Boten is a town in Laos in Luang Namtha Province. Boten is on the China–Laos border. It is opposite the Chinese town Mohan. While Boten is part of Laos, most of its inhabitants speak Mandarin Chinese as their native language. The main currency used in Boten is the

Chinese yuan The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

. After 5 years of construction, in December 2021 both the Vientiane–Boten Railway and

Yuxi–Mohan railway The Yuxi–Mohan railway or Yumo railway (), is a Chinese section of the China–Laos railway in Yunnan Province of southwest China. The line runs from Yuxi in central Yunnan to Mohan, a town in Mengla County on the border with Laos in the Xish ...

s opened, connecting the town south towards

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

and towards Kunming, China to the north. Boten is the northernmost Lao town on the 414 km railway, with 198 km of tunnels and 62 km of bridges, that runs at an operating speed of 160 km per hour. The town is served by Boten railway station.

Special Economic Zone

In 2002, a big casino was built in Boten. The casino mainly attracted Chinese visitors as gambling is illegal in China. In 2011 the Chinese government requested Laos to close this casino. Today the casino is abandoned.

References

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

Citations

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