Myanmarese seller earning good life in Kunming
Source: InKunming | 2013-08-14 | Editor:
Myanmar is near Yunnan. Myanmar and Yunnan have many similarities. Both Myanmar and Yunnan are abundant in natural resources, ethnic groups, and both develop their economy mainly depending on agriculture.
After Hillary and Obama successively visited Myanmar in recent years, Myanmar expedites its democratization. Under this background, more and more Chinese people went to Myanmar for doing business. However, in China, even in Myanmar's close city Kunming, few Myanmarese come to run businesses.
In Luosiwan International Trade Town of Kunming, a Myanmarese seller Ma Soe Soe has set up a handicraft shop for several years. She with her mother imported authentic Myanmarese handicrafts to Kunming , and sold those handy works out all around China.
"We came to Kunming for attending the World Horticultural Expo in 1999. Due to that expo, we see big potential lurking in China to sell Myanmarese products," Soe Soe said.
She and her mom mainly sell wooden sculptures which are made in Myanmar in the Kunming shop. The sculptures are made of teakwood, rosewood, sandalwood that are rare in China, but are very familiar in Myanmar.
"Chinese people would like to collect wooden handicrafts," Soe Soe said. Because of lots of Chinese people’s interests in woods, which are characterized with primitiveness, nature and pureness, Soe Soe and her mom earned a decent life in Kunming. They have bought an apartment for themselves, for example.
“In the past, we rent a house for our living, which brought various troubles to us. But now, we finally settle down after buying that apartment, ” Soe Soe told Cathy, a reporter from InKunming.
According to some statistics, the annual per-capita income of Myanmarese people in 2012 was 877 US dollars, while annual per-capita income of Chinese people last year was 6,500 US dollars.
Soe Soe and her mom can buy a house with housing price around 6,000 yuan per square meter in Kunming, and pay for it by cashes.
"We just sell goods with high quality and provide conveniences to customers as long as they require, " Soe Soe explained in a low profile. In Soe Soe's opinion, they are not so rich when compared with some people in Myanmar.
They believe that there are definitely more kind people in the world than bad people. And due to their trust to others, they gradually cultivate permanent Chinese customers.
A Kunming seller who bought a large batch of wooden handicrafts from Soe Soe's store went to find Soe Soe to buy new handicrafts again in the day of reporter interviewing. He selected some wooden pen containers at first, and paid money for these goods.
Then, he tentatively asked: "I encountered some troubles to run my shop now. A few large-scale handicrafts I bought from you could not be sold out, thus I feel a little hard to raise finance for working capital. So, may I just return some of those large-scale handicrafts to you?"
Maybe to Chinese sellers, most of them would deny this requirement. However, after Soe Soe understands the Kunming seller's requirement, she nodded without any hesitation. She lightly said: "Ok, if your handicrafts do not have broken signs, I could accept those goods."
The Kunming seller looked very satisfied with Soe Soe's feedback on his requirement. He said some thankful words to Soe Soe and left soon.
Almost 90% of Myanmarese people believe in Buddhism. Their way of treating other people is to be friendly to everyone. Soe Soe is undoubtedly affected by this belief.
Although they sometimes face difficulties in their normal living when staying in Kunming, feeling unaccustomed to have Chinese medicines for instance, they would like to help others, including Chinese customers and other Chinese people who are poor and need others'care.
Click here to view Chinese report.
(Editors: Cathy Chen, Lynn)
