City of light
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2020 5:37 am
Sihanoukville. Photo: Brent Lewin
Sebastian Strangio
January 2020
Sihanoukville.... has long had a seamy underbelly.
The backwash from Sihanoukville could be felt most of the way up National Road 4, the dilapidated two-lane highway linking Cambodia’s capital to its southern coast. When I made the trip down in late 2018, the traffic frequently slowed to a crawl behind a seemingly endless line of trucks hauling construction materials — sand, gravel, cement.
The first major wave of Chinese emigration to Cambodia followed the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644, when loyalists of the overthrown establishment fleeing the onslaught of the Manchus settled in the Mekong Delta
Where the Chinese investment boom differs is in its sheer suddenness and scale. The proliferation of casinos has been accompanied by a steep rise in drug use, prostitution, kneecappings and other criminal activity.
Cambodia’s capacious Buddhist culture has since readily absorbed many Chinese elements. From the capital to dusty villages, one can find Cambodian doorways decorated with Chinese characters — known in colloquial Khmer as jeung kdam (crabs’ legs) — and Chinese ancestral shrines twinkle on the floor of homes and businesses. Chinese New Year is widely celebrated, even by those with no Chinese heritage.
Sihanoukville’s transformation is more than a cautionary tale about the perils of China’s development model. In reality, the lessons are more ambiguous. In The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, Deborah Bräutigam observed that the impact of Chinese aid and economic cooperation differs widely from country to country.
Sihanoukville’s ugly realities suggest that China’s global influence spills beyond the decrees and policies of the central state, to encompass the actions of countless traders, labourers, entrepreneurs, hustlers and criminals whose interests often run counter to official schemes like the BRI — even as they ape its rhetoric.
full. https://mekongreview.com/city-of-light/