. On the Chinese microblogging website Weibo, a search for the term “Bangladeshi girls” yields popular posts focused on child marriage, underage prostitution, and poverty. Matchmakers often frame such narratives to suggest that bringing these women to China would offer them a better life.
However, matchmaking arrangements frequently turn out to be scams. According to China’s Supreme Prosecutor's Office, between January 2024 and March 2025, law enforcement authorities arrested 1,546 people for criminal activities, including human trafficking and fraudulent matchmaking schemes. In some cases, the Chinese male victims were scammed out of millions of renminbi (RMB) by their online “lovers,” and in other instances, female victims were kidnapped to China and sold repeatedly to different Chinese men.
In 2024, reports emerged of Bangladeshi women, particularly Indigenous women from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, being trafficked and sold to China under false promises of marriage, partly because their Sino-Tibetan features resemble Chinese ethnic groups. Cross-border criminal syndicates are behind these operations, exploiting vulnerable women and families from marginalized minority communities.
However, some reports, such as one by private media RTV, portray cross-border marriages between Bangladeshi brides and Chinese grooms as romantic success stories.
In addition to Bangladesh, matchmaking agencies also help Chinese men to “order” brides from other South and Southeast Asia countries, including Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, etc.
Brides from Pakistan
Since 2015, China has made substantial investments in Pakistan through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of ports, roads, railways, and energy projects. Following this, Pakistan has witnessed a rise in marriages between Pakistani women and Chinese men, often arranged without proper background checks and driven by promises of a better life. However, many of these women have ended up as victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
In May 2019, at least 20 Pakistani girls who had been lured into sham marriages and subsequently trapped in China were repatriated. Many of them reported being forced into prostitution and threatened with organ harvesting for resisting exploitation.
In response, Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched a crackdown on fake marriage and human trafficking networks. In Lahore, the agency arrested 11 Chinese nationals and two Pakistani accomplices in May 2019. The Chinese government also dispatched a task force to cooperate in the investigation.
This July 2019 video report by RadioFreeEurope presents examples of Pakistani women being lured into fake marriages by a trafficking ring.
In October 2019, Human Rights Watch raised serious concerns about the trafficking of Pakistani brides to China and urged the government of Pakistan to take immediate action.
According to various reports that emerged after the May 2019 crackdown, nearly 600 Pakistani girls had been sold as brides to Chinese men. Christian women, predominantly from poor and marginalized communities, have been especially targeted by traffickers, including some community pastors who lured families with promises of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. These women were often sent abroad within months, only to later escape abusive marriages and return home with lifelong trauma, including experiences of gang rape, physical abuse, and, in some cases, pregnancy.
In December 2019, China’s embassy in Islamabad issued a statement refuting recent media reports that girls and women from across Pakistan were still being sold to Chinese men. The embassy emphasized that China and Pakistan were working together in May 2019 to effectively dismantle an illegal matchmaking network.
However, more recently, in March 2025, the FIA arrested three suspects — Shougui (alias Yousuf), Abdul Rehman, and Nauman — at Islamabad Airport. They were allegedly part of a trafficking ring that sent Pakistani women to China under the pretense of marriage.
34.9 million more men
China faces a significant gender imbalance, with around 34.9 million more men than women, according to China’s seventh national population census in 2020, which was a result of the one-child policy and a cultural preference for sons. In 2024, marriage registrations fell to a record low of 6.1 million, the lowest since 1980.
The gender imbalance is more serious in rural areas of China, where traditional preferences for sons persist, and most educated women have migrated to cities where they can enjoy more equal opportunities.
Despite the Chinese government’s ban on individuals or organizations acting as foreign marriage brokers, many continue to operate matchmaking services on social media platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu. Reports indicate that these brokers charge clients between RMB 500 (USD 70) and RMB 180,000 (USD 25,000) for their services.
