Kokang Old Street in northern Myanmar

Kokang Old Street, the city of Old Street, was originally named "Mashuda" in the Dai language, meaning "the most savage place." It was once a notorious drug-producing area in the Golden Triangle. The local population is about 100,000, with over 80,000 being ethnic Kokang, most of whom are of Chinese descent. The Chinese yuan is used as currency, Chinese communication networks are in place, and it is only 8 kilometers away from Nansan Town, the new county seat of Zhenkang County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province. Border residents enter and exit through the Nansan Port. On August 8, 2009, fighting broke out in the area, leading to a large influx of border residents into China. On May 22, 2019, the Myanmar government revoked the county-level administrative status of Kokang Old Street.

Kokang is located on the Shan Plateau between Myanmar and China, bordering China’s Yunnan Province to the north and east. With a total population of 250,000, 90% of whom are ethnic Kokang (Han Chinese), it is a hub of Chinese settlement in northern Myanmar. Originally part of Chinese territory under Yunnan Province, Kokang was ceded to British Burma in 1897 after the signing of the "Additional Articles to the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Burmah and Thibet" under British pressure. British Burma was a British colony in Southeast Asia that existed from 1824 to 1948, with Rangoon (now Yangon) as its capital. In 1962, China and Myanmar renegotiated the boundary, officially placing Kokang under the administration of Myanmar’s Shan State. Kokang once enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, with Mandarin widely spoken, the Chinese yuan in circulation, and telecommunications services provided by China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Electricity was supplied from Nansan in Yunnan to Old Street, which also had two standalone power stations. In 2015, the Myanmar military announced control over Kokang and implemented policies to integrate it into Myanmar. As the capital of Kokang, Old Street was established in 1839. Its economy was once primarily based on opium poppy cultivation, but in 2003, poppy farming was halted and replaced with food crops. The main economic focus shifted to the gambling industry to compensate, earning it the nickname “Little Macau.”

A few years ago, there were many small paths near the border gate that allowed people to cross directly. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic and the rise in telecom fraud, many barbed wire fences have been installed, making it impossible to cross anywhere except through the official border gate.