Thanks to everyone who has written to me about my recent foray to Yunnan. Over the coming weeks I hope to regularly post my reflections and material from this trip. As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
I will start with the border.
In small towns dotted along the Sino-Burmese frontier, the line between the countries comes alive. It is here that the unsettled conditions of the Kachin and Shan State’s uneasy ceasefires rub against the considerable might and security of the People’s Republic of China. The border is long and its checkpoints are many.
For thousands of people who live in its vicinity, crossing the border between China and Burma is a part of daily life and livelihood. Many cross officially. Some don’t.
This photo, snapped in a small border settlement in southwest Yunnan, shows just how easily some parts of this border can be negotiated. The official border point - staffed by soldiers and marked by bollards - is about 100 metres south of where this photo was taken. For context, I am standing in China, and the women in orange are crossing from Burma.
And…yes, the border fence is as flimsy as it looks.
4 responses so far ↓
1 aiontay // Mar 13, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I met a ethnic Chinese shop owner in Kutkai who visited his relatives from Taipei by crossing into China to visit them while they were on vacation. Chiang Kai Shek and Mao must have been turning over in their graves.
Great picture, and I look forward to more.
2 amateur // Mar 14, 2007 at 12:40 am
A real nice one, thanks!
The border looks indeed artificial and arbritary here….
3 Rachel // Mar 16, 2007 at 5:24 pm
This reminds me of the border aroud Mae Sai. I was once in a paddy field a little out of town and the border is literally a stream about 2 metres wide. Shan women were wading the stream with baskets of vegetables on their heads.
If you go up to the official checkpoint there are men with guns but wander down the border a little and you wouldn’t even know there were 2 different countries involved.
4 New Mandala » Yunnan Fringe…on video // May 2, 2007 at 1:14 am
[...] Just to begin I have uploaded a short clip from my recent visit to far western Yunnan, where I went right to the Burmese border. [...]
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