At 4am each day in Quang Ninh province, rows of trucks trundle towards the Chinese border carrying the goods. Thuy, a woman hired to transport the goods to Guangxi, said due to increasing sales there, she was employed once or twice a week, earning VND1 million (US$62.5) for every set of furniture transported.

Stories go that some salesman from Quang Ninh brought handcrafted wooden statuettes with intricate carving to China in the early 1990s in hopes of windfalls.

After enjoying the profits, they brought more. Small furniture like cupboards and chairs were duly followed by larger ones like beds and sofas.

Now, nearly 1,000 Vietnamese run 300 of a total 400 shops in a wood-product market in Guangxi.

A Chinese local market official said customers even come here from far away as Beijing and Shanghai. Vietnamese sellers sometimes profited hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong for one expensive set of furniture which can cost billions of dong. VND100 million = $6,250.

Dang, a veteran Vietnamese trader, said she had difficulty at first due to her inability to speak Chinese, but later hired interpreters and gradually became accustomed. She said the procedure for business registration is very simple and she only has to pay VND4 million ($250) in fees and taxes a year.

But everything has its flipside.

Tam, a Bac Ninh local, said many have been cheated and gone bankrupt in China.

Hoa, a shopkeeper in Guangxi while holding her little baby said there were times when she could only meet her husband once every few months as her man is back home running their furniture shop.

There are also stories of divorces and social ills in Bac Ninh caused by wives doing business far away and constantly sending home big bucks to their husbands.

Source: Tuoi Tre - Translated by A.N.O.N