{"id":9343,"date":"2022-01-27T07:30:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T07:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=9343"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:45:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:45:19","slug":"what-the-russia-china-border-means-for-the-chinese-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-the-russia-china-border-means-for-the-chinese-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Russia-China border means for the Chinese economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russia-China border winds for 2,600 miles through rivers, swamps, and vast forests. It\u2019s a region most businesses rarely interact with, though it\u2019s home to many potential consumers and is a major cross-trade border too. Paul French<\/strong> caught up with the authors of a book about the Russia-China border to find out what the prospects for enhanced trade opportunities might be<\/h2>\n

Academics Franck Bill\u00e9 and Caroline Humphrey spent years travelling through and studying Russia and China\u2019s important yet forgotten border region. It is perhaps telling of the state of relations now that a border consisting mainly of rivers has not a single operating passenger bridge. Two different worlds have emerged. The Chinese side is heavily settled and increasingly prosperous and dynamic. Could it be a growth area in future decades?<\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

You suggest that this 2,600-mile-long border shows us the \u2018civilisational difference\u2019 between Russia and China. Can you explain that concept a little more?<\/h4>\n

The Russia-China border is a very unusual border. International borders tend to be \u2018frontiers\u2019 in the sense that ethnic and cultural changes are gradual as you cross from one side to the other. Even in the case of \u2018hard\u2019 borders such as the one between the US and Mexico, you find Spanish speakers and settler populations in the States, and a culturally and linguistically competent population on the Mexican side. This is not true in our case.<\/p>\n

With the exception of a substratum of indigenous populations on both sides (Buryats, Evenkis, etc.), the vast majority of inhabitants of the region are either Russians or Chinese who have come here from other parts of their country. Because the border was closed for decades, between the 60s to the late 80s, both sides have developed independently without contact across the border. Even though the border has now been open for 30 years, relatively few ties have been woven between the two populations.<\/p>\n

Linguistic competence rarely extends beyond commercial necessity and both sides see themselves in very different ways, as representatives of their respective Asian and European culture rather than as borderlanders with a distinctive identity. Both populations see the border as a civilisational fault-line, a chasm rather than a bridge. To us, as anthropologists, this makes this border especially fascinating, as it is a place where very different groups \u2018rub together.\u2019<\/p>\n