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

The grandfather of Xu Mingming, whose Vietnamese 'bride' vanished last year, in the wedding room prepared for the couple in Handan, North China's Hebei province, Dec 13. [Photo/CFP]

Despite the legal restriction, underground foreign matchmaking is rampant in China, especially in impoverished villages where there are masses of bachelors due to the high cost of marrying a native woman.

Zhu, a victim of the Handan missing "brides" incident, said that in his village of Quzhou county, if a man wants to marry a native, he has to send about 120,000 yuan gift money and a car to a woman's family, as well as prepare a fully-furnished new house, which in total costs more than 400,000 yuan, the Beijing Times reported.

Quzhou county is a poverty-stricken agricultural county, said Zhu, the number of women of marriageable age is much lower than males.