Showing posts with label Boten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boten. Show all posts

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Boten Special Economic Zone: From Women Trafficking for Prostitution to Chinese Products with the Label "Made in Laos"



@allterrainoverlanders writes:
"Boten itself was quite shocking - we heard how it was a sin city but the extent and openness of the vice was incredible. For example at restaurant we dined at, the hardware shop we bought screws at, and the bike workshop were all adjacent to the fluorescent-lit storefronts with women waiting to be hired. Sadly, we noticed ladies looking no more than 16 prowling the streets too."

In August 2022 @aiy_anoulack showed theese pictures of Boten Jingland Hotel:




Sex workers which are no more than 16? The german newspaper taz.de reports the same:
* 16-year-old Laotian Noy has barely arrived in Boten on the border with China when her first day of work begins in the cool evening hours. Five Chinese men surround the girl. Noy, whose real name is different, wears braces and laughs shyly. I've never worked in this job before," she says, while her pimp, his wife, and one of the five Chinese men negotiate a price. "I'm a little nervous." Then everything happens very quickly, and she disappears into the darkness with her first customer—three or four times her age. *

Taz.de continues:

* In the evenings, sex workers from Laos and clients from China populate the streets. Brothels are everywhere, with young girls sitting outside. Their laughter and the jeers of drunken Chinese mingles with loud music. Stories of sexually transmitted diseases and drugs circulate behind closed doors. In the former market area where Noy has been working since today, fights sometimes break out.*

Night live scene in Boten:

Screnshot from Youtube



This Chinese Youtuber is talking about openness in Boten and he points to the night and the Lao and Vietnamese women:




This blogger shows Boten as a "mans paradise":




"Child sex trafficking ring from Việt Nam to Laos busted", vietnamnews.vn reported on December 12, 2024. Authorities have arrested and charged two individuals from northern Việt Nam for trafficking minors under the age of 16. In March 2024 two young women were recruted by promising lucrative opportunities. They were brought to Boten Special Economic Zone in Luang Namtha Province, Laos. The victims were coerced into prostitution to repay fabricated debts of VNĐ68 million (US$2,700). Investigations revealed that several women had been trafficked to Laos to exploit them for prostitution, primarily targeting Chinese clients in Boten. The Ministry of Public Security and the Lao Police conducted joint operations to arrest suspects and rescue victims in Boten, targeting properties managed by both Vietnamese and Chinese nationals.


In June 2024 we see Boten during the night:


In January 2024 this was the oulook from Jingland Hotel in Boten:





On https://en.chinaseasia.net/ we learn:

*In 2011, the Lao government awarded a concession to Yunnan Haicheng, transforming the image of the area from a crime-ridden and violent border casino area into a border town full of opportunities and safe living. Yunnan Haicheng’s project focuses on developing the city into a modern city suitable for residents, with many facilities, including shopping malls, hospitals, plans to establish industrial estates, and cultural tourism attractions that connect with nature. (...) Many areas that looked empty are now filled with Chinese people who want to do business. (...) They come from many cities and provinces in China. (...) Boten is still lively at night, especially the 'massage' shops, which are lit with purple and pink lights. At the same time, the number of workers working on construction projects has also increased. The construction buildings along the way are not abandoned, but there are always workers. Even the number of young girls working in restaurants has clearly increased.*

See this Youtube-Video by Andy Chan from August 21, 2024:




Blogster Lara Dumortier writes in May 20, 2025:

*It doesn’t feel like Laos anymore. People greet you with ‘ni hao’ and ‘xiexie’, you pay with Chinese yuan and the streetscape is dominated by tall blocks of buildings — all empty for the time being. The whole thing gives Boten a spooky feeling. (...) In the last twenty minutes of my bus ride to Boten we passed hundreds of trucks with Chinese company names. They all seem to be involved in the megalomaniac construction project that is being made here.*

And she adds:
*Companies are allowed to remain 100% owned by Chinese shareholders, there are no import duties on goods coming from the Boten Special Economic Zone, and, most interestingly, products can be labelled as ‘Made in Laos’ according to WTO (World Trade Organisation) guidelines. This means that they are exempt from import duties in many countries, because Laos is classified as a “least developed country”. It becomes clear to me why this is so attractive to China.*


But there are more illegal activities in Boten, als rfa.org writes on February 28, 2025:

*A Lao surrogate for Chinese parents gives rare insight into an illegal industry that continues to thrive. Last year, an acquaintance approached Mali* with a proposition. A wealthy Chinese couple unable to conceive was looking for a surrogate from Laos. The going rate, about $6,000 to $7,000 plus daily spending money, represented a significant sum in a country where the monthly minimum wage is $82. “My friend used to be a surrogate mother, so she asked me if I wanted to be. I wanted to earn money,” Mali told RFA in an interview. “I wanted the money to build my own house.” (...) At a clinic in Boten, which sits just across the border from China’s Yunnan province, a team of Chinese doctors deemed Mali fit for surrogacy and implanted her with a fertilized embryo. She was then moved to what she described as a “luxury hotel.”
There, alongside women from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, Mali began her nine-month wait. (...) The team that handled Mali’s in vitro fertilization was made up of Chinese doctors and nurses, with a Lao interpreter providing support and helping arrange paperwork. Two months after the successful implantation of the embryo, Mali began traveling to China each month for checkups. (...) What she knew about the baby was what she saw in the briefest of moments before he was taken away: He was a boy, and he looked Chinese.


In November 2021 we saw this skyline of Boten:

January 2022:





Read also:
“Small Is Beautiful”: Lessons from Laos for the Study of Chinese Overseas

Resarch by Danielle Tan, published by Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 2/2012


Tuesday, April 18, 2023

From Kunming to Vientiane: The Crossborder Service of Lao-China-Railway has started

See stations and tunnels of China Laos Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos


The Lanexang EMU, arriving at Vang Vieng station

Finally it's possible to travel on railway from Kunming in China to Vientiane in Laos: On April 13 the first trains left Kunming and Vientiane and arrived 10-and-half-hours later at their destination. The 1,000-kilometer rail line, which links the capital of China’s Yunnan province to the capital of Laos, had been completed in December 2021, but due to Chinas’s strict “zero COVID” policies, the border of China and Laos could not be crossed.

Now the fast train between Vientiane and Kunming South Station is running daily in both directions, starting at 8:08 am and arriving at 19.38 in Kunming (China time) and 17.38 in Vientiane. First class tickets for the full journey are available for 760 yuan ($110) while second-class tickets are priced at 470 yuan ($68). Laos-China Railway Company Limited (LCR) have launched an App on Google Play, iOS and Huawei to allow passengers to purchase LCR train tickets on their mobile phones using UnionPay cards. The service is operated with green bullet trains of China Railway and the Lanexang EMU trains of Lao-China-Railway. Find more informations on Hobomap.

For the border checks the passengers have to leave the train in Mohan (China) and Boten (Laos) with all their belongings. The stops will take 90 minutes.


Read more:
China-Laos Railway: Timetable, Tickets and Rules





The Lanexang EMU of Lao-China-Railway entering Mohan station in China:



The green bullet train of China Railway entering Vang Vieng station in Laos:



Tuesday, October 18, 2022

China-Laos Railway: Timetable, Tickets and Rules

See stations and tunnels of China Laos Railway on Google Map by #treasuresoflaos


Trip in a local train (green train) from Vang Vieng to Kasi with sights

See the timetable and fares on Hobo Maps. They update the timetable every month.

Tickets can be purchased up to 3 days in advance at the stations and each person can only buy 3 tickets at a time. You have to present passenger identification documents and Covid-19 vaccination certificate, your name will be printed on the ticket. Payment must be in cash. If you don’t have a ticket, you should arrive at least two hours before departure time because you have to queue for ticket purchase and again for entry to the station and then go through security checks.

There are also ticket sales offices in central Luang Prabang and on the ground floor of the shopping mall Vientiane Center in central Vientiane. Each person can only get 2 tickets. Payment can only be made by UnionPay card or by QR Code (OnePay, UnionPay, Alipay and Wechat) at a POS machine. A service fee of 20,000 kip per ticket is charged. Hours are 10:00 am to 12:00 noon and from 12:30 pm to 15:30 pm each day.

Discover Laos Today offers a online ticket booking system for Laos-China railway. In Vientiane you can self-collect the ticket at Discover Laos Today office at ASEAN Mall from 9 am to 5 pm or they deliver to your hotel for 3$/way. In Luang Prabang you can self-collect at Discover Laos Today office at MyLaoHome Hotel and Spa behind Joma Bakery from 9 am to 5 pm or you get the ticket delivered to your hotel.
The Laos-China Railway Company Limited's Facebook page has info on how many tickets remain available for sale. https://www.facebook.com/LaosChinaRailway/

On the fast trains passengers are allowed to carry a baggage up to 20 kilogram. On ordinary trains there is no baggage limit.


Read background about Laos-China-Railway:
Chinas Railway for Laos: The construction until 2020
Chinas Railway for Laos: Fast Railway Building between Yuxi and Mohan in Yunnan


Saturday, January 1, 2022

Boten: A Ghost Town waits to be waked up by China-Laos-Railway

A video from July 2020 shows the development of Boten (Chinese: 磨丁市, Lao: ບໍ່ເຕ່ນ) town in northern Laos, at the border between Laos and China: Many highrisebuildings, some finished, some under construction - but only a few people on the streets and in the shops. Millions of dollars have been invested in this Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Laos by Chinese companies, in anticipation of the construction of China-Laos-Railway. The railway in both countries is now finished, but still the border is closed for passengers due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The investors will have to wait longer for the return of investment - if it will arrive ever.




The plans for the new Boten city (sometimes written Borten) are centered around an international finance centre in a cluster of 20-storey towers and a 30-plus-storey International Trade Centre. They aim at attracting nternational commerce and finance, international duty-free logistics and assembly, international education and medical industry and international services. Residential housing is dimensioned for 300,000 people. This at the location of a once small and sleepy rural village nestled in agricultural fields and surrounded by mountains covered by tropical forests. Promoting this new city is Haicheng, a private real estate development company headquartered in Kunming, where it has built commercial and residential properties. Since 2016 Haicheng has got a 90-year land lease. It has already invested around US$1 billion, completed 80% of land clearance, 258,526 m2 of commercial and residential real estate and is planning to invest a total of US$ 10 billion and complete the project over 10–15 years. This we can read in the publication "The BRI and Urbanisation" (February 2021) by Research Gate. Se this promotion video.



Much of Haicheng’s investment in Boten has come from bank loans made by the China–Laos Bank, a joint venture between a Laotian state bank and the Yunnan Fudian Bank, say the authors of Research Gate. Jinxin Fertility Group, a private healthcare company with hospitals in China, has recently acquired the first medical facility in Boten, the Rhea International Medical Centre, and plans to upgrade it for dealing with COVID-19 patients.

For now Boten has attracted mostly Chinese corporate and individual investors who have purchased the bulk of the completed commercial and residential properties. And a flood of Chinese workers and entrepreneurs have come to Boten, notes Murray Hiebert in his book "Under Beijing's Shadow: Southeast Asia's China Challenge". He also notes that Lao people are only hired if they speak Chinese.

Docoumentary Photographer Nicholas Bosoni shows the rising of the new city in his essay "Boten: the renaissance of Laos' Golden city".

CNA Insider has produced a documentary: The Rebirth of Casino Town Boten, Laos / Borderlands, a powerful and intimate look at the people who are living at this border town:




Get impressions of Boten City by these pictures on Instagram:


















The railway station in Boten: