In an underground mall just a stone’s throw from the Chinese border with Macau, a row of 30 small shops with identical golden plaques does a brisk, though shadowy, trade with mainland Chinese visitors, many of them bound for the gambling hub.
“Good rates. Better than the banks,” shout salesmen jostling to usher clients into the shops, where thick wads of bank notes — usually 100 renminbi, or about $16 — change hands and shuffle noisily through electronic cash-counting machines. Licensed as liquor and dry-goods stores, with shelves stacked with rice wine and cigarettes, many serve as underground bankers with remittance agents in back rooms.
“It’s very simple,” said one agent, Choi, who like others interviewed for this article would give only his surname because of the illicit nature of his business. “You give me renminbi here. Then we deliver Hong Kong dollars to you in Macau. We can move tens of millions each day.”
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James Pomfret and Matthew Miller, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/EekcEz04fyQ/
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