Free Trade At Chinese Border Town Market In Xuikou With Vietnamese Selling Fat Pork

One of the official Chinese border crossings into Vietnam, through Pingxiang and the Friendship Gate, is strictly controlled by passport and custom officials. Crossing from Vietnam to the Chinese border town of Xuikou appeared to be without any controls, as far as the Vietnamese people were concerned. The river forming the Chinese border was easily crossed by ferry. A Vietnamese woman walked down the Vietnam river bank and called for the ferryman on the Chinese border, who pulled the boat across by use of an overhead rope. A few minutes later the Vietnamese woman had crossed the river and stood on the banks of the Chinese border. To get from Vietnam to the Chinese border town of Xuikou, was as simple as that!

The Chinese border market was quite busy and full of interest. In previous years, newspaper headlines might well have read, "Vietnamese Soldiers Cross Chinese Border." but the Vietnamese soldiers in this Chinese border market warranted no alarm! Most of the hawkers in the market of the Chinese border town were Vietnamese woman. They had crossed the Chinese border with their wares carried in bamboo panniers on shoulder poles.