Inward Border: The Multiscalar Production of Borders Amid the COVID-19 Epidemic Prevention and Control on China’s Southwest Border

Border studies conducted so far have always focused on areas close to or outside the border of a country and rarely on the dynamic process of its inward border. The inward border represents the construction or deconstruction of a country’s internal borders by different agents at different scales. As the city with the highest population mobility on China’s southeast border, Ruili was considered for analyzing China’s inward border amid its border epidemic containment. The analysis revealed that the production of Ruili’s inward border demonstrated distinct multiscalar characteristics. First, an isolated zone was formed owing to the enhanced materialization of Ruili’s border and the interruption in Ruili’s normal contact with the outside world; a contact zone was also created owing to the support provided by the central government to Ruili. Second, border residents’ participation broke the dominance of border authorities in border control. Therefore, Ruili’s border became more resilient with the stable coexistence of isolation and contact.