Transportation links

Laos has only three administrative levels: province, city and village. Each Laotian village has a chief, whose administrative power is second only to that of the mayor — similar to a district or county head in China.

Due to a relatively low urbanization rate, most people in Laos still live in rural areas. Village chiefs act as a bridge between the government and the people, and in rural areas of the country, residents often have a close relationship with their village head.

Seng Xaiyavong, 44, head of Ban Borpied village, which is about 8 kilometers from Boten, a northern border crossing point with China, said 696 people live in the village, and most of them work in Boten during the day.

Two of the villagers work at Boten station on the China-Laos Railway, which is only about 1 km from their village, said Xaiyavong, who was among the village heads who took this rail line to Kunming for the exploratory tour. It was the first time that Xaiyavong had traveled abroad.

"I came to study, and learned a lot. I was particularly impressed by the rural tourism businesses that are flourishing in Gulang village, Anning, where natural hot springs help boost the local economy thanks to the development of related cultural tourism facilities," he said.

Xaiyavong said boosting agricultural industries, which requires large amounts of capital and resources, is often beyond the reach of individuals. "Laos is different from China in terms of rural industry growth. We have a lot of room for improvement," he added.

The opening of the China-Laos Railway in December 2021 boosted trade between the two countries, injecting new momentum into Laos' economic recovery, which was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Even though Laos had a short rail link along its border with Thailand before the China-Laos Railway opened, many Laotians consider the latter to be the country's first modern rail line, and are proud of it.

Piewmeu, the village head, said: "People in our village depended on planting and tapping rubber trees for a living, because there is no local pillar industry. A few years ago, we could only sell the rubber to a local factory for a low price. With the railway opening, more business owners from China are now buying our rubber, and prices of the product have risen."

He said that traveling to Vientiane, capital of Laos, typically took two days by bus from Boten.

"After the railway opened, travel time to Vientiane was reduced to just four hours," Piewmeu said, adding that villagers now choose to go out to work instead of staying at home to farm.

In addition to convenient transportation, Laotians' incomes have risen.

"We used to rely on natural conditions to make a living, but rarely thought about how we could improve our living standards," Piewmeu said. "The railway connected us to the outside world, allowing Chinese businesspeople to come to our village. They saw opportunities, and I tried to recommend local projects to them to give the villagers more employment opportunities."