Rising orders

Thanks to a number of long-established relationships with DPRK businesspeople, Zhou has seen a steady growth in orders from Pyongyang during the last decade. When asked about his business partners from the other side of the river, Zhou spoke of their "candor and enthusiasm" and praised their down-to-earth attitudes.

His trading partners are trade representatives from Pyongyang. According to Zhou, they are dispatched to China to conduct business on behalf of their country, and many reside in Dandong, Shenyang, and Beijing.

"They are very disciplined, well-educated and pleasant. I don't have any difficulty communicating with them because they all speak fluent Chinese. Some are also proficient in English and Russian," he said.

"I've seen some negative reports online, magnifying the risks of doing business with Korean people. I don't think many of them are objective; they seem very one-eyed", he said. "Of course, there are difficulties and misunderstandings during any cooperation, but they are unavoidable between any business partners, including our own people.

"I've also heard about the failures of some Chinese-invested projects in the DPRK, but the reasons were manifold. For example, some Chinese investors I know were impatient; they went to the DPRK to set up projects without due consideration or careful investigation into factors such as the local power supply, transport links and other constraints."

Without revealing the profits of his own company, Zhou said that small trading companies in Dandong similar to his, with a dozen of employees, can earn an annual profit of 1 to 2 million yuan.

Dandong's border trade will grow in 2014, despite the purge of Jang Song-thaek, the once-powerful uncle of the DPRK's leader, Kim Jong-un, late last year, according to Lyu Chao, director of the research center into the DPRK and the Republic of Korea at the Academy of Social Sciences in Liaoning province.

Lyu said the recent political changes won't affect the trading activities in Dandong over the long-term, because people on both sides of the river rely on the money it brings.

"When you look at the flow of traffic on the Friendship Bridge, you know that people still have faith in trading in Dandong because it has such a strong connection with the DPRK," he said. "I have been to many places on the border, but none of them contributes to Sino-DPRK relations as much as this city."

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