Organised Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region

Bibliographic Data

ID3986281
AuthorsEva P W Hung (0000-0001-6315-8348, Department of Social Science, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, corresponding author), Tak-Wing Ngo (Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Macau, Macau, China), Tak‐wing Ngo (University of Macau)
Year2019
Volume49
Issue2
Pages233-253
Publication date2019-03-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2018.1546888
OpenAlexW2902043119
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited46

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

Archaeology · Delta · Economic geography · Geography · Pearl · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Engineering · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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