Life in Symbiosis(1)

^{One yuan per night for a spot on the wooden plank beds in dormitories for the Vietnamese laborers.}

At the frontier trading post of Nonghuai (弄怀) in China's Guangxi province bordering Vietnam, waves of human traffic and tons of goods shuttle across the boundary daily. The bustling trade has created a symbiotic way of life between both currents.

Vietnamese farmers pour into Nonghuai to make a living. They wait by the streets for odd jobs, haul goods on their backs up and down the hills, and work as porters for Chinese merchants. At night when their work is done, local residents take them in as tenants to earn one yuan per bed per night in cramped dormitories. 

These immigrants, mainly from Lang Son province of Vietnam, come without legal papers.They are frequently deported after immigration raids, but sooner or later they reappear on the streets of Nonghuai.  

The insecurity of being hunted down by investigators and the strenuous work are not deterrent enough; earning 1,000 yuan a a month is attractive enough for the rural Vietnamese. Without this money, they have no way to get married, build houses, raise children, save for their retirement…