Feature: Rising affluence in China-Vietnam border areas as fiscal policies boost livelihoods

"I am constantly amazed at the fast development of China's Dongxing city every time I travel there," Thoong Coong Hung, a 44-year-old Vietnamese businessman, said.

Hung works as a salesperson in Vietnam's northern Mong Cai city, in Quang Ninh province, some 250 km east of the capital Hanoi.

Starting his career in 1993, Hung usually buys dry seafood such as squid, shrimp, crab, and fish from the Vietnamese coastal localities of southern Ben Tre, Kien Giang provinces and, his hometown, Quang Ninh province, then sells them to China for a profit.

Such transactions and commerce reflect the growing demand of the Chinese market, and also increasing livelihoods. "Nothing special in the beginning," Hung said, "but now lots of Chinese merchants are inquiring about the prices of coffee, rare wooden artifacts and Vietnamese perfumes. "

Mong Cai, where Hung lives, is a city adjacent to China. The city shares a border with Dongxing city, in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"Vietnamese and Chinese people in border areas have long-lasting

friendly, neighborly relations. In Mong Cai, I have carried out various trade activities with Chinese people," Hung told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The businessman was happy to explain to Xinhua that there have been positive changes in the livelihoods of his Chinese friends.

"Sometimes, when we sat down together to enjoy cups of tea, they told me their days of hardship have passed and their lives have very much improved," Hung said.

Hung went on to say that he was astonished by the impressively fast

development of infrastructure in Dongxing city, where his friends live, saying that development is so rapid that if you had not visited a place for a couple of years, the landscape would be entirely different and you may got lost amid the ever-increasing new developments.

"I was surprised at the speed of construction there. Many roads were upgraded and new houses were built. In the past few years, the face of the urban area in Dongxing seems to be changing daily. If I did not travel frequently to Dongxing for business over the past 23 years, I might have got lost as the city's new appearance continues to change in the blink of an eye," said Hung.

China has pledged more support policies to elevate average living standards by 2020. China has helped lift more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past 30 years, accounting for about 70 percent of those brought out of poverty worldwide.

To improve living conditions, infrastructure and public services have been markedly improved in rural areas. More people in less affluent regions have happily moved to better housing, now having access to affordable electricity and clean water, as well as improved medical services and education.

"It seems that the Chinese government is allocating a lot of fiscal resources to infrastructure investment, like apartment buildings, roads, bridges, schools, among others," said Hung.

Thanks to the speedy construction of apartment buildings, Hung's friends can settle down in new homes.

"My Chinese friends told me that in China, there have been many apartment sold at affordable prices for low-income earners," said the Vietnamese salesman, "These apartments vary in size and are sold at a low price."

Hung added that it is good for those striving to get ahead, as a comfortable, affordable living space in the city is a key foundation in the quest for a better life.

Echoing Hung, another Vietnamese trader named Hoang Thi Mau, 54, said that since she first traveled to an area bordering with China, things have changed palpably.

Mau owns a shop in the suburbs of Hanoi. She used to travel to the border area in Vietnam's northern Lang Son province, about 130 km north of Hanoi, to buy goods for her shop.

Mau recalled the first time she traveled across the Youyiguan border gate in Pingxiang City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"I passed Youyiguan in 1998 for the first time, and took a short city sightseeing tour. The city streets at that time were even busier than in Vietnam's Lang Son. However, the streets were full of bicycles," Mau told Xinhua.

As Mau is getting older now, she no longer travels to Pingxiang as

frequently as in the past. But every time Mau goes there, she feels likeshe's "meeting an old friend who's wearing a brand new outfit."

"Pingxiang's appearance keeps changing. The roads have been widened and are kept clean. The streets are now full of cars and electric bikes."

Transportation from Pingxiang to anywhere in China has become far more convenient with multiple-lane highways. I often wonder how the city developed at such a miraculous pace," an astounded Mau said.

Official statistics from the Chinese government showed that the poverty rate of rural population stood at 7.2 percent in 2014, remarkably lower than the 73.5 percent in 1990, based on the country's poverty line of 2,300 Chinese yuan (376 U.S. dollars) in annual income by 2010 price standards.

China was the first developing country to meet the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) target of reducing the population living in poverty by half ahead of the 2015 deadline. Enditem