It is just after 8am on a sunny Saturday morning and the Muse border post is buzzing. The line of Burmese waiting for permits to cross under the towering faux pagoda and into China for work is already dozens deep. Guards in olive green uniforms check the paperwork of a woman pushing a cart stacked high with boxes in the other direction. A long-haired Burmese hipster in a leather jacket passes through unmolested on a shiny new red Honda with low-rider handlebars. Then a pretty young Chinese woman, upright on a pink electric scooter with a blue parasol, glides through straight on to the ragged verge, narrowly avoiding the oncoming trucks which, stacked high with boxes of Chinese-made TVs and washing machines, kick up swirls of dust as they buck down the thoroughfare.
在一個晴朗的周六，早上8點剛過，緬甸木姐(Muse)邊境口岸就已經熙熙攘攘了。在高聳的仿寶塔口岸大樓下排隊等待通關進入中國工作的緬甸人，已有數十人之多。身著橄欖綠制服的衛兵在檢查一名女子的通關文件，這名女子推著堆滿箱子的手推車等待通關。一名長發、時髦的緬甸人穿著皮夾克，騎著嶄新的低車把紅色本田(Honda)摩托車，未受干擾地過了關。接下來是一名年輕漂亮的中國女子，她筆直地坐在配有藍色陽傘的粉紅色電動摩托車上，沿著崎嶇不平的路肩騎過了關，勉強避開了迎面而來的卡車。這些卡車上堆滿了包裝箱，箱子里裝著中國造的電視機和洗衣機，它們顛簸地開上了大道，揚起了漩渦狀的灰塵。