Society

Chinese husbands welcomed in Russia

By Li Qian (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-08-07 17:21

Recently Russian women are looking to marry Chinese men because of their trustworthiness and romanticism, Chinanews.com reported Monday.

"Can you introduce some nice Chinese guys to me?" 25-year-old Russian Nadya asked her Chinese boss Zhao Hong, chairwoman of the local Chinese Association in Russia's fifth largest city Krasnoyarsk, who often receives such requests.

Among the more than one hundred Chinese families Zhao knows in the city, there are at least five Russian women married to men who work as businessmen, planters, or teachers at a national university.

Chinese migrant to Russia Ge Youjin and his Russian wife Tatiana had their third child recently. Tatiana said her husband is responsible. "He cherishes our love and doesn't drink or spend a lot," she said.

Ge too admires his wife. "She is hardworking and considerate like other Russian women, and she takes care of the family well."

Tatiana has a decent job, and cooks Northeast Chinese cuisine, which makes her husband feel at home. Tatiana now favors rice as a staple food, instead of Russian black bread.

Guo Jinchang, who has worked in a local farm for a dozen years, noticed some of his Chinese friends married Russian wives. "Chinese are comparatively conservative, which can add to their characteristic charms," he said.

Because of World War II, the population of men in Russia has been smaller than that of women, with 47 percent male and 53 percent female, according to figures from the Russian Federation Committee of Statistics.