Letters between Xi and Lao people tighten friendly ties

On April 17, Bounmy Vilaysan, former principal of the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School in Vientiane, Laos, boarded the electric multiple unit (EMU) train named Lane Xang, once more together with several students of the school.

To Bounmy, the Lane Xang EMU train running on the China-Laos Railway is special.

Photo shows Bounmy Vilaysan, former principal of the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School, onboard the electric multiple unit (EMU) train named Lane Xang. (Photo/Yunnan Daily)

"It's the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has made today's China-Laos Railway possible and helped turn Laos from a landlocked country into a land-linked country. The railway has made public transport convenient while improving the quality of local people's lives and advancing the development of education in Laos," said Bounmy.

The China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School is a demonstration project of China-Laos friendship. Over the past years, China has helped build a new building for the school, sent volunteer teachers, and provided educational supplies.

During the construction of the China-Laos Railway, Chinese companies in the project donated sports facilities and anti-epidemic supplies to the school.

To express their heartfelt gratitude to China for its assistance in the construction of the new school building and show their willingness to take part in the joint construction of the BRI, the teachers and students of the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School wrote a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019.

In the letter, the teachers and students expressed their gratitude to Xi as the proposer of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- a great vision which they said connects the dream of the Lao people to that of the Chinese people.

Xi replied to the letter, and said he hopes that they will become successors in promoting the bilateral friendship.

Sitting in the Lane Xang EMU train, Bounmy can still recall writing the letter to Xi and the surprise and excitement of teachers and students when they received the reply letter from Xi.

With the help of Chinese friends, the conditions of the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School have improved continuously, according to Bounmy.

The number of students in the school has increased from 100 to more than 270, she noted.

Lao students take a photo in front of the Luang Prabang Railway Station. (Photo/Yunnan Daily)

Bounmy is full of expectations for the future. Now that the cross-border passenger service on the China-Laos Railway has been launched, teachers and students of the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School are eager to take a passenger train to China, she said.

A 10-year-old student who took the train together with Bounmy on April 17, which was also his very first train trip, was so excited about the trip that he got up at 4:30 a.m., though the departure time of the train was 8:08 a.m.

The boy said he wants to visit China by train one day, and work in the logistics sector when he grows up.

Vongthor, a Lao employee with the Luang Prabang Operation Management Center under the Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), has also been inspired by Xi’s reply letter.

Photo show Vongthor. (Photo/Yunnan Daily)

Before the opening of the China-Laos Railway, Vongthor and his eight schoolmates sent a letter to Xi, which Xi later mentioned in his speech at the opening ceremony of the railway.

To Vongthor, who is from Laos' Xieng Khuang province and studied railway theories and technologies in east China's Shanghai, the China-Laos Railway has boosted the economic development of his hometown and opened a new window on the world for young people in Laos.

Vongthor said he will contribute what he has learned in China to the operation and development of the railway and do a good job maintaining and operating the railway.

"I will take a train on the China-Laos Railway to China with my parents," he added.