MANDALAY, Myanmar (Reuters) - The stalls of
Mandalay's biggest market are lined with Chinese-made clothes, appliances and
cosmetics -- a clear sign of the grip Myanmar's giant neighbour has over the
city.
"You think of me as Chinese, right?"
said Xiao Wei, one of many ethnic Chinese merchants at the Zeigyo market in
Mandalay, a bustling city and former royal capital in central Myanmar.
"When I am in China, no one believes I am
a foreigner until they see my passport."
The Chinese influence has always been strong
in Mandalay, perched beside the broad Irrawaddy River, 264 km (165 miles)
southwest of the border with China's Yunnan province.
Ethnic Chinese families have lived in the city
for generations and Chinese dialects are commonly heard. Many shop signs and
advertisements are in Chinese.
But relations between the neighbours have not
always been cosy. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, an ago-old suspicion of China
runs deep.
Anti-Chinese riots erupted in the 1960s and
for years afterwards China supported communist guerrillas battling Mynamar's
military government from northern hills.
But after the United States imposed sanctions
on the country, also known as Burma, after a military crackdown on student-led
democracy protests in 1988, Mandalay, and Myanmar itself, slipped deep into
China's embrace.
Now many ordinary people feet stifled by that
and analysts say Myanmar's rulers, including its military men who have
officially handed power to a civilian government, want to loosen their
dependence on China and balance out foreign relations.
That's why U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton should get a warm welcome when she arrives in Myanmar on Wednesday for
a visit that could do more to end the country's isolation than any other
diplomatic gesture in 50 years.
Clinton's trip follows a decision by U.S.
President Barack Obama to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw
"flickers of progress" after reforms by the civilian government that
took office in March.
While for many in Myanmar, from hardline
generals to reformers and pro-democracy campaigners, China has become a symbol
of angst, it is bound to reamain hugely influential, no matter how warm
relations with the United States might grow.
Chinese money is financing new ports, highways
and dams across the resource-rich country of 50 million people. Those projects
underpin more than $14 billion of pledged Chinese investment for the fiscal
year ending in March, making China by far the biggest investor in Myanmar.
But in a sign Myanmar wants a little less of
China, President Thein Sein in late September halted construction of a $3.6
billion dam being built by China in northern Myanmar because of public anger
over its impact downstream on the Irrawaddy, seen as a holy river.
OPPORTUNITIES IN ANCIENT CAPITAL
Once home to English writer George Orwell,
Mandalay was heavily bombed during the Japanese occupation in World War Two.
When Allied forces re-took the city in 1945, snipers fought running battles in
the grid-like streets.
The city, under the shadow of Mandalay Hill
and a giant Buddha statue at the top, was home to Myanmar's royal court until
the last king was deposed and exiled by the British in the 1880s.
Though the monarchy was banished, Mandalay
remained the centre for Buddhism and about 60 percent of Myanmar's monks are
said to live in the city.
It also provides an insight into China's sway
over Myanmar.
Shops in the ancient monastic centre are
packed with Chinese businessmen, many of them seeking their fortune in jade and
other gemstones dug from Myanmar mines.
Wang Yihong, from China's Jiangxi province,
said he had invested $1 million in a gold mine about 150 km (100 miles) from
Mandalay.
"There are definitely business
opportunities," the 51-year-old businessman, puffing on a cigarette, said
at Mandalay airport after arriving on a flight from China's Kunming city.
"Burma is rich in resources and China
needs these resources."
According to official figures, there are
400,000 ethnic Chinese in Mandalay province, including 70,000 in the city, but
researchers said the real number could be much higher because many Chinese have
registered themselves as Burmese.
Whatever their numbers, it's clear that the
Chinese, whether newly arrived or residents for generations, are better off
than ethnic Burmans. It's the Chinese own villas on the outskirts of the city
and visit its upmarket shops.
Chin Han, a motorcycle taxi driver dressed in
a traditional Burmese sarong, said he could make a better living if he spoke a
Chinese language.
"I'm making $200 a month now, but if I
could speak Chinese, I think I could make at least $300 a month," he said,
waiting for customers in the shade of a tree.
"That's why I've sent one of my sons to
learn Chinese. Chinese people are really hard workers, while we Burmese people
spend too much time on tea and drinks, and even pray. Maybe we should learn something
from the Chinese."
GEMS FOR SALE
In the city's gem market, sellers are often
indigenous Burmese wearing sarongs and slippers. Chunks of the milky green
stone are on display at stand after stand.
The buyers are usually Chinese, wearing
trousers and shoes, who sit at long flat tables, checking the jade with small
flashlights and bottles of water with a little holes in the top to wet the
stones and judge quality.
Once a deal is made, a bundle of kyat,
Myanmar's currency, is exchanged.
"We buy the jade here but the processing
here is not good enough, so we take the jade to Guangzhou to process and
resell," said a Chinese merchant from Guangdong province near Hong Kong,
who only gave his family name Li.
There are 10 Chinese schools in Mandalay.
Feng Huaiwei, an administrator at one of them,
said he had suffered discrimination for many years.
"Things for Chinese here are getting much
better," he said. Behind him, Chinese proverbs hung from the wall, and
there were notices inviting students to join winter camps in China.
While Mandalay is peaceful, distrust of China
and the Chinese simmers.
Dan Na, a 32-year-old woman chatting with
friends at a temple, said she did not respect the Chinese even if they were
more prosperous.
"They are not Buddhists, not Christians,
they just make money," said Dan Na, wearing thanaka on her face, a
yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark.
Speaking broken English, Dan Na said she sold
fruit on the streets for a living but she took comfort from her religion.
"I believe in Buddha and my next life
will be great."
Reuters
(Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by
Dean Yates and Robert Birsel)
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