ABSTRACT
Cadres and entrepreneurs have been the most dynamic economic actors at the local level. They are caught up in streams of village and town interaction that are transforming the lives of most rural dwellers. These changes have transformed the old verities of town and countryside in China. Flows of property, capital, information, and improvements in transportation, have recast Chinese rural society. Guangdong Province has also become an active hub of village-town-province-nation trade networks. One major aspect of Chinese people's increased articulation with the wider world is their greater participation in information flows that connect them outward. Local governments report that they prefer Hong Kong and Taiwanese investments because it is easier to do business with Chinese. In Yunnan's border city of Ruili, locals do business deals in neighboring Burma, exchanging cheap Chinese-made daily staples such as food, soap, and hats and bring back watches, motorbikes, and the like.
