Beijing Escorts: “A reluctant refuge for Myanmar folk”
… There are so many Chinese in Mandalay, at least half the population now,” said Myanmar jade trader Ye Kaw, speaking in the flawless Mandarin he has picked up after many years living in Ruili, China’s main trading post with its southern neighbor.
“We hate them,” he added, when asked how residents of his home town look upon the Chinese migrants, looking fearfully around to see if any of his customers had heard him. “But we have to come here. There is no future for me at home.”
Ruili — its name comes from a word in the local Dai language meaning “a jade green place enshrouded in mist” — is home to a large population from Myanmar, some legal, and others sneaking across a porous border to sell vegetables, trinkets, or sex.
Sitting on the far southwestern tip of Yunnan province, Ruili was once notorious in China for its gambling, prostitution, smuggling, drugs, and general lawlessness during the 1990s when border trade really began taking off.
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