China-Kazakhstan border trade gives him pot of gold

Ni's Kazakhstani employee reports sales to Ni (L). [Photo/Xinhua]

Ni owes his success to his sincerity and precise targeting. "I can speak some Russian, so I know what my customers want. My products have a good quality and a reasonable price, and thus become popular."

Based on the demand of his customers, he usually orders products from manufacturers in Guangdong, one of China's manufacturing hubs, and sells them to Kazakhstan and Russia.

Balance cars sell best in Ni's shop recently. He has just ordered 500 balance cars for his Almaty client. As business booms, Ni plans to open a new shop in a newly-built shopping center, selling high-end made-in-China toys.

At the westernmost end of the Silk Road in China, Horgos was a transit point on the ancient trade route in the Tang Dynasty (619-907). In ancient times, merchants from Central Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe braved the Gobi Desert and nomadic bandits to arrive at Chang'an, the historical name of Xi'an, then the world's largest metropolis and capital city of Tang.

An aerial view of the Horgos International Border Cooperation Center on the China-Kazakhstan border.[Photo/Xinhua]

Today Horgos has become the youngest city on the Silk Road Economic Belt as the city of Horgos was officially established by the State Council in 2014.

Put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative, which includes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

"I'm not the first generation of Horgos citizen, but my daughter is," Ni said, "We have schools, hospitals and everything in Horgos. We have decided to settle here."

When asked about what Horgos means to him, Ni gave his answer by citing a slogan here: "If you have missed Shenzhen and Shanghai, you can't miss Horgos." Shenzhen is the showcase of China's reform and opening-up, while Shanghai is an economic center of the country.