Boten (, ; zh, 磨丁) is a town in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

located in Luang Namtha Province, situated on the China–Laos border opposite the Chinese town of Mohan. Although Boten is part of Laos, most of its inhabitants speak Mandarin Chinese as their native language. The town operates on

Beijing time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00, where Beijing is located, even though the country spans five geographical time zones. It is the largest sovereign nation in the world that officially observes only one time ...

Economy

Boten allows the use of both the Lao kip and the

Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

. The Boten

Special Economic Zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

is currently under development. The town is aiming to transition from its former gambling-focused economy to one centered on logistics and tourism.

Transport

After five years of construction, both the Vientiane–Boten Railway and Yuxi–Mohan railways opened in December 2021, connecting Boten south towards

Vientiane Vientiane (, ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Laos. Situated on the banks of the Mekong, Mekong River at the Thailand, Thai border, it comprises the five urban districts of Vientiane Prefecture and had a population of 840,000 ...

and north towards

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

, China. Boten is the northernmost Lao town on the 414 km railway, which features 198 km of tunnels and 62 km of bridges, and operates at a speed of 160 km per hour. The town is served by Boten railway station.

Casino

In 2002, a big casino was built in Boten, primarily attracting Chinese visitors, as gambling is illegal in China. In 2011, the Chinese government requested that Laos close the casino. Today the casino stands abandoned.

References

The Rebirth of Casino Town Boten, Laos , Borderlands , Full Episode

Citations

{{Commons category, Boten Luang Namtha province China-Laos border crossings