This paper compares the transborder wonen on the Sino-DPRK and the
US-Mexico border. By focusing on the transborder work and living
conditions and the impact of repatriation, it documents that the actual
functions of the two boundaries are opposite to the metaphors
represented by their physical buildings. The Sino-DPRK border bridges
represent the friendship between China and North Korea and the close
economic cooperation, the Mexico-US border wall represents the attitude
of the US government towards illegal immigrants and the corresponding
management measures. However, the wall does not become a taboo for
Mexican border crossers, and the bridges cannot play a role in promoting
exchanges between China and NK. Mexican trans-border women convert the
wall to a bridge through their cross-border activities and close ties
with the societies on both sides of the border. Women from NK are
subject to strict labor management models, indoctrinated beliefs and a
fear of heavy punishment, and thus resist all contact with both the host
society and the home country, turning the bridge into a wall in imagery.
These two groups, as representatives of the two extremes, indicate the
irrelevance between the boundary entity representing the national will
and people's trans-border practices.