‘Marriage is like Gambling’: Interpreting and Narrating Stories of Hakka Chinese Indonesians’ Marriage Migration

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the stories of marriages between ethnic Hakka Chinese women from Singkawang, Indonesia and men in Taiwan. Initially, Indonesians described marriage as an opportunity to achieve a better life, whereas Taiwanese saw a ‘foreign spouse’ as the means to fulfil caring duties and carry on family lines. Marriage from Singkawang to Taiwan was a normative practice shaped by cultural, sociopolitical, and economic conditions, which peaked in number in the early 21st century. Yet these marriages rapidly declined in number after 2010, as Indonesia’s economy improved, and as attitudes changed when returning women told stories of failed marriages and abusive spouses and in-laws in Taiwan. Analysis of stories collected from more than 100 participants in Singkawang shows how participants interpreted ‘good’ and ‘bad’ marriages via an adaptive and malleable folk theory of fate and luck. Hence, parents can narrate themselves as passive, ill-fated participants not responsible when their daughters’ marriages turn bad. Or a woman can say that it is her fate to ‘try’ marriage and narrate herself as having agency when making decisions that test her luck. Therefore, this study deepens and enriches our understanding of the complexities and enduring impacts of marriage migration as experienced across time in Asia.