Flowing goods, hardening borders? China's commercial expansion into Kyrgyzstan re-examined

The Dordoi Bazaar, in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, has in the past 15years become a prime example of the increasing impact of China's rapid development in this structurally and politically weak post-Soviet state and in relation to its people. Chinese-made consumer goods, worth several billions of US dollars annually, have been re-exported overland via Kyrgyzstan to wholesale and retail clients across Eurasia. However, the hardening of the state border to the north, and particularly following the foundation of a tripartite customs union (CU) including Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus in the same year, has threatened the livelihoods of numerous trade entrepreneurs at the bazaar. Given Kyrgyzstan's recent accession to the newly formed Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in May 2015, it makes sense to re-evaluate local representations and future perspectives on China's powerful commercial expansion into Central Asia. Based on several months of ethnographic fieldwork in Bishkek between 2012 and 2015, this article analyzes the dynamic socioeconomic effects of China's trade and transport policy on trade entrepreneurs in Kyrgyzstan. It outlines how China's commercial dominance in the neighboring state, albeit discussed controversially and often running up against nationalist anti-Chinese sentiments, have strongly influenced Kyrgyzstani trade entrepreneurs' interaction with Chinese partners and their strategies of doing business at and beyond the bazaar - as will be demonstrated herein through the example of Bishkek's emerging apparel industry. This article also illuminates the ways Dordoi's trade entrepreneurs make sense of the uncertainties after Kyrgyzstan's accession to the EEU.