More Border Thoughts

Dandong, China

The boat ride went more civil than expected. In full view of authorities nobody dared to shout, I guess. Besides, there was enough coming and going on the North Korean side anyway. On the boat, they actually tried to rent out binoculars to tourists so they could get a closer look at the water front of the North Korean bank. At first, I've got to admit, I was tempted. I had to remind myself that despite all the secrecy and hush-hush politics those were also just people - not unlike the Chinese on this side of the river.
Later standing on the old Friendship Bridge (bombed to pieces by America) I witnessed again how developed the Chinese side was with its high rises and neon and modern apartment blocks, whereas on the North Korean side things seemed to look a bit flat and bleak, with only some rundown historic buildings. Dandong a sprawling modern metropolis and opposite it Sinuiju a small cluster of houses, prefab blocks and factories hardly a third Dandong's size. This difference between the two sides! "North Koreans are very poor", a guy I had met near Tiger Mountain had told me. To grasp the full impact of this statement took me a while - even many parts of China are not rich (on the contrary!). So, for Chinese pitying the North Koreans because of their poverty is significant. How much poorer than some parts of China could North Korea be?
Still, business seems good. A never-ending stream of trucks, vans, some minibuses and regular freight trains cross the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge. More towards Korea than out of it, I notice. I remember hearing of Chinese aid going into North Korea.
And that's just on the books. I also witnessed a different kind of trade. First, I spotted a man fishing with his cormorant near the last pillar of the old bridge. He had been around for quite a while when a small rowing boat appeared from the opposite side and also headed towards the same pillar. Wow, I was going to get a closer look even without shouting and binoculars, so I stuck around. The fisherman waited. The two boats met right underneath my position in the shadow of the bridge. A sack and some other smaller items exchanged hands. Maybe, I thought naively, they were bringing the fisherman lunch, maybe he was Korean, as well. But then, why did the two North Koreans in the rowing boat look so shifty? The certain answer came when the fisherman made off towards the Chinese side of the river while the rowing boat returned to the North Korean side. I wonder what was in the sack. Some of the packets did look a lot like cigarettes. All this happens right under the eyes of border guards on both sides. Do they know? Do they care? What kind of "agreement" exists between guards and dealers?
In the end, I did get to have some contact with North Koreans: at the Pyongyang Restaurant. Limited as it was - they spoke very limited Chinese with the typical Korean accent I already knew from my class mates in Beijing. Just the order of dinner courses remained unclear. Cold noodles first, or last, and what about the meat...? Several of the girls took turns coming back asking if the cold noodles should be served soon (“冷面马上来吗？”). I said, yes, go ahead but as it turns out they were waiting for me to finish the meat. But they were really cute about it. Makes you wonder if they were hand-picked to represent their country. Another reason to be curious about their country. One day ...