Hong Kong Outlook

Mainland 'Boat Brides' Lead a Harsh Life

By VIVIAN CHIU

Her face hidden under a wide-brimmed straw hat, a fisherwoman dressed in shorts and thongs sits on a boat moored off Cheung Chau and guts bucket-loads of squid.

Mei is one of an estimated 100 mainland "boat brides" residing illegally on vessels berthed in Cheung Chau. Mei, 31, who grew up on a farm in Zhongshan, China, met her Hong Kong-born husband on the mainland, married him in 1990 and followed him back here. Like many of her compatriots, she divides her time between Hong Kong and the mainland.

There are about 200 boat brides staying illegally in Hong Kong. They rarely come on shore and if the marine police catch them, they will be repatriated to China.

In a few hours, the couple plan to sail to Ling Ding Island, where they will pick up five men hired to help them catch fish outside Hong Kong waters. An hour's boat ride from Cheung Chau, the mainland island of Ling Ding is a base for the five workers and the woman. Mei is a name for the purposes of this article. None of the workers reveals their names. Apart from the husband, they are all mainlanders who do not have the legal right to enter Hong Kong waters, let alone set foot on SAR (Special Administrative Region) soil.

There are only two islands between Hong Kong and the mainland — Ling Ding and Kwai Shan — where boat brides can be dropped off and picked up.

The problem of illegal boat brides dates back two decades. After China's decision in 1978 to open its doors to the outside world, Hong Kong fishermen flocked to the mainland in search of women to marry.

"Most Hong Kong women are not willing to marry fishermen, who are mostly illiterate," says Mr. Wong, a fisherman who lives in Cheung Chau and whose daughter-in-law is a boat bride. "Fishermen look for wives on the mainland, especially those tough village girls used to laboring on the farm and at home."

Thousands of mainland boat brides arrived in Hong Kong after 1978, but by law, they could not live on shore until they had become legal Hong Kong residents. So they remained on the their vessels. In 1986, however, the government pledged to stem the flow and planned to introduce harsher laws that would prohibit Hong Kong fishermen from bringing their mainland brides to the territory.

The 1,000 or so boat brides already in Hong Kong were forced to return to China but were told the government would process their residency applications within three years — a promise that was fulfilled. By 1989, these women had all returned to Hong Kong to live legally. The same year the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities came to an agreement that no more permits would be issued to mainland boat brides to come to Hong Kong according to Ho Hei-wah, a social-work activist who in 1972 helped rehouse fishermen living on dilapidated boats.

But the new legislation, which denied the women the right to live on Hong Kong soil or on boats moored in its waters, did not stop them from slipping into the region. Those who are caught in Hong Kong are usually detained for about one month before being repatriated.

Because the women are usually confined to their boats, they tend to spend the time mending fishing nets or performing other household tasks. For these women there are no holidays and few sources of entertainment.

Life for the boat brides is difficult in other ways — not least because they must be strong enough to help their husbands haul in netloads of fish.

Mei now has three children — a 6-year-old boy and two girls, aged 4 and 2. Since all were born in Hong Kong, they have the right to live there.

Mei remembers a Hong Kong marine police officer who had found her aboard her boat and who took pity on her after seeing her marriage certificate. Instead of reporting her, he simply told her not to go on shore. But not every one is as lucky. A while ago, one boat wife went on shore with her husband to buy sanitary napkins but was arrested, taken to Shenzhen and then sent back to her hometown.

In another incident, a mainland boat wife was caught while accompanying her children to school.

"When children see their mother arrested and handcuffed, they can't help but cry," says a Cheung Chau fisherman. "It's a pitiful sight."

Now the Cheung Chau Fishermen's Welfare Promotion Association is fighting for the boat brides' legal right to come to Hong Kong to help their husbands catch fish and to stay on the boat in Hong Kong even if they can't come on shore.

"It's inhumane and unreasonable to treat the mainland boat brides this way. They have to be sneaked into Hong Kong to help their husbands and care for their children," said To Kwong-biu, Chairman of the association.

"Since it's dangerous to go on shore, I have to let my mother-in-law take care of my children," says Mei, who goes on shore only two or three times a month to shop for daily necessities. "She takes them to school every day. My children can only see me on weekends."

Having been told that her application for permission to stay in Hong Kong would take 10 years, Mei is prepared to lie low until her change of status is granted.

"Like other fishermen, my husband is illiterate and can't find a job on shore so that is the only way he can make money. He needs me to help him, and being a mother, I really want to stay on shore to take care of my children."

Shukan ST: July 3, 1998

(C) All rights reserved