Introduction

The mail-order bride industry is booming – but today's international dating doesn't look as it used to.

It turns out that it’s not so much young and uneducated Chinese women looking to marry out of the country anymore, and more middle aged and financially well off divorcees, looking for something different.

The mail order bride industry is changing as the women involved are becoming more empowered with their growing wealth – and more demanding.

On this episode, I speak to sociologist Monica Liu, whose new book, Seeking Western Men, is all about these changing dynamics of race, class, gender and, ultimately, power. She writes about the book in an article for Sixth Tone.