Organized Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region

UM > Faculty of Social Sciences > DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Status	已發表Published
	Organized Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region
	Hung, P.W.; Ngo, T. W.
	2019-05-01
Source Publication	Journal of Contemporary Asia
ISSN	0047-2336
Pages	233-253
Abstract	Suitcase trade is a common activity along state borders in Asia. Existing scholarship has often viewed such suitcase trade as locally embedded activities characterised by informality. This article contends that this perception underestimates the diversity and complexity of suitcase trade. This is illustrated with a case study of the Pearl River Delta region of southern China, where thousands of suitcase traders carry goods across the borders between mainland China and its two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Several patterns of operation run in parallel, ranging from petty traders working alone to highly-organised group operators. While each individual transaction is small scale and based on informal networks, the entire chain of operations is run by syndicates that are highly organised, commercial, with well-defined divisions of labour, and on a large scale. We describe such a combination of organisational competence and informal networks as “organised informality.” The concept allows us to expand the analytical horizon to cover those cross-border exchanges that incorporate modern commercial practices in otherwise non-formal settings. It also bridges the oft-criticised dichotomies of formal-informal and licit-illicit.
Keyword	Organised informality suitcase trading crossborder exchanges checkpoint politics China Hong Kong
Language	英語English
The Source to Article	PB_Publication
PUB ID	46414
Document Type	Journal article
Collection	DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
Corresponding Author	Hung, P.W.
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714	Hung, P.W.,Ngo, T. W.. Organized Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region[J]. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 2019, 233-253.
APA	Hung, P.W.., & Ngo, T. W. (2019). Organized Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 233-253.
MLA	Hung, P.W.,et al."Organized Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region".Journal of Contemporary Asia (2019):233-253.

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