The Chinese Connection - Informal Trade Relations between the Caucasus and China Since the Early 1990s

Abstract

This article surveys informal trade between the Caucasus and China since the early 1990s. Starting with the initial commercial activities of singular entrepreneurs from the Caucasus - here taken to refer to Armenia and Georgia - who began travelling to China for purposes of trade immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I move to current business relations between Caucasian businessmen and women and their Chinese partners and to the growing influence of Chinese entrepreneurs who come to the Caucasus for trade.