Its a huge market. As Russia once was. Men have been going there for years and quietly importing wives but it has never hit the mainstream media much for some reason. Anyone who has been to Scandinavia knows those guys fondness for those type of women. You cant miss them.
I never liked the idea of Oriental women that much (from what we generally see here), but look at some of Psy’s music videos (OK, he is from Korea but similar genetic), some of the women in those are smokin’ with very western features. As a guy gets into his forties, he starts to appreciate the Oriental lady.
A pal of mine goes to China very often on business. Japan too. It seems many of those women like us. Disapproving locals call them “bananas” – yellow on the outside, white on the inside.
Its probably the new MOB (Mail Order Bride) market as the doors of the FSU close.
Well, I knew it wouldn’t be long before this came up again, and I think we are pretty much there. So I woke the topic up.
Here are some thoughts:
- Guys – except the most determined, affluent and well-read – haven’t been going to Russia itself for about five years now. Everything in this industry has focused on Ukraine.
- The reason for that is women in Russia are spread out across the largest country in the world (Meaning no multiple women visits). A visa is needed, and men like easy, and many have less money now. So they go to Ukraine instead. Smaller country, lots of people, cheaper to stay there, no visas, full “industry” set up to
scam themhelp them to meet women. - Some thinking guys (the only recent marriages we saw) broke the mould and went to the Stans and Belarus. Probably better places for the FSU woman thing now in honesty, but the logistics put many men off (the ones who thought getting a $150 Russian visa was a hardship). Less easy to get to, hostility to Americans in some places, visas again, so just a general PIA.
- Ukraine is now politically unstable. It is looking likely that Crimea will revert to Russian territory, and the rest will go through a period of unrest before joining the EU. I think EU membership will be accelerated by
Americaoutside forces; and the moment that happens Ukraine will be a closed shop for women. And I mean overnight. I saw it happen in the Baltics with my own eyes – and it was fast. Foreign looking women will get on a bus and go to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan or wherever they like and meet guys naturally. No need for overweight, two decade older guys from Wisconsin any more. Similar aged guys in Dresden or Brussels are very happy to meet them.
- So where does that leave the so-called “Mail Order Bride” industry? 90% of it is internet fantasy, so college girls in Ukraine and elsewhere will keep writing to middle aged guys with no passports on fantasy pay-per-letter sites and make bolshoye djenghi doing so. Nothing new there.
- But what for the small percentage of guys who will actually get on a plane and plan to make it happen? The door is slammed shut in the Baltics, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. Russia, Belarus and the Stans are not “easy” for anything but the very serious guy who can afford to visit one woman at a time. The rest need someplace else.
- Now for reasons we need not argue here, that place needs to be quite poor, not black and not Muslim. It needs lots of women, and they need to be slim to cater for most guys tastes. Again we find ourselves at the door of China.
- The MOB industry knows what we want before we do – it is their job to know that. Many are now starting to face China. Aweb are running ads for Chinese girls, as are A Foreign Affair (Shenzhen and Chongqing tours already happening) as are Blossoms. The industry is changing focus. The industry has mostly left Russia, it is still active in Ukraine, but for how long? The business brains are thinking ahead, and they are all thinking the same way: China.
- Anyone who travels in Europe frequently cannot have failed to notice the explosion of guys with Oriental looking wives. Some will probably be Thai, but many are Chinese. Guys from Scandinavia, Germany and Holland are increasingly marrying oriental ladies. While some guys in the UK and America do marry these ladies already, the “industry” and information resources as we know it with the Russian speaking market is not really as slick yet with the Chinese (or Thai) market. There are no major forums devoted to the subject for example.
I think the doors to the FSU are closing unless the guy has a passport (which many Americans don’t), and he has a decent disposable income and the time and inclination to travel multiple times to places that need a visa and visit one woman at a time. For those that can do that, the FSU is still a goldmine.
For those that are not inclined to do that, or cannot afford to do so, and for those that want an easy-peasy only-one-visit-and-import-a-wife (which is many) scenario, China seems a likely option.
That said, I am planning to start to do some some business in China this year and will likely be visiting there in October. I have been reading tons of books already on the culture, the language, and from what I have read already, I think getting in tune with that culture will be hard for many westerners.
So although the MOB industry is shifting from Russian speaking countries to China (and to a lesser extent Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong) I think guys have a bigger learning curve to “get” that culture. And how can you marry a woman whose culture you don’t get? I don’t think you can successfully. As with Russian speaking countries, I think you need to take an interest in, and learn, her culture, some basic language and certainly the alphabet. As you expect her to do with yours.
Chinese girls are the new Russian girls. You read it here first.