Thai women are very popular as Asian brides for Western men.
Just don’t fall into the mistake I made of thinking that Thai women are the only Asian women you could potentially marry.
Major alternatives to Thai brides are Chinese brides and Filipina brides.
Let’s look at Chinese women, and if they’re good alternatives to Thai women.
China – Myths Exploded
I’ve dated around a dozen Chinese women and I’ve visited China four times (five if you consider Hong Kong to be a part of China). I’ve also lived in two different Chinese Provinces: Guangdong and Zhejiang.
Money
First of all, let’s talk about money.
I read a great saying the other day:
China is a rich country with poor people in it.
From what I’ve seen of the place, that certainly rings true.
What’s also important to consider is that the Chinese women you can chat to on sites like China Love Cupid and China Love Match tend to be from the middle-top tiers of Chinese society. It’s actually quite hard to find poor and uneducated Chinese women seeking Western husbands. Even if you could, it would be so hard to communicate with them. I chatted to a working class lady I met on the TanTan dating app, but the relationship didn’t progress as far as actually meeting her. Really I think that our backgrounds are so different that I’m sceptical the relationship would have ever worked out.
What this means is that Chinese women seeking Western husbands usually prefer men who have good jobs or good prospects. This is especially true of the younger women. If you’re a laid back type of guy, you’ll probably be better off with a Thai or Filipino bride.
Availability of Brides
China’s vast population means that there’s a huge choice of single ladies on Asian dating sites. In fact, Chinese women are beginning to outnumber Filipinas on many sites. There are actually even more ladies available, but only a small percentage of the total actually make it onto English language dating sites. If you want to find more than just the tip of the iceberg, then install dating app TanTan or sign up to a Chinese dating site like JiaYuan.
And we’re talking big numbers here. Chnlove had over 11,000 Chinese women on the site at its peak. What’s more, hardly any of them weigh more than 140 pounds and few smoke or drink. Believe me when I say that you’ll have a hard choice narrowing down your favourite ladies on this site!
I’ve been a member of China Love Cupid off and on for over a decade now. I regularly get 3-4 emails a month from women who are interested in me. Keeping up with them is hard (but enjoyable) work!
As far as availability of women go, it’s just as easy to find a Chinese bride as it is a Thai bride. However, as I’ve learnt from living in China, the Province you go for is super important.
Be sure to check out my Chinese dating site guide’s availability of ladies interested in dating foreigners map, which is broken down province by province. Don’t waste time visiting a province where you’ll get zero dates! Go for one of the hotter cities or provinces.
Looks and Personality
You’ll find that generally speaking, Chinese women aren’t nearly so mild and submissive as Thai women are. Dragon ladies and Tiger Moms are very common in China, so be careful who you marry!
Right now I live next to an American dude who has a Chinese wife. They have a kid. I kind of want to have what he has. But what he has is a pretty flaky marriage and a kid who doesn’t really fit in. To be honest I’m pretty sure I am more happy than he is.
Chinese ladies have varying physical appearances. China is a vast country and the women from different provinces look different. However, many Chinese ladies work in different provinces to where they grew up, so you can find different types of ladies in any Chinese city.
Most of the immigrant ladies tend to work in the coastal cities (Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Xiamen etc.).
Having said that, generally speaking Chinese women are taller and paler skinned than Thai women. They also tend to age very gracefully indeed. Chinese mature women are still well worth dating.
Visiting China
Visiting China is less straightforward than visiting Thailand. To visit China you need a visa. This is usually a formality, but it’s another expense you need to budget for. My last visa for China cost me nearly £200 GBP and on top of that I had to visit the consulate in person to give a finger print sample. That would have bumped the price up even more but for the fact I was living within walking distance of the London consulate office.
Alternatively some cities/regions of China allow you to visit with a 72 hour visa-free layover. I don’t think this is enough time to start dating local ladies though!
China itself is a great place to visit. If you’re starting your search for a Chinese bride, I recommend you look in a modern easy to visit city like Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Then as you get to know more about China you could visit a smaller city like Wuhan or Changsha.
English is fairly widely spoken in China, especially by the younger ladies. The high standard of English spoken by many Chinese women will surprise you!
Language Barrier
If you’re interested in seeking a Chinese bride then the language barrier will be significant. But then again it will be much the same if you intend to look for a Thai bride.
English speaking Chinese ladies are relatively common on China Love Cupid and China Love Match. Personally I tend to prefer dating the English speaking women, although many men think non-English speakers are somehow more exotic.
Thai or Chinese…? These Are My Personal Experiences… Hmmmmm…
Since I initially wrote this article I’ve lived in both Thailand (Bangkok) and China (Guangdong and Zhejiang Provinces). I’ve dated around 20 women from each country. Oh, and there was a bit of ladyboy dating going on in Thailand too (when in Rome and all that…).
In general I found the Chinese ladies I dated to be better educated. Had I married any of them I think they’d have made better wives.
Thai dating was mostly a trashy experience. Oh and I found Thai ladies to be fairly conservative. Mainland Chinese ladies are generally less religious and, er, more slutty, for want of a better word.
I did meet a couple of really nice Thai girls. One would have made a good mom but on the other hand her older sister was fat and a huge money lover so maybe my marriage would have gone the same way. The other was a late 30’s career lady who hadn’t done much dating and was obviously a baby hunter. We could have had a pretty good marriage. But on the other hand she ver much lived in the present as her peers from Issan do and so maybe it too would have been a disastrous marriage.
Of my Chinese dates who could have made it to wife status, well one ended up marrying someone else. They’ve been married around 7 years now and have a kid. That one could have worked. I also got on well with a mild Cantonese girl but I think it would have burned out too quickly. She also had daddy issues… uh oh. I also met a super hot Hunan girl but she admitted to liking rich guys and I’m not sure I was rich enough for her. I also had doubts about her past… was she a rich daddy’s girl, or a former mistress? Finally there was a Guangxi girl who was really hot but she was the first person in her family to leave the farm and mentally she was a mess. Well it was fun psychoanalysing her…
I should also mention that if you actually live in Asia then some countries are better for dating ladies from other countries. When I lived in China I only dated Chinese ladies. However, in Thailand I dated many Thai ladies (of course), plus a few ladies from Vietnam, Myanmar/Burma, the Philippines and Cambodia. This is my Asian dating secret: the best Asian ladies to date could be the non-Thai ladies who live and work in Thailand.
So hopefully that’s given you a brief overview of whether you should look for a Thai or Chinese bride.
If you’ve got any questions about either Thai or Chinese brides, then ask away! Use the comments section below to add your questions.
