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Working across Guangxi-Vietnam border
By Rong Xiandong, Huo Yan and Li Qiufang in Nanning (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-04 16:08
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The border region between China and Vietnam is bustling with trade and people come from across the region to make a living.
Luo Xianfeng, a college graduate majoring in chemicals and a native of east China's Jiangxi province, came to the Dongxing-Mong Cai border region between China and Vietnam to run its own garment business at the end of 2008. He moved to the smaller Chinese city of Dongxing from China's well-known boom town Shenzhen in Guangdong province, attracted by the huge business potential here.
When asked about his wholesale business in Mong Cai city, the largest border trade zone in northern Vietnam, the young boy who graduated from college in 2006 said modestly that his business is okay, adding that he needs more experience to make his cross-border business more profitable.
Ni has made more money as China and its Southeast Asian neighbor Vietnam stepped up efforts to boost cross-border trade and economic cooperation. With her own apartment and car in Dongxing, she has settled in the city as her home. She got married here and now has a child.
Luo and Ni, like many other people, go across the Dongxing-Mong Cai border at around 8 o'clock every morning to work at the Vietnamese city and come back to the Chinese city at 2-3 pm as many markets in Mong Cai usually close business around the same time each day.
The Sino-Vietnam border opens from 8 am to 8 pm each day.
Gu Xiaosong, deputy president of Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences and vice president of the China Association of Southeast Asian Studies, suggested the opening hours for the border should be lengthened to 12 o'clock midnight as economic and cultural exchanges become more frequent between China and Vietnam.
"More people from both sides of the border need more time to do business, engage in business talks and visit relatives living on the other side," Gu said.
In 2009, nearly 4.9 million people crossed the Dongxing border, rising from about 4.6 million in 2008, according to Liu Quanyue, mayor of Dongxing.
The volume of trade between China and Vietnam through the Dongxing-Mong Cai border reached $2.4 billion and $4.1 billion in 2007 and 2008 respectively, the highest among the China-Vietnam border gates.
In 2009, Sino-Vietnamese trade volume rose 8.2 percent to $21.05 billion, including $16.3 billion worth of Chinese exports to Vietnam, up 7.8 percent year on year, and $4.75 billion Chinese imports from Vietnam, up 9.5 percent, according to Chinese Customs.
