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On the ‘New’ Burma Road:1 From Mule Caravans to Motorcycle Bands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2017

Wen-Chin Chang
Wen-Chin Chang*
Affiliation:
Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, RCHSS, Academia Sinica; wencc@gate.sinica.edu.tw.
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Abstract

Since the opening of the Sino-Burmese border trade in 1988, the movement of goods and people from both sides has increased rapidly. In 2011, China became Burma's largest trading partner and over half the total volume of goods was accrued in cross-border trade via Yunnan. However, national figures on import-export volumes are derived solely from legal flows, while contraband is largely overlooked. To date, academic studies on contraband have remained insufficient, partly due to the difficulty accessing Burmese border areas, and partly due to the mere challenges in obtaining information about smuggling from those who engage in such activity. This paper, based on multiple fieldwork sites over several years, examines a particular contraband – the smuggling of Chinese motorcycles to Burma on the ‘new’ Burma Road. This shadow economy thrived between 2000 and 2014. While highlighting its economic rationality beyond state control, I attempt to make diachronic and synchronic comparisons by engaging with dialogues within the historical trading mechanism of the mule convoys in the region and also with theories of shadow economies generated from contemporary case studies in other parts of the world. I argue that the formation of this shadow economy is not haphazard but adheres to the ethos of the mule caravan trade, predicated on local knowledge and social networks.

Keywords

Burma Roadshadow economymotorcycle smugglinglocal knowledgesocial network
Type
Articles
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , July 2017 , pp. 217 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University 2017 

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Footnotes

1

The original Burma Road was constructed during the Second World War, running between Kunming (in Yunnan) and Lashio (in Burma). The new Burma Road extends from Lashio southward to Yangon via Mandalay. It has been the primary transportation route since the 1990s (see the following section). Fieldwork on this paper was primarily conducted in Ruili, Muse, Lashio, Pin U Lwin, and Mandalay between 2009 and 2012, totalling three months. A complementary trip of one week was made in Ruili in November 2016.

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