[sustran] Chinese Motorcycles Change Lives

[Daryl Oster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/world/asia/27laos.html

December 27, 2007
Long Lao Gao Journal
In Laos, Chinese Motorcycles Change Lives
By THOMAS FULLER

LONG LAO GAO, Laos - The pineapple that grows on the steep hills 
above the Mekong River is especially sweet, the red and orange 
chilies unusually spicy, and the spring onions and watercress 
retain the freshness of the mountain dew.

For years, getting this prized produce to market meant that 
someone had to carry a giant basket on a back-breaking, daylong 
trek down narrow mountain trails cutting through the jungle.

That is now changing, thanks in large part to China.

Villagers ride their cheap Chinese motorcycles, which sell 
for as little as $440, down a rutted dirt road to the 
markets of Luang Prabang, a charming city of Buddhist temples 
along the Mekong that draws flocks of foreign tourists. The 
trip takes  one and half hours.

"No one had a motorcycle before," said Khamphao Janphasid, 43, 
a teacher in the local school whose extended family now has three 
of them. "The only motorcycles that used to be available were 
Japanese and poor people couldn't afford them."

Cheap Chinese products are flooding China's southern neighbors 
like Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The products are 
transforming the lives of some of the poorest people in Asia, 
whose worldly possessions a few years ago typically consisted 
of not much more than a set or two of clothes, cooking utensils 
and a thatch-roofed house built by hand.

The concerns in the West about the safety of Chinese toys and pet 
food are largely moot for the people living in the remote villages 
here. As the first introduction to global capitalism, Chinese 
products are met with deep appreciation.

"Life is better because prices are cheaper," 
Mr. Khamphao said.

Chinese television sets and satellite dishes connect villagers to 
the world, stereos fill their houses with music and the Chinese 
motor scooters often serve as transport for entire families.

The motor scooters, which typically have small but adequate 
110cc engines, literally save lives, says Saidoa Wu, the 
43-year-old village headman of Long Lao Mai, a village 
nestled in a valley at the end of the dirt road, adjacent 
to Long Lao Gao.

"Now when we have a sick person we can get to the hospital in 
time," Mr. Wu said.

Improvised bamboo stretchers that villagers here used as recently 
as a decade ago to carry the gravely ill on foot are history. 
In a village of 150 families, Mr. Wu counts a total of 
44 Chinese motorcycles; there were none five years ago.

Chinese motorbikes fill the streets of Hanoi, Vientiane, 
Mandalay and other large cities in Indochina. Thirty-nine percent 
of the two million motorcycles sold annually in Vietnam are 
Chinese brands, according to Honda, which has a 34 percent 
market share.

Chinese exports to Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos amounted to 
$8.3 billion in the first eight months of the year, up about 
50 percent from the same period in 2006.

About seven years ago, residents here say, Chinese salesmen 
began arriving with suitcases filled with smuggled watches, 
tools and small radios; they would close up and move on when 
the police arrived. More recently Chinese merchants, who 
speak only passable Lao, received permission to open permanent 
stalls in the towns and small cities across Indochina. In Laos, 
these are "talad jin," or Chinese markets.

Khamphao and his neighbors all have $100 Chinese-made television 
sets connected to Chinese-made satellite dishes and decoders, 
causing both joy and occasional tension among family members 
sitting on the bare concrete or dirt floors of their living 
rooms. "I like watching the news," Mr. Khamphao said. "My 
children love to watch movies."

A two-hour interview with Khamphao was interrupted twice: 
once when his buffalo in the adjoining field gave birth to a 
healthy calf and a second time when a cable TV channel was 
showing "Lost in Translation," and the actor Bill Murray sang 
an off-key rendition of Bryan Ferry's "More Than This."

Mr. Khamphao's children, whose daily lives are largely confined 
to the mountain village, have picked up the Thai language 
from television and they sing along to commercials broadcast 
from Thailand.

The enthusiasm for Chinese goods here is tempered by one 
commonly heard complaint: maintenance problems.

"The quality of the Japanese brands is much better," said 
Gu Silibapaan, a 31-year-old motorcycle mechanic in Luang 
Prabang.

People with money, he said, buy Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki 
motorcycles. People with lots of money buy cars.

Mr. Gu claims he can tell a Japanese brand, manufactured in 
Thailand, just by listening to the engine.

"It sounds more firm and the engine noise is softer," he 
said. Some Thai-made Japanese motorcycles can go 10 years 
without an engine overhaul. Chinese bikes, he said, usually 
need major repairs within 3 to 4 years.

"I want a motorcycle from Thailand but I don't have the 
money," said Kon Panlachit, a police officer who brought 
his Jinlong 110cc motorcycle to Gu's shop for repairs on 
a recent weekend.

"When I ride it, it makes a noise - dap, dap dap," Mr. Kon 
complained. "It's the second time I've brought it here for 
this problem."

The cheapest Thai-made Honda goes for 55,000 baht, about 
$1,670 - four times the price of the cheapest Chinese bikes, 
which are sold under many brand names, including Yinxiang, 
Dashan, Yincin, Zongshen and Honshun.

The influx of Chinese motorcycles is keeping mechanics busy 
in Luang Prabang. A decade ago there were only two or three 
repair shops in the city, says Mr. Gu. Now he counts 20.

Mr. Gu does not worry about maintenance for his own 
motorcycle.

"I have a Honda," the mechanic said.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company