International marriage has often been viewed as taboo since its perception of linkages with colonialism, exploitation, and differences in cultural and racial background.
Although such marriages may be seen as breaking down racial and cultural barriers, the children of such marriages, especially if they are from very divergent cultural backgrounds, will fit into none of their parent societies, only being called the derogatory "halfie" or "người Lai" (倘騾 in Hán-Nôm Vietnamese, meaning mule or crossbreed) and may be seen as less than human or not normal due to their diverse and multicultural background.
[2][3] The target audience were mostly young girls in rural areas with poor education, difficult economic circumstances, or no stable jobs, are gullible and lacking in understanding.
All the 63 provinces of Vietnam have the cases of international marriage between Vietnamese citizens (both male and female) and foreigner nationals.
There are two provinces: Can Tho and Hai Phong, which are believed to be the most important original residences of Vietnamese women who migrated to Taiwan and South Korea.
Most of these local women tend to marry men in urban area where they can find jobs rather than farming.
[21][22] Other than the imbalanced sex ratio, many local Chinese women choose to marry men from other parts in China.
The prosperity of border trades attracts some Vietnamese women to seek for the opportunities to earn a better life.
For example, Vietnamese brides in Chinese border areas often engaged in the occupations such as being factory workers, running exotic restaurants and organizing transnational transportation.
In the original families of Vietnamese brides, their status is often lower than their brothers due to the preference of sons in Vietnam.
For these Vietnamese women, sending remittances does not only means being a responsible daughter but also being a semi-parent in birth family.
In fact, marrying foreign men are always associated with earning more money in migrants’ destinations, which shows the agency of Vietnamese brides to be more supportive in their birth families.
[26] In other cases, due to globalization, more and more Vietnamese women become migrant labors in other countries and marry local men based on the love between them.
The intermediary agents from Vietnam and migrants’ destinations rises following with the trends of international marriage between Vietnamese women and foreign men.
[1] Social network also influence the international marriage in border areas where Vietnamese have close connections with Chinese.
(See also the video from Channel NewsAsia about Vietnamese women's living conditions and the impacts of their international marriage.)
In other cases which Vietnamese women have their agency to marry foreign men, the living conditions are different.
Due to the difficulty of language and the lack of education, some Vietnamese women face problems after becoming mothers.
In the border area between China and Vietnam, more and more Vietnamese wives actively participate in local economic life by running restaurants with their husbands.
To summarize the images of Vietnamese brides constructed by mainstream media, the results are always associated with ‘innocent, trafficked, deceived and traitorous’.
The dilemma faced by Vietnam society and Vietnamese single men caused this kind of perceptions.
Owing to the large amount of remittance sent by Vietnamese brides, the household of their birth families improved prominently.
According to the survey conducted in 2010, the living standard of the birth families of Vietnamese brides changed a lot after the migration of their daughters.
[25] The activities of Vietnamese brides in supporting their birth families help them gain the positive perceptions from their parents and local people.
The images of Vietnamese brides in migrant country are negatively portrayed by officials and natives due to the exaggeration of problematic issues and unchanged stereotypes.
Based on the sociological fieldwork conducted by Huang in Sino-Vietnam borderland during 2011 to 2012,[24] Vietnamese women successfully engaging in household and formal occupations.
Due to their ability of making money and maintaining household, they gain mostly positive comments and perceptions from their husbands and local employers.
All these positive factors show how Vietnamese women marry abroad to earn money for their parents and pursue their happiness.