和越南一河之隔的边境小城——东兴(CC字幕)
Hello everyone, it’s September 30, 2025 I’m in Dongxing, Guangxi today Dongxing is a port city at the border between China and Vietnam Our itinerary today is to first visit China’s only maritime ethnic group the main settlement village of the Jing people the three Jing islands and then go to the Dongxing port area to experience the special cuisine at the China-Vietnam border Let’s go now I walked around near this Dongxing high-speed railway station It’s hard to find a place to eat In this area There are only car repair shops No food available There’s nothing in the railway station either Walked almost two kilometers Finally discovered a residential area here There is a restaurant at the entrance We haven’t eaten breakfast yet. Let’s go For my first meal in Dongxing, I will have a bowl of beef noodles This bowl is mixed-snail noodles Just had a funny moment because we thought mixed-snail noodles would be like Luosifen with small snails but their mixed snails are these large ones these shellfish types and some meat at first glance couldn’t tell which was beef noodles which was mixed-snail noodles Overall it has a fresh light taste feels quite comfortable eating these in the morning The noodles here are different from what we eat elsewhere they’re not very bouncy the type that breaks when you bite and the surface of the noodles is rougher not the smooth slippery kind very easy to break Done, now taking the bus to the three Jing islands This is my first time seeing this red banana Can I just take two? Can I just take this little bit? Just take one We’ll just taste it Just take one, you can take it for free Hahaha that’s too much I can’t accept it It’s okay, it’s okay Take it, take it for free No no no, we can’t Then let us pay 1 yuan($0.14), okay? No no no It’s fine, I can scan the code to pay for one No need, no need to scan No, no, we can’t accept that It’s okay, I couldn’t possibly My own bananas, it’s okay Your own home-grown bananas, right? Yes. I’ll pay 1 yuan($0.14), it’s fine Just want one, that’s enough No need for money, take it for free No need for money, take it No no What I lack is alcohol, not bananas Just take it and enjoy. Thank you I’ve arrived near Jintan now which is one of Jing people’s villages We just met a stall on the roadside selling red bananas We wanted to buy some That brother said you can take it for free and directly gave us these three We couldn’t accept that, so still paid 1 yuan($0.14) We don’t know how much he actually sold them for let’s try it This banana’s skin is thinner than common bananas The flesh is also larger The taste isn’t that different Very delicious Very fragrant Extremely fragrant These waves are too big It reminds me of the poem: The Yangtze River flows eastward Did your shoes get wet? No, I ran fast The road is directly adjacent to the coast No beach She can’t get through These waves are too big I’ve never seen such big waves Feels like they built the steps into the sea There’s a brother who went down The white waves are like milk and the weather isn’t good today No sun, the sea water isn’t blue These waves can splash directly onto the road directly splash on this road where cars drive Incredible People’s lives here are integrated with these waves Now I’ve arrived at the Jing Ethnic Museum which is next to the Jintan beach This Jing Ethnic Museum should be the existing place with the most complete information about the Jing people Let’s go see Why are the characters so strange? Some I can recognize This is what Vietnam used to use, called Nom script or called Chu Nom This is Vietnamese characters? Yes it’s recombining Chinese characters into a new type The Jing people actually used to use this Nom script But now young people probably use it less This is the Jing ethnic specialty, the one-string zither They are a people who make their living from the ocean So Fishing is also one of their specialties The Jing people’s Ha Festival is as lively as New Year Look at this mural you see there’s this lantern parade and everyone eating together over there they’re also playing the bamboo pole dance The Jing people’s fishing has a characteristic which is they use stilt to fish They stand on stilts and walk directly into the sea to catch fish with nets Now probably not many people know how to do it I searched on Rednote before They said now if you want to see this stilt fishing you have to specifically ask someone hire someone to perform, right Now probably few people use this method It explains that stilts are for catching southern shrimp The tools are the stilts they step on and the catching frame they hold in their hands Fried sand worms Isn’t the huge sand worm in the Dune? This is the child worm I really want to eat it 56 ethnic groups, 55 can sing and dance Jing people like singing Their singing is called singing Ha Ha means song and they celebrate a Ha Festival here It’s the most solemn and lively festival of the Jing people Feels like men all over the world play the same things Wrestling? We’re on the bus again now heading to the Dongxing port area expected travel time is over an hour It’s noon now The two bananas made us not hungry at all planning to sleep on the bus See you later, bye bye Now I’ve arrived in downtown Dongxing This is very close to Dongxing port We’ll be staying near here tonight Going to the hotel first to drop off bags Then come down to find something to eat Passed by a popular internet-famous bakery bought a traditional Hanoi bread for 12 yuan($1.69) Supposedly Vietnamese people come here every morning to make bread then go back at 5 pm looks pretty good look they added cilantro inside don’t know what the other stuff is let’s go back and try it later Going to try now the bread we bought earlier All along the way we saw many stalls selling this Vietnamese bread don’t know what makes this internet-famous one special ah, many crumbs It broke Right, the outer crust is crispy but inside it’s soft take a bite pork floss, cilantro, and fish meat look salty taste The flavor is actually pretty good The cilantro makes it better I’m now at Wanzhong International Wholesale Market This is Dongxing port a very large small commodity market here feels like the things sold here are like Yiwu style You can fine verything here, food, drinks, toys, daily items nothing special okay to browse around For loading bullets oh so loud Yeah, you don’t have to buy the bullets now Is this allowed to be sold? Yes, this is a toy gun, not a real pistol The bullets are plastic right? Right, this type, you should have played with them as kids, oh ah it’s gunpowder yeah right ah I’ve never seen it, I didn’t have them as a kid Want to get one? ah no thanks This is the Thai concentrated version Red Bull oh Is it different from the China one? It’s different The taste is different, oh Have you tried it? You can bring a bottle to try No, no interest Everyone in this wholesale market is too enthusiastic mainly because there aren’t many tourists today We two are like lambs to be slaughtered Everyone is calling out to us a bit embarrassing Walked around and came out It’s quite lively downstairs here Should be a pedestrian street Selling cigarettes? Yeah Small coconut I recommend everyone try this Thai fragrant coconut Compared to those large coconuts we usually saw this is too watery This has a very strong flavor and is very sweet So sweet Person left but shoes are still here Ordered a bowl of chicken offal noodles by the port These noodles are thin, the soup is very clear and this is spring roll seems to be fried, outside is crispy and oily Let me try a spring roll first Inside are wood ear mushrooms, vermicelli, carrots feels like there’s no seasoning Should I dip it in sauce first? This should be chili sauce Inside is just a fresh taste need to dip in chili sauce Not bad Next one Chicken offal noodles These flavors are all very light meaning if you have heavy taste, you need to add your own seasoning otherwise you’ll feel it’s tasteless There are even soybeans inside and the dishes came very fast We just sat down for a minute and everything was served This chicken noodles it looks very light but there’s a chicken oil fragrance and this chicken offal the seasoning inside is also quite heavy it’s that marinated flavor the noodles themselves have no flavor but with this chicken oil, they become very fragrant and there’s some soybean fragrance it has feels like this chicken offal is braised together with soybeans Is this chicken egg or? Duck egg This is very nourishing Is it a balut? What to do? This is ginger right? Ginger, this is ginger It is a balut The moment it was cracked open I was like Let me try a bite This is just an egg, don’t overthink it Why is it hard? Hard, crunchy Too weird It also has some fried crispy things and peanuts and such I’ll give it to you It has some You better not look hahaha The yolk part is okay more like an egg and this part is already no longer an egg No special taste I mean there’s no stinky smell or anything like that They added lots of seasoning, squeezed lots of lemon then scooped several spoonfuls don’t know what kind of sauce it is and ginger, yeah and ginger Is this the same as that rolled rice noodle? Different, not the same Bought some more snacks This seaweed roll is beyond my expectations, oh this is Bò lá lốt It’s different from what I imagined, it has meat inside tastes like seaweed meat patty Behind me is the China-Vietnam border and the cross-border bridge Vietnamese people come across this bridge in the morning to do business and in the afternoon now they’re gradually going back You see some people still carrying large and small packages of goods for back and forth trading This is Beilun River a border river between Dongxing and Vietnam’s Mong Cai The opposite side is Vietnam Vietnam’s Mong Cai city Can see from this glass side but can’t see any people I’m now on this wall Beilun River and over here is Vietnamese territory Feels like the vegetation is very dense makes me think of that Southeast Asian crime gang hideouts All grass and rainforest This water flows very fast, full of whirlpools Really looks like in movies This is the Qing Dynasty boundary monument standing at the border This should be boundary monument number 5 Built in the 16th year of Guangxu, February Over there looks better Yeah, there’s a tower there Right, when researching Mong Cai before I saw this tower Look over there there’s a building, a hotel written in Chinese Vietnamese flip-flops These are just the soles Right You can choose your own assembled flowers assembling these colors, right or this type with toe straps and also this toe-strap type Finally saw the legendary passion fruit dried How much is this? 6 yuan($0.84) oh Is this the 4 yuan($0.56) one? This kind is 4 yuan($0.56) This kind is 3 yuan($0.42) Oh then I’ll take the 4 yuan($0.56) one Want the cold one? There’s cold. Cold please Is this from Vietnam? From Thailand Thai Red Bull You try first I don’t think there’s much difference I think it’s a bit more concentrated more like that cough syrup taste A bit more concentrated than China’s canned ones Is this durian or jackfruit? Durian-jackfruit, it’s durian grafted with jackfruit It has durian flavor You see you have to pull it open like this to eat Grafted You can try it, if it’s good you can buy more Wrap your hand to grab and eat Take a few Thank you Durian-textured jackfruit Soft and fragrant hahaha What exactly is it? Oh can’t explain, soft and fragrant It has both durian and jackfruit fragrances and because it’s overripe there’s a alcohol-like mature fruit fragrance Not bad But I finally understand why durian and jackfruit can be popular but it can’t be popular Because it has no unique characteristics Because if you want to eat those two you’re already familiar with those two so for this there’s no more that unique craving Nightfall descends It’s past 7 pm now We’re browsing around this port pedestrian street nearby to see if there’s anything to eat We wandered to Dongxing China-Vietnam People’s Friendship Park Take a look Dongxing port is open for visits Visit costs 10 yuan($1.4) 10 yuan($1.4) ticket only gets you to the front of this yellow building to take photos there which is what we see in front of us now This section is the 10 yuan coverage area Other places you can’t enter either I want a cup of avocado juice Avocado right? Yeah Avocado juice Supposedly avocado juice here is very good Oh no, I fail every time I insert the straw Because you hesitated Really delicious Showed a satisfied smile This might be the best thing I ate all day just the fresh fragrance of avocado and the light sweet taste I told you you’d love it So late and still so many people crossing the border Are they local people who can still cross? But outsiders can’t Is it 24 hour open? Can’t be, probably not Just browsed around Things sold here at night are about the same as daytime and at night it’s not as lively as we thought I thought there would be a night market or something No And many food shops have already closed So we’re going back to rest now Still have to get up early tomorrow morning Now it’s the second day morning Past 7 am Behind me this port already has many people in line Everyone is waiting to cross to Vietnam Looks like they’re all Chinese people going over to sell vegetables in the morning market Boss, what fillings are in the buns? Look, there are prices I want one serving of xiaolongbao I want one serving of xiaolongbao I’ll have xiaolongbao too, two servings Two servings, eat here or take away? Eat here Also two soy milk, okay Sit first, yeah Near the port here Didn’t find any special breakfast Most shops aren’t open Just eat some xiaolongbao, we still have to catch our ride This episode ends here See you next time, bye bye Those business people, want to be first to cross the port Come to queue at 6 am, oh They’re catching the morning market right? Yeah What time does this port close at night? 9 pm, 8 am to 9 pm, oh 9 o’clock China time? Ah yes, China time Like before More than ten years ago When this wall wasn’t built yet They all crossed illegally No one applied for permits Crossed at 6 am By boat? Ah right, directly by boat Nobody cared at that time As long as You don’t leave Vietnam’s Mong Cai city Like Vietnamese people coming here As long as they don’t leave Dongxing city No one cares They can’t leave Dongxing city How can they check? If someone take a car and leave Anyway if you leave Dongxing city Every road has checkpoints Are there still people smuggling now? There are smugglers but fewer Now there are still smugglers Now those people smuggling mainly Many are Vietnamese coming to our side right? Many from Vietnam coming here Many Vietnamese secretly go to Guangdong to work They go to the chemical factories Wages are very high, over 10,000 yuan($1404) a month Those factories toxic to the body Ah, they can’t recruit workers Now Chinese people are unwilling to do it Or those factories very dirty and tiring Can’t recruit workers at all Those young people wouldn’t do this Now those young people You scold them twice, they’ll resign and run Let alone work for you In Dongxing in the 1990s Many people sold houses to go work in America Also going to America here? Many, before Sold the whole building for fifty or sixty thousand yuan($7k-8k) at that time Whole family went to America to work The money was as passage fee Right, took a boat Over a month to reach America All went on cargo ships Yeah If halfway you got sick and died, directly thrown into the sea Someone couldn’t make it there Because they take that cargo ship Slowly It stops at every country’s port Loading and unloading cargo Finally you arrived in America You have to endure there for three to five years, you can come back in glory Working in America for 1 year is like us working for 10 years Right, if you go there You should also doing the low-class jobs Those jobs Americans don’t want to do Yeah washing dishes and such Right. Washing dishes or something like that These kinds of jobs The high-class work won’t hire you There are also people making cigarettes here Ah right, I see the whole street selling cigarettes Those at the port are fake All fake? Specifically for smuggling those are real cigarettes, oh Also Chinese cigarettes Those Chinese cigarettes need to pay very heavy taxes Yeah, a pack of cigarettes for over 10 yuan($1.4) in tax Yeah, but once it’s exported No need to pay that tax Someone opens a trading company in Vietnam Specifically imports Chinese cigarettes Chinese cigarettes go to Vietnam, then they come back again They sneak back from Vietnam This way there’s no tax, so there’s no tax Cigarettes are also real cigarettes They go abroad then come back Like before many Japanese bicycles came over The stuff is very good Those bicycles Not even a screw would rust Very very good Those Japanese bicycles before At that time Domestically new ones only sold for 100-200 yuan($14-28) Those Japanese used ones people sold for over 300 yuan($42) Yeah But people still bought the Japanese ones People still bought them, good quality Right, mostly exported to Vietnam I see many new buildings being built here Right, everywhere Are these uncompleted buildings? Basically all abandoned After the COVID-19, Dongxing only has One or two communities that can deliver on time Now basically all abandoned During the pandemic the management was quite strict here right? The management was strict here Here was locked down for several months right? Locked down for a year A full year not allowed out of the house door They say the longest lockdown Was in Yunnan Ruili, locked down for a year and a half At that time We were not allowed to come out in this main road These road They Grid, they used bamboo to fence off Several hundred people, at most a thousand people in a grid Fenced in a grid Can only move around here, not let you out Within one grid There’s only one point Selling daily necessities Not allowed to come out Anyway If there’s one person infected in your grid All people in that grid will be taken to be quarantined Seems like many border cities were locked down for a long time Vietnamese people didn’t dare come, all Chinese people Chinese people need to come back, because at that time That port was closed Some people were in Vietnam and wanted to come back Yeah They all directly swam Smuggled back by swimming Swimming, hahahaha Port already closed, you can’t come back If your permit expires it doesn’t matter Vietnam won’t expel you Vietnamese people on this China side If your documents expire China won’t expel you either Like some Vietnamese people who can’t go back The government would arranges accommodation for them food and lodging Many people smuggled back are Chinese At that time Vietnam didn’t care the covid anymore, couldn’t manage Right, they were opened Anyway everyone was infected As long as you contact the people, you will get covid definitely At that time Vietnam was opened up a year earlier than China Right, when we opened up Also everyone was infected Everyone was infected, right Definitely There were several people Hit with stones by those militia and died Because of smuggling? Smuggling yeah Everyone couldn’t come close Those militia thought you were Vietnamese They used stones to warn people not to come over Anyway people here also didn’t dare get close to them Got close to them and you got infected too Several people were stoned to death So tragic They treated people as Vietnamese and hit Warned people not to come If you insisted on coming, they throwed stones throwed stones at you At that time here was really managed very strictly Those officials They feared losing their positions Managed very very strictly
