Livelihood changes of Tay people in Lang Son province border from 1986 renovation to present: case study of Ban Thau village, Tan Thanh commune, Van Lang district, Lang Son province - 10

Every day, Tay workers are paid 35 Chinese coins, which is about 100,000 VND in Vietnamese currency, and are provided with 3 meals. Tay people in Ban Thau village, Tan Thanh commune often go there to work for about 15 - 20 days. When they have a decent amount of money, they bring it back to pay for their children's education, necessary expenses, and then go back to work again.

The place where Tay people in Ban Thau go to China to work is mainly in Po Chai (in Bang Tuong - opposite Tan Thanh Border Gate Economic Zone). In addition, people also go deeper into inland areas of China such as Nanning, Fujian, and Zhejiang. Mr. Hoang Van Quyet, 33 years old, Tay ethnic, Ban Thau village said, " I have been working as a painter in Nanning and Fujian (China) for many years now. When I went, I went through a broker, they introduced me to go there and I got a commission from the owner. I had to go illegally on a trail to avoid the checkpoint. Sometimes I went there to work long-term, but I only got a one-day pass. In a year, I went home 3 times on the occasion of Tet 3/3, the 15th day of the 7th lunar month and the Lunar New Year. In a day, I earned 90 Chinese coins, which is about 300,000 VND in Vietnamese currency."

In the case of Ms. Hoang Thi Muoi, 24 years old, Tay ethnic, said: “ For the past few years, I have been working for companies producing porcelain, dishes, and hard plastic in Zhejiang and Guangxi (China), quite far from Tan Thanh, about 1000 km. My work is mainly done with machinery and transportation. The daily wage is 100 Chinese Dong, equivalent to more than 300 thousand Vietnamese Dong, with free accommodation at the company. If I work for a long time and do not come home often, there is also a bonus system, at the end of the year they give me an additional 800 Chinese Dong (about more than 2 million Vietnamese Dong)”.

Through interviews with many Tay people in Ban Thau village, Tan Thanh commune, it is known that working for hire in China has many advantages over working in urban areas in the delta for the following reasons:

- Have a fairly stable income (from 90 Chinese yuan or more per day).

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- Going there to work is closer than going to the lowland provinces.

- Being able to do familiar manual work, sharing the same rural landscape of mountainous villages, having close ethnic relationships creates more interest in working and can work long-term...

However, during the process of going to China to work, our people also encountered many risks such as being questioned by the Chinese police (on the way as well as while working for the employer), being arrested, and having their money confiscated. Through an interview with Ms. Hoang Thi Muoi, she added, “ There are many people who have been working for nearly 2 months without seeing their employer pay their wages, and have also been cheated when cutting sugarcane. There is no other way, our people have to suffer these disadvantages because they did not sign a contract with them, because they do not know the language there.” In addition, our people have been cheated of their wages by some bad employers in many different ways, the most common being that when the payment date is near, the employer calls the police to question them, causing them to lose their money, and many people are also fined. There are also times when our people are on their way back, they send people pretending to be Chinese police officers to lie in wait on a deserted road to “retain” their wages.

Because there have been many cases of people being robbed while working there, currently, to prevent risks, the Tay people in Ban Thau village often respond in the following ways:

- When on the way there, people often travel in groups (8-10 people), including close relatives or neighbors to easily protect each other.

- When crossing the border, usually leave early, around 3 - 4 am to avoid checks by Chinese police and border guards and take shortcuts and trails.

- When arriving at the work site, the group sent someone to call home to inform a family of the address of the work site. This information was then reported to the families whose members were in the group, in case of any unforeseen events, people at home would know to come and look for them.

To prevent encountering employers with bad behavior, people often bargain with employers on certain conditions such as the price of the work; having to hire the whole group (deck) before agreeing to come to work at home; workers must live together in the same house; if they are sick or have urgent family matters, they can return to Vietnam and still receive wages for the days worked in case the employer is not good and has a reason to "terminate the contract".

porter

Cuu Van is a term that has been around for a long time, it is the name of a card in the game of To Tom. This is a folk game, also an intelligent "intellectual sport", very popular in many rural areas of the Northern Delta. In the 120 cards of To Tom, the card "cuu van" has a picture of a person carrying a box printed on it, so there is an illustrative poem as follows:

" Carrying a box everywhere

In difficult market economic times, the rain and flood waters come.

“Porters carry rocks to shore up the Red River dike…”

On the website http://newvietart.com, some authors have stated that “ Cuu Van” - a card game of To Tom has long been alive in the Vietnamese consciousness to refer to porters, who, for a living, for daily food and clothing, live along the northern border. They work for a salary and unintentionally help smugglers bring goods of unknown origin into the Vietnamese market.

Ban Thau is one of two villages (along with Na Lau village) located near the border, adjacent to Po Chai market (China) - this is the busiest market among the pair of border markets on the Lang Son border. Since the 1990s when Tan Thanh Border Gate Economic Zone was built, commercial markets have sprung up every year, attracting thousands of tourists to visit and shop. Unlike the border gates of Coc Leu (Lao Cai), Ta Lung (Cao Bang), Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) where only Kinh people work as porters to carry and transport goods across the border, in Tan Thanh, the majority of porters are porters.

The " cuu van" (cầu pỉnh) profession is a way of speaking among the market people, but simply put, it is a job of carrying and transporting for hire. It is also a profession chosen by many healthy people to earn a living in the border area.

The Tay people in Ban Thau village have only known how to farm and garden for generations, but now they have become skilled in trading and transporting goods for a living. Most of the healthy people in the village go to the People's Committee of Tan Thanh commune to get a pass to Po Chai market - China (2 km from Ban Thau) to get goods, then "tip" through the control station, and deliver them to the owners at Tan Thanh market. Captain Ninh Van Binh - Head of Tan Thanh border control station said, " Every day, the border gate receives from 100 to 150 people who are border residents who are granted a pass."

According to Decision 254, going to the border to buy, sell, exchange, and transport goods, most of them are women" 3 . Through an in-depth interview with Mr. Hoang Van Hoan - head of Ban Thau village, it is known that more than 80% of the Tay people in the village go to Po Chai (China) to work as hired porters from Chinese trucks to Vietnamese trucks and vice versa. The goods on the trucks are mainly

onions, garlic, fruits, cassava... Each container truck can hold about 3.5 tons of goods. This loading is mainly done by young men because it is a job that requires good health. Some other young men in Ban Thau village also work as security guards at the border market.

Mr. Hoang Van Hong - Ban Thau village said: " I have been working as a hired porter for quite a long time, since Tan Thanh border gate was established. When I went there, I also had to get a passport, leaving in the morning and returning in the evening. The job depends on the goods from China, on a low day I could only load 1 truck of goods, on a high day I could only load 3 trucks, each person has their own business. There are some items that they hire me for.

3 Decision 254/2006 of the Government deals with the management of border trade with countries sharing a border. In which, border residents are allowed to exchange goods for daily living and consumption with a value of 2 million VND/person/day and are exempted from import tax.

I carry goods all year round but there are also seasonal items. The most goods are mainly fruits but it also depends on the day of the month, for example, on the 15th or 30th (lunar calendar) there are more fruits. On days with little goods, only 1 truck, my income is about 100 thousand VND/day. But there are also days with many trucks, I earn 300 thousand VND. From October onwards, there are the most goods, because it is close to Tet and the carrying price is also higher than usual days. From the 2nd to the 7th of Tet, there are days when I earn 700 - 800 thousand VND because at that time there are many goods but only people in my area go to work, while people from other places have gone home for Tet."

In addition to loading and unloading goods from trucks at the border gate, the Tay people in Ban Thau village also transport goods from Po Chai (China) to the owners of goods at Tan Thanh market. The means of transport that the people mainly use is a 3-wheeled bicycle , bought in China. Because they are determined to do this long-term job of transporting goods, almost every household usually buys a 3-wheeled vehicle, which costs from 1.2 to 1.5 million VND. From early morning, Tan Thanh border gate has been bustling with activity, groups of people have prepared to receive the first shipments across the border. Those participating in this work include people from the elderly to the young, from men to women, and especially in Tan Thanh, there are many women doing this transport job. This team forms into groups, when there is a need, the owner often calls the group leader and in just a moment the "cuu van" will be there. Each time transporting goods from Po Chai to Tan Thanh market costs from 20 to 30 thousand VND, depending on the quantity of goods. The distance is very short, about half a kilometer, but sometimes there are many goods, it takes 3 to 4 people to push to the gathering place.

On November 7, 2006, the Prime Minister issued Decision 254/2006/QD-TTg on the management of border trade activities with countries sharing a border. This Decision allows border residents with permanent residence in the border area to buy, sell and exchange suitable goods.

With the regulations on commercial goods, import tax is exempted if the value of goods does not exceed 2 million VND/person/day. Mr. Tran Van Nghia - Deputy Head of Tan Thanh Customs Branch said, " Every day, customs conducts import and export procedures for goods with hundreds of sets of declarations, mainly agricultural and food products". Therefore, the amount of goods transported by people through the border gate according to Decision 254 is very large. However, from June 1, 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular 10/2010/TT-BCT stipulating that border residents are only allowed to import in the form of buying and selling, exchanging goods according to the prescribed list, including 35 groups of goods such as ready-made clothes, shoes of all kinds, fruits and food.... At this time, the number of people coming to buy and sell, exchanging goods has decreased somewhat. Due to this change, the number of people who are allowed to buy, sell and exchange according to Decision 254 has decreased significantly and smuggling has increased in the border trail area, on both sides of the border gate with many very sophisticated tricks. At Tan Thanh border gate market, imported goods and smuggled goods are sold mixed together, making it very difficult for authorities to control.

Another job of the "cuu van" workers is to transport goods for smugglers. These are expensive items so they do not transport them through official channels but have to go through branch roads and trails to avoid taxes. The smuggled goods from China are mainly chickens, animal organs, clothes, fireworks, electronics... and are carefully packaged in cardboard boxes, waiting for nightfall to rush to Lang Son city, from there to provinces such as Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hanoi... As long as the owner (boss) spends a few tens of thousands of dong for a block of goods, the "cuu van" workers will have to take on the responsibility of transporting, crossing forests, and avoiding customs to deliver the goods to the owner. The traders do not directly "escort" the goods but they hire the carriers. Accordingly, the carrier is tied to the value of the hired goods, if they lose them, they have to pay the entire corresponding amount. This makes the "cuu van" have bold actions.

When discovered by the authorities, they are ready to rush in to rob goods and run recklessly on the road. There are many dangers and uncertainties, but people still engage in this work to make a living.

Ms. Hoang Thi Toan, 35 years old, Tay ethnic, Ban Thau village confided, “ Rain or shine, day or night, whenever someone hires me, I go. From Ban Thau village, there are many trails to China, only about 2 km away. The only tool I have is a piece of rope to carry the goods on my back. During the busy periods, I can carry more than 5 trips a day. Whether I receive a lot of goods or not depends on the health of each person, those who are strong can do more, those who are weak can do less. This work of carrying goods usually takes place at night, from 1-3am, on average each bag of goods carried costs 40,000 VND. As for the porters in Dong Dang, they charge by kg, about 10,000 VND/kg .”

However, carrying goods also follows an uncertain schedule, only when the boss receives a signal from the " owl " can he set off. The "owl" is a term referring to people who work with both the police and the authorities, then inform the "pilot" who is the owner of the goods to arrange the shipments that the road below is open for the porters to carry the goods. This is an indispensable brother of the border freight forwarders. When you see a flashlight flashing ahead and then going out immediately, that is the " owl " signal for the owners and porters that there is customs so that everyone can "hold their ground". Their means of communication are walkie-talkies and mobile phones using both Vietnamese and Chinese SIM numbers. This is a major obstacle for the anti-smuggling authorities in this border area.

Each porter carries a load of 50-70kg, following a predetermined route. When caught by the border guards, they must find a way to steal the goods and run away. Currently, working as a porter also requires paying a certain fee when going on routes that people consider safe because on rainy days, the roads are slippery, the path is only wide enough for one person, so if someone is careless, they will fall into the abyss.

Another part of the coolies in Ban Thau is to transport smuggled goods from the foot of the mountain to the warehouses by Minsk motorbikes, "toad" cars, now there are also Wave and Dream motorbikes. Each package of goods driven on this route costs 30 thousand dong. The people here said: " Whoever sells goods has a warehouse, if he doesn't live at home, he rents a warehouse just a short distance away ." The Minsk motorbikes are parked in rows, just waiting for the signal to clear the road, they tie the boxes of goods onto the motorbikes and then rush out at terrifying speed onto the road. In particular, because they are familiar with the road, even when driving at night, many sections go around the hill, the motorbikes driven by coolies all slide down the slope without turning on the lights. Only when they reach the main road do they turn on the lights.

The profession of a border-crossing porter in Ban Thau village, Tan Thanh commune is the only profession in this border area that requires friends and partners to make a living, to escape the police or border guards. Although the work is very hard, mainly at night and very dangerous, the income is still acceptable, so the number of porters in the border gate area is increasing. They enter this "cheap" profession without any intention of choosing, existing to make a living.

Sales for hire to Chinese shippers

In addition to forms of hired labor such as porters and coolies, the Tay people in Ban Thau village, Tan Thanh commune also sell goods for Chinese shop owners (a few are Vietnamese shop owners). The stalls at Tan Thanh border market have a large number of Chinese sellers, so they often hire more people to sell goods. In addition, they directly rent houses from people in Na Lau village (next to Ban Thau village) to open shops for more than 1 million VND/month. They often get goods from Chinese companies to sell, mainly watches, teapots, bowls, plates, shoes, clothes, toilet paper, handbags... and hire people to sell them. Those who know Chinese will be given priority because it is easier to communicate and the wages are also higher. Through an interview with Mr. Hoang Van Hoan - head of Ban Thau village, it is known that the Tay people in the village sell goods for Chinese shop owners in large numbers because

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