Vietnam: Boomtown on the China Border

Map shows Lang Son province in northern Vietnam Image: Wikipedia >> Watch the video of Thanh Tan market

Lang Son, a northern province of Vietnam, runs for more than 250 kilometers along the border with China. In 1979, China invaded Vietnam in this region but today the Chinese incursion is strictly about the money to be made.

One of the prime examples is the busy Tan Thanh market where a nearly endless variety of goods are for sale - all of them manufactured in China. Several thousand booths and shops cater to the many more thousands of shoppers who visit regularly in search of bargain goods

While the vendors are a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese merchants, all of the merchandise -- from electronics to clothes to toys -- is made in China. Bargaining is part of the shopping ritual and according to one taxi driver, if you pay only half of the listed price you got a bad deal.

RFA's Gia Minh from the Vietnamese news service visited there recently and came back with this video report .