Missing 'brides', a hidden hurt for 'leftover' men

Yuan Xinqiang continues to wait for his missing Vietnamese 'bride' in Nanliyue village, Handan, North China's Hebei province, Dec 11. [Photo/CFP]

It has been three months since the Vietnamese "bride" of Yuan Xinqiang, from Nanliyue village, Handan, North China's Hebei province, went missing, but he still waits and his parents are angry and dismayed, the Beijing News reported.

Yuan's wife, nicknamed Lanlan, reportedly vanished with more than 100 other Vietnamese "brides" together with their marriage broker, Wu Meiyu, herself Vietnamese, on Nov 21.

It was not until her disappearance that Yuan realized that he neither had Lanlan's photo nor legal evidence of their "marriage". He did not even know where in Vietnam she originated from. She was an absolute stranger to him.

Yuan "bought" Lanlan, who held no identification papers issued by the Chinese government but claimed to have a Vietnamese ID card, after paying 100,000 yuan ($16,139) to marriage broker Wu on Aug 23. The money was a staggering sum and included his family's savings, some interest-free borrowed money and a further borrowed 20,000 yuan with high interest.