‘Doing It for Life’ — On the Moral Evaluation of Chinese Trade in Eastern Mongolia

Abstract

The study focuses on the informal resource trade between Mongolians living in the far eastern region of Mongolia on the border with China and Chinese citizens (Inner Mongolians and Han Chinese). The cross-border relations between these nations are understandably maintained because of the economic opportunities they provide to citizens on both sides of the border. The article is based on the results of fieldwork held in 2015–2017 in eastern Mongolia. Although all the Mongolians living on the border are involved in informal resource trade with Chinese citizens, they feel apprehension about the morality of these relationships. The moral evaluation and justification that the local Mongolians use to explain these economic interactions is built upon the important distinction between trade ‘for subsistence’ and trade ‘for profit’ where trade ‘for subsistence’ is considered largely moral, whereas trade ‘for profit’ is denigrated as ‘selfish’ behavior.