An aerial view of the Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center

URUMQI, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Marina has to cross border every day for work, but the one hour drive from her home in Yarkent, Kazakhstan to China's border town Khorgos is nothing compared to the monthly payment of 2,700 yuan (about 400 U.S. dollars), an income above the average in her hometown.

As the day breaks, Marina gets out of bed, takes breakfast and hops on a cab to start a day of busy work at the China-Kazakhstan Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center. She began to work as an interpreter at a Chinese trade firm there a month ago.

Marina (L) at work.

Marina helps receive foreign clients and coordinate with relevant government departments of Kazakhstan. Before working there, she studied Chinese for a year in Ili of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China.

Marina is not the only one who shuttles every day between the two countries to secure a decent job as border trade booms in Khorgos, an ancient town on the Silk Road, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China to promote economic cooperation.

Hundreds of interpreters from China, Kazakhstan and other countries work at the Khorgos center. In addition to the salary, they can sometimes get a bonus. "Back in my hometown, I can earn only half of the money here," says Marina.

The Golden Eagle Square in the Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center

The Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center straddles the border between China and Kazakhstan. It occupies a total area of 5.28 square km, with 3.43 sq km in China and 1.85 sq km in Kazakhstan. It's the first trans-border international free trade zone in the world, and also China's first unique economic zone "within the country, but out of the jurisdiction of its customs."

Official operations of the center started in April 2012. The movements of personnel, vehicles and goods are unrestricted on its premises, and stores within and visitors to the center are entitled to preferential policies including those on taxation. Up to now, there are over 4,000 stores including 40 duty-free shops in the center, with a staff of 6,000.

Lazarti comes from Xinjiang's Tekes County. The 22-year-old ethnic Kazakh man found a job as an interpreter and salesman at the center after graduation from college.

Lazarti also helps sell imported Kazakhstan snacks like candies and cookies, mainly to Chinese customers. He speaks Chinese putonghua, or mandarin, Kazakh, and the Uygur language.

"The work offers me an opportunity to meet people from other countries and broaden my horizons. These are helpful experiences for me to start a business in the future," says Lazarti.

A new building under construction at the Khorgos Frontier International Cooperation Center

At 6 pm, the bustling trade center is in peace. Marina, after a day's work, jumps into a cab back to Yarkent. Lazarti, bidding her farewell, walks towards his rented apartment on the Chinese side of the border.

(All photos by Zhang Xiaolong)