The Network In Border Trade ——An Example Of Dulong Port

Based on the paradigm of social network analysis,this paper narrates the development course of border trade and analyzes the changes of strong and weak ties in DuLong port.The paper finds that in the early development stage of border trade,due to the informal management and lagging development,the strong ties nurtured by the longterm mutually beneficial relationship between the border people play a great role in facilitating smuggling.However,with the progress of port construction,DuLong port was officially upgraded to a national level land port,and the strengthening of control caused the interruption of the border civil social network.Since then,the weak ties with the advantages of high efficiency and low cost began to play a greater role.This paper discusses the changes of the effectiveness of strong and weak ties in economic activities,which in the formalization of border trade.In terms of practical significance,this paper focuses on the impact of hollowing out of villages and marginalization of border people on the formalization of border trade.The decreasing cohension of social networks among border people,civil servants and external investors has separated them.As the border people unable to engage in smuggling,they can only rely on farming for a living.Under the pressure of supporting the family,housing loan and so on,people go out for work and the villages are facing hollowing out.In addition,the civil servants in the port area communicate less with the border people is breaking their connection.External investors communicate their needs and messages to the border people through the government.The separation of the three has resulted in the marginalization of the border people,which also marks border people’s sharp drop in income.Among the border people,the young and middle-aged labor force is continuously flowing out,and the port construction is constantly attracting labor force.Building while blocking becomes a contradiction,which would be a huge obstacle to the formalization of border trade.In a word,the key to the development of frontier economy is to put an end to smuggling,optimize the import and export commodity structure and increase the proportion of general trade.One of the limitations of these problems at the micro level of social structure is the lack of weak ties.The government should promote the construction of platforms and organizations,make the communication of information more smoothly,and develop the weak ties between all the related people.In addition,the role of the border people in border trade need definite more clearly,the government should make their advantages become a huge boost to the construction of border economy.