I’m here to make money, not to live

I first met 34-year-old Quyên and her 15-month-old baby in 2014 on one of my visits to the Yuzhnyie Vorota market. Yuzhnyie Vorota, as mentioned in Chapter I, is a low-end market where the rentals are the most affordable, but sales are also much slower than other markets. The Vietnamese I met at the market were novice, struggling traders, who had just arrived in Russia or made a career change from garment production or construction. Hailing mostly from poor, rural villages of Central and North Vietnam, they did not have any prior business experience, adequate capital, or support from an established network, which were the main ingredients for Vietnamese migrants’ economic success in Russia. While those I met often spoke of their plans – or, rather, aspirations – to climb the ladder and move their business to Sadovod or even Liublino market one day, I never heard of anyone successfully doing so. Low rents, low-cost merchandise, and free shuttle bus services connecting Yuzhnyie Vorota market with neighboring suburbs did not help to draw large crowds. The invariably empty lanes and a large number of unoccupied stores at the market were unmistakable signs of the hardships facing traders and the bleak economic prospects lying ahead of them.

Quyên's son was the only baby I met at the markets in the entirety of my fieldwork in Moscow. Due to concerns about security risks, the timeintensive market regime, and the uncertainty of their future in Russia, most migrants leave their children with extended family in Vietnam. Although they have free access to Russian healthcare services, expectant mothers still prefer to travel to Vietnam to deliver their baby and leave him/her behind after six months or a year to return to work in Russia. Even in rare situations when parents can afford the relatively high costs of raising a baby in Russia, children are often sent to Vietnam when they reach school age. In these cases, the mother has to either withdraw from work and become a full-time carer for the baby in his/her preschool years or hire a nanny from Vietnam, which would set them back between USD 500-700 each month, because bringing young children along to the market is not really an option.