ABSTRACT
Ever since the reopening of the border, Chinese businesspeople have kept flowing from the interior to the borderlands to look for business opportunities. In Chinese studies literature, many have examined the floating population of underprivileged mincong (migrant labourers) and their plight. However, the ‘floating’ population in China is actually quite diversified and can be classified along a social spectrum of people from elites to the underprivileged. China’s manufacturing economy has expanded many times since the 1990s. The overflow of available capital and manufactured products has made many run fast to look for markets. The encouraging policies of the Chinese state have also tempted many Chinese companies to become ambitious towards overseas markets. Commerce and trade has grown fast in the China-Vietnam border regions in the past two decades.
