Vietnamese in China relish smoother journey home for Spring Festival

NANNING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Carrying several red bags full of Chinese specialty products, Nguyen Thuy Quynh is among the mass of passengers alighting from a train at a railway station in Dongxing, a city on the China-Vietnam border in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"I can't wait to see my relatives and friends," said the 19-year-old Vietnamese student who is studying in Guilin, Guangxi Province.

The Spring Festivals in China and Vietnam share many features in common. People in both countries give and receive red envelopes and place couplets bearing good wishes on doors. Most importantly, they have the same tradition of going home for family gatherings.

This year, thanks to the newly launched Fangchenggang-Dongxing high-speed railway, Nguyen's journey home has become faster and more comfortable.

The city of Dongxing is an important gateway to Vietnam. The opening of the new rail line cut the travel time from Nanning, capital of Guangxi, to Dongxing to approximately 70 minutes, providing a convenient transport option for the growing number of Vietnamese business people and foreign students in Guangxi.

For Nguyen, the journey home is no longer arduous. In the past, Nguyen had to take a train to Nanning and then transfer to slow trains or buses to the border city of Pingxiang before reaching Vietnam. "Now, after arriving in Dongxing by the high-speed railway, I just need to walk through the border and my parents will pick me up there, which is fast and convenient," Nguyen said.

Hoang Thi Khanh Linh, a Vietnamese student studying at the Guangxi Minzu University in China, is another beneficiary of the railway.

"Thanks to the opening of the railway, it only takes about an hour to travel from my university to Dongxing, about 2 hours faster than before," she said.

Statistics from China Railway's Guangxi bureau show that more than 3,000 Vietnamese people have made trips via this railway since it first started operating on Dec. 27, 2023.

The railway is an example of the boom in Guangxi's infrastructure aimed at boosting the connectivity with Vietnam.

Over the past years, Guangxi and Vietnam have deepened economic, trade and investment cooperation in various areas, including photovoltaic and electronic information.

Vietnam has been Guangxi's largest trading partner for 25 consecutive years. Last year, bilateral trade between Guangxi and Vietnam reached a record 253.95 billion yuan (about 35.75 billion U.S. dollars), up 29.2 percent year on year, according to customs officials in Nanning.

China and Vietnam will take steps to further boost trade ties and enhance infrastructure connectivity. Joint efforts will be made to promote the cross-border standard-gauge railway connectivity, and advance the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Haiphong standard-gauge railway project.

Standing in the railway station, with its strong festive atmosphere and throngs of people from both sides, Nguyen said the closer ties between China and Vietnam are clear to see. "I hope someday I will take a high-speed railway from China to my hometown."