By Ben Blanchard

RUILI, China, Jan 28 -- Ask residents of the dusty Chinese border town of Ruili what they think of their neighbor and supposed friend Myanmar (Burma) and one word features prominently -- "luan," or chaotic.

Ask the Myanmar traders, in their sarong-like longyis and cheap plastic sandals, what they think of China and their answer is completely the opposite -- stable, giving them a chance to escape the poverty and mismanagement of their ruling generals.

Yet there is little love lost between the Myanmar businessmen, farmers, and massage girls who flock to booming China and their host nation. Many harbor a burning resentment not necessarily of their own government, but of the Chinese.

"There are so many Chinese in Mandalay, at least half the population now," said Myanmar jade trader Ye Kaw, speaking in the flawless Mandarin he has picked up after many years living in Ruili, China’s main trading post with its southern neighbor.

"We hate them," he added, when asked how residents of his home town look upon the Chinese migrants, looking fearfully around to see if any of his customers had heard him. "But we have to come here. There is no future for me at home."

Ruili -- its name comes from a word in the local Dai language meaning "a jade green place enshrouded in mist" -- is home to a large population from Myanmar, some legal, and others sneaking across a porous border to sell vegetables, trinkets, or sex.

Sitting on the far southwestern tip of Yunnan province, Ruili was once notorious in China for its gambling, prostitution, smuggling, drugs, and general lawlessness during the 1990s when border trade really began taking off.

While those heady days may be behind the city, there is little doubt at the sway Myanmar continues to hold over Ruili.

Ruili’s residents have become rich on trade with Myanmar, mainly in raw materials such as timber and jade, which once sculpted and polished into intricate and immaculate designs of Buddha or Chinese gods can go for thousands of dollars.

This has not, however, engendered much goodwill toward the government of Myanmar.

"We all know how bad the government there is," said Chinese businessman Li Hai. "It’s poor and horribly corrupt. If I were from Myanmar, I’d want to come to China too."

In Myanmar, there has been growing alarm among some people at the illegal mass entry of Chinese into their country.

Myanmar has seen its economy lag far behind China’s, thanks to almost five decades of inept military rule and international isolation.

The United Nations ranked Myanmar 138 out of 166 countries in its 2009 Human Development Report. China, by contrast, is now on track to surpass Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.

The flow of people goes both ways. Zaw Mein, an ethnic Rohingya and Muslim from the southeastern Myanmar coastal state of Arakan, has little time for the politics of his sometimes chaotic homeland. He just wants to earn enough for his family back in Myanmar.

"What choice do we have but to come to China to work?" he said, standing in Ruili’s sprawling jade market. "China gives us visas easily. Not many other countries will."

Ask him about Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Myanmar democracy leader and Nobel laureate, and his face lights up, as do those of his friends clustering around.

"Everyone wants to vote for her," he said, referring to an election slated for sometime this year, one condemned by rights groups, the United States and the European Union, as a sham.

"We know people won’t be allowed to vote for her, so what’s the point? The military will still stay in charge no matter what, and I’ll stay in China."