中越边民通婚中的他者认同与制度排斥——以云南M县M村为例

Others’ Inclusion and Institutional Exclusion for Cross-Border Marriage between China-Vietnam Border Residents——A Case Study of M Village,M County in Yunnan Province

中越边境地区边民通婚行为是跨境民族基于共同地域、共同族群和共同文化做出的主体性选择,在边境这一特殊生境里长期存在。这种实质上的跨国婚姻迁移得以长期存在,甚至与日俱增,一方面源于越南女性对美好生活的向往和追求;另一方面,婚后移入地村民对移入女性以及跨国婚姻本身的"他者"认同和包容也是这一现象能够持续存在的重要原因,中越边民通婚日渐增多有很多促动因素。但在对待边民通婚的态度上,"民间"和"官方"的冲突、"情"和"理"上的难以兼容,折射的是民间对边民通婚的他者认同,和官方对边民通婚的制度排斥,以及绝大部分边民通婚因而游离于国家法律制度之外的非法困境等,给越南通婚女性在入境、居留、户籍国籍申请及其婚生子女户籍、就学、就业等方面带来了一系列社会问题,也给国家的边境管理和边疆治理带来了诸多显性、隐性的挑战和难题。从目前以地方治理为主的治理实践来看,边民通婚的治理已远远超出地方政府的管辖权限和协调能力,也远远超越了国家单个法规或者特殊政策调整的范围,国家治理因而成为治理边民通婚的不二之选。

Cross-border marriage is a widespread phenomenon in the China-Vietnam border areas. In some villages such kind of marriage takes up by more than two thirds. The cross-border marriage keeps growing and gets expanded from border areas to the inner land. The marriage subjects are crossborder ethnic groups and most marriages are illegal inter-ethnic ones. The Vietnamese wives integrate into the community very well and their marriages remain stable. The Chinese-Vietnamese couples generally have relatively lower levels of both economic and educational backgrounds. It’s difficult for their children to make household registration,and the family is incompetent in sustainable development.Living in the same areas,being the same ethnic group and sharing the same culture,the Chinese husbands and Vietnamese wives choose the crossborder marriage actively by themselves. Such cross-border marriage has been happening for a long time. The Vietnamese wives feel confused on national,political and self identity because they do not have legal resident status in China. However,they still choose to live and work on the Chinese side in peace and contentment. Nowmore and more Vietnamese women join in the flowto move across the national boundary. The reason why such international marriage in essence could exist for long time and even gets increased lies in,on one hand,the Vietnamese wives’ pursuit of a better life in China,and on the other,the high recognition for the Vietnamese wives and the international marriage in the receiving villages.Historically,the cross-border marriage has a long past. The wax and wane of the Sino-Vietnam relationship exercises inevitably a great impact on the interaction of the cross-border ethnic group. The cross-border marriage,however,did not yet wipe out even during the border war between the two countries. The residents near the border areas enter into marriage due to their daily interactions,and shape a shared community of transnational ethnic group in the border areas.In the structure of the ethnic community in the China-Vietnam border areas,the cross-border marriage established on the basis of geographic proximity,the same ethnic group and kinship obtain high inclusion inside the ethnic community. M ajor motivations behind the burgeoning cross-border marriages include close proximity,identity of the same ethnic group,imbalanced sex ratio and the making-up of demographic structure of China and Vietnam,marriage gradient selection,marriage squeeze and better economic development in China compared with Vietnam.The establishment of the cross-border marriage follows the traditional ceremony and is widely recognized in the ethnic community. The traditional marriage convention regulates the marriage in the place of the state laws concerned. The village officers are contradictory in implementing policies. On one hand,as a local resident,they understand and recognize the cross-border marriage;on the other,as the safeguard of the national systems and interests at the primary level,they have to govern this illegal activity in the position of the government. The different and incompatible attitudes towards the cross-border marriage from the government and the border residents reflect others ’inclusion of the border residents and the institutional exclusion of the government.In addition,the inconformity of the related laws of China and Vietnam hikes the cost for marriage registration and impedes the border residents to get their cross-border marriage registered. Being unregistered and unlawful is the striking feature of the cross-border marriage and makes it beyond the regulation and protection of the state. Under the current legal system and the border control system,the Vietnamese wives are denied legal status due to undocumented marriage. Their illegal status creates a number of social problems in their entry to China,residence permit,application of household and nationality,and the household,education and employment of their children as well. The border control and frontier governance confronts many vexed challenges and issues accordingly,apparent or potential.As an actual,public and common fact,the cross-border marriage is essentially marriage migration of Vietnamese wives to China. All the problems occurred are related to the entry and exit,visa,marriage registration,residence permit,household and nationality of the Vietnamese wives. The present governance practice mainly by the local government has proved that such troublesome issues go far beyond the authority of the local government and call for state governance.