Crossing the border into the world of Chinese counterfeit goods

(Baonghean)Crossing the Vietnamese border at the White Gate (also known as Coc Nam, Tan My commune, Van Lang district, Lang Son province) into Chinese territory, to Lung Vai market - in Guangxi province by a shortcut through the mountains. This is a large wholesale market for Vietnamese consumers, all "made in China" goods are available here.

Through two dirt hills and a limestone cliff of Hang Doi, a famous place for the seizure of Chinese contraband goods in the Lang Son border area a few years ago, is a shortcut for people "going to the market" to the other side of the border to avoid the Vietnamese border gate. No paperwork is needed, just buy a ticket for 3 yuan and you can leisurely enter the country. A Chinese person on duty at the canyon did not bother to ask or check anything, just collected the ticket and let us through the gate. Right at the foot of the mountain is a wholesale market called "Lung Vai - Bang Tuong - China Economic Zone".



Goods are gathered and ready to be brought into Vietnam.

Here, from small consumer goods such as toothpicks, LiQuan beer, soft drinks, candy, cosmetics, lipstick to electrical appliances such as: TVs, DVD players, speakers, air conditioners, generators... are sold and there are also goods purchased deep inland and transported here to wait to cross the border to Vietnam. All types of goods originating from this country of China are extremely cheap. I keep wondering the question: With such cheap prices, how can we afford to produce such beautiful and diverse products?

Food horror

Following the instructions of the "cuu" (people who bring goods from China to Vietnam) in Lang Son and having made a connection in advance, I went to the food market and was greeted by a woman named A Mui in Vietnamese, although her pronunciation was still a bit slurred. After knowing that I was from "cuu K", A Mui led me to a nearby warehouse to see the food items that, according to her, were being sold to Vietnam the most. After a quick glance, I saw a lot of pre-processed food from vegetables and fruits, such as radish, kohlrabi, and bamboo shoots. All of these products were marinated with a red substance, contained in plastic bags, printed in Vietnamese on the outside but... with many spelling mistakes. A bag of radish weighing 2.5 kg costs 7 Yuan - about 22,000 VND, kohlrabi is also packed in a plastic bag for less than 10,000 VND/kg.



Chinese radish, bamboo shoots

There was some kind of tuber packed in a small bag weighing 120g, the outside of the packaging was written in Vietnamese "Hot spicy dish", the back of the product packaging was also written in Vietnamese "Ingredients (probably ingredients): Chinese cabbage, edible salt, MSG, chili, garlic, cooking oil, sodium chlorite, saccharin... with the price of 1 yuan/package, equivalent to 3,000 VND.

Continuing to introduce another thing that Vietnamese drinkers have been very fond of in the past few years, that is: Chicken feet! I have heard a lot about it but I really cannot imagine, thousands of chicken feet are contained in large plastic bags, all of them smell bad, plus the musty smell of preservatives and these chicken feet are moldy green mixed with black. Seeing me frown, A Mui said as if to reassure me: "It looks like that, but soak it in bleach for about 5 minutes and it will be completely white."

Hearing me make the excuse that I didn't need chicken feet because I was opening a hot pot restaurant, A Mui took out a black spice, shaped into a cake like a piece of animal paste in Vietnam, and said: "This is paste for cooking hot pot, if you plan to open a hot pot restaurant, you should use this to make a living. There are all kinds of flavors like chicken, beef, or seafood to serve customers". A Mui added: "This is only 6 yuan... just 1 piece of this paste will make a hot pot for 7-8 people without needing many bones..." Looking at the hot pot paste that cost less than 20,000 VND and the bags of chicken feet in the corner of the warehouse, I suddenly shivered when I thought of the steaming hot pot or the plate of golden grilled chicken feet that I used to eat at restaurants when the rainy season came.

MSG of unknown origin

Before going to collect information to write this article, I witnessed with my own eyes tons of MSG (monosodium glutamate) and chemical sugar being transported to the South. Today, wearing a "cuu van" uniform, plus having worked as a "cuu van" for nearly 10 years in the Lung Vai market area, I had the opportunity to infiltrate the warehouses at Lung Vai market. In A Quy's warehouse, I saw each 60 kg bag of MSG, without labels or letters, being packed with black sacks on the outside by the porter team, then brought to the cargo yard to prepare to cross the border into Vietnam. The address of the place where these MSG bags were received was written in ink pen as "T.. Saigon. Phone number: 09086...".

D... a "cuu" in Dong Dang town - Cao Loc district - who has a long history of "buying" Chinese goods, told me: "Every day I ship dozens of tons of MSG and chemical sugar to Saigon, these goods are mainly consumed in the South, sir". I wondered: I wonder why the Southern market has to import so much MSG and chemical sugar?

After wandering around Lung Vai area, I got on a 7-seat bus to Bang Tuong town, 40 km from the Vietnam-China border. The interpreter took me to meet the Chinese owner to discuss the matter. Through the interpreter, he said: "MSG comes in 2 types, small, fine grains and large grains. Vietnamese people use the small, fine grains more. There is only 1 type of chemical sugar. If you buy it, you have to pay, and the goods will be transported to Lung Vai for you." I asked the owner more and learned that this MSG and chemical sugar are produced in Guangzhou, and if you want to buy it, you have to go through people like this owner. After taking 2 packages of MSG as "samples", we returned to Vietnam via the same route we took that morning, luckily we weren't arrested for illegal border crossing!

We arrived at Chi Ma Border Gate in Luc Binh District, Lang Son Province. This border gate is called Ai Diem on the Chinese side, and there are as many here as there are at Coc Nam Border Gate, Van Lang. In particular, bulky goods, such as oriental medicine or Chinese medicine, are mainly concentrated here, perhaps because the road from Guangzhou to here is convenient or because the "mechanism" at this border gate is more open. Right at the entrance to the border gate, the strong smell of oriental medicine can be smelled. Trucks loaded with oriental medicine are lined up in long lines waiting to be cleared.

Next to that, groups of people carrying loads of medicine on their shoulders, carrying them on their backs, passed through the bamboo barrier towards Vietnam. There were tons of medicines, packed in sacks, in styrofoam boxes with various flavors such as ginseng, angelica, rehmannia glutinosa, white peony and many other types that gave off a very distinctive aroma of this oriental medicine. When we raised our cameras to take pictures of the bags of medicine being gathered here, a Chinese man aggressively approached and confiscated my camera with a few words of “xi xa xi xo”… I guessed that was his swearing at me… but looking at his appearance, he looked no less than a “cửu” so he left after forcing me to delete all the pictures I had just taken.

Flooded with fake oriental medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine books have long considered Cordyceps sinensis a medicine for rejuvenation, a miracle drug trusted by ancient kings. Although it is so precious, here, this medicine is packaged in nylon bags weighing 500gr and sold for 20 yuan/package. There are also countless types of ginseng. Ms. H, the "buyer" at this border gate, told me: "If you want to get a sample, just go to Dong Kinh market (Lang Son), there are all kinds like here". We went to Dong Kinh market to verify H's words and indeed there are all kinds of oriental medicines from China being sold openly in this market. A 500gr package of Cordyceps sinensis costs 70,000 VND, a large ginseng root packaged in a very beautiful bag costs 65,000 VND...

After several days of research and seeing with our own eyes the food products and oriental medicines at such incredibly cheap prices, we were extremely bewildered and truly worried about the health of the people when these products were distributed throughout the regions, from urban to rural areas of Vietnam. We all know that recently, Chinese traders have come to remote villages in the country to collect and buy all kinds of food, agricultural products, livestock and medicinal herbs from Vietnam at high prices, bringing them back to China to process and produce to meet the needs of a country with the largest population on the planet. So where do the raw materials come from to produce products sold to the Vietnamese market at such cheap prices? We have the right to doubt and question the ingredients, quality, as well as food safety and hygiene standards for these products.

The Son