Sino-Kazakh ties manifest in border market's surge

As China and resource-abundant neighbors such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are beefing up co-ops for energy and nature resources, the cross-border market between China's border city Tacheng and Kazakhstan has also been injected with new vigor thanks to the enhanced bilateral relations from the grassroots level.

After seven months of preparation, the market began formal operation on Dec 2, and merchants from Kazakhstan were permitted to cross the border to the market in China without visa.

"Within only three days, buyers from Kazakhstan landed altogether 10 contracts with me, in other words, I can sell more that 1,000 kilograms of mushroom to Kazakhstan - at a price two to four times the average retail price in the domestic market", said Zhong Xinlong, a mushroom merchant from Tacheng.