Eastern Russia learns to live with Chinese migrants

[dArKeR]

After years of fearing a flood of Chinese immigration, Russians in eastern Siberia are slowly coming to terms with a migration flow that has become vital to the region's economic development.

"We've had a Chinese cobbler working near our house for five years now and he does everything quickly and for cheap, not like our Russian ones," said Anna Makarova, a Russian pensioner living in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, some 50km from the border.

"If they want honest work, they can come," Makarova said.

City and regional authorities say Vladivostok and the surrounding Primorye region can no longer do without Chinese immigration and have introduced a program to attract more Chinese immigrants.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/15/2003263585

[bemildred]

1. Didn't the Russians immigrate there too?

But it's nice to see this being dealt with in a civilized way:

"If they want honest work, they can come," Makarova said.