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The abandoned ‘Golden City’ Boten once housed a casino and hotel development by investors from China.
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Plans for the city included a multi-storey jewelry mall and a golf course.
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During its peak, the Golden City was touted as the “most internationally modernized city in Laos”.
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Before it closed down, the casino town of Boten attracted tourists from China and Thailand, where gambling is prohibited.
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A block of residential estate lies abandoned before it could be occupied.
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Hotel operator Wei Qixing, from Fujian China, owns a hotel in the Golden City. Once a brisk business, his hotel is now vacant except for him and 2 of his employees.
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Residential estates were planned in Golden City in anticipation of new immigration from China.
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A nightclub called ‘Global Village’ was one of the buildings completed in the Golden City development.
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Local Laotians are the minorities in Golden City. They are border patrol officers and custom officers, and a few small business operators.
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Miss Liang, 22 year old Laotian from Luang Prabang, is one of the 12 room attendants remaining in the Golden City Casino Hotel. At its peak, the hotel had 100 room attendants, mostly from China.
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Chinese employees in hotels and casino stayed in workers quarters within the Golden City. Many of them left after the casino closed down.
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Jia Jia, 25 years old Laotian from Luang Namtha Province, lives in one of the workers' quarters in Golden City with her Chinese boyfriend, who works in a nearby construction site.
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Most businesses in the city were run by merchants from China.
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Lin Shiye, 27 year old from Chongqing, China, is one of the few remaining residents in Golden City. He works in a nearby construction site.
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With no work in Golden City, these young massage parlor girls from Chongqing have plans to return back to China shortly.
Public Story
Golden City of Boten
Credits:
ore huiying
Updated: 05/19/12
These images are part of the result of my ongoing fascination with the model of development in Southeast Asia. In the closely knitted community of Southeast Asia, less developed countries often look towards their more affluent neighbours for financial and developmental aid. By documenting phenomenon of this interconectivity, I am interested in creating loose and often ironic narratives around themes of power, identity and sovereign.
China is well known for exporting its mass produced goods for global consumption. Less well known is its attempt to export its mass produced urban ideology. Across China’s southern borders with Laos and Myanmar, there are several settlements built by Chinese developers, operating businesses owned and run by Chinese. This series is the story of one such settlement at Boten, a town located in Northern Laos by the Chinese border.
Under the special economic zone scheme, Laos signed a 30-year lease on 1640 hectare of land to a Chinese development company. Chinese investors started building the Golden City that centered on an integrated casino-hotel. Touted as a futuristic hub for trade and tourism, the Golden City ran on Peking time and made transactions in Chinese Yuan. Less than 3 years into its operation, the casino was forced to close down due to speculation over criminal activity. Without the gambling activity, other businesses could not survive. The Golden City, deserted as it is today, remains a momument to the Chinese version of urban modernity matched by no other place in Laos.