This is the first interdisciplinary work on marriage migration from the former Soviet Union to Reform-era China, almost invariably involving a Slavic bride and a Chinese husband. To understand China better as a destination for marriage migration, Elena Barabantseva delves into the politics and lived experiences of desire, marriage and race, all within China's pursuit of national rejuvenation. She brings together diverse sources, including immigration policies, migration patterns, TV portrayals, life stories, and digital ethnography, to present an embodied analysis of intimate geopolitics. Barabantseva argues that this particularly gendered and racialised model of international marriage is revealing of China's relations within the global world order, in which white femininity embodies the perceived success of Chinese masculinity and nationhood. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

‘Decentring statist and media constructions of Chinese national security and foreign relations, Slavic Brides shows how geopolitics interface with the grounded realities of marriage migration and failed love. This book lends provocative insights into how femininity and whiteness are embodied in foreign wives, symbolising the realisation of China’s sexualised national desires.’

Elaine Ho - National University of Singapore

‘Rich, nuanced, and deeply textured, this study of Sino-Slavic marriages offers unique insights into intimate geopolitics as well as the current political situation. A must read.’

Franck Billé - UC Berkeley

‘Treat yourself to this fascinating, original and compelling analysis of China’s geopolitical strategies. Elena Barabantseva skillfully employs multiple methods and historically informed cross-disciplinary research to reveal the under-theorized yet powerful interplay of emotional, sexual, marital/familial, socio-cultural, economic, political and nationalist factors informing -- indeed, underpinning -- China’s foreign policy.’

V Spike Peterson - University of Arizona

‘Elena Barabantseva’s book explores Sino-Russian relations in a truly innovative way. Her fascinating analysis of the intimate geopolitics of post-Soviet brides in China shows how the PRC’s state policies are informed by national desires, and how we need to understand the rise of China as a gendered and racialized experience.’

William A. Callahan - Singapore Management University

‘Pushing the boundaries of crossborder marriage studies, Barabantseva proposes ‘intimate geopolitics,’ a concept that deftly synthesizes Chinese imaginaries with lived courtship and marriage experiences of Slavic women who marry into China. Using multi-method research - encompassing media/digital analysis and extraordinary ethnographic empathy - this highly original study illuminates ongoing global recalibrations of geopolitics, racial hierarchies, and China’s place in these shifting structures.’

Louisa Schein - author of Minority Rules: The Miao and the Feminine in China's Cultural Politics