"Shipping goods from Changsha to Vientiane used to take at least 10 days. Now, thanks to the China-Laos Railway, it takes just four days, with logistics costs down about 30%," said Song Jiefeng, permanent honorary president of the Lao Hunan Chamber of Commerce and recipient of the "Friendship Medal" of Laos, in a recent interview.

Song Jiefeng, 48, comes from Shaodong, Hunan. He has been engaged in China-Laos cross-border trade for more than two decades. He led the establishment of the Lao Hunan Chamber of Commerce which is now one of the most influential Chinese business organizations in Laos, serving as a key bridge for non-governmental trade between Hunan and Laos.
 
The straight-line distance between Hunan and Vientiane is about 1,500 kilometers. Due to geographical constraints and underdeveloped infrastructure in Laos, trade between Hunan and Laos had long been fragmented and spontaneous. Besides, the absence of a direct route linking the two places made it difficult to establish a large-scale, stable trade system.

"In the 1990s, traveling overland from Hunan to Vientiane took a week with several stopovers," Song recalled. Over the past decades, Hunan merchants have kept coming to Laos to start businesses and settle down. According to the History of Overseas Chinese in Laos (2025 edition), by the end of that year, there were about 100,000 people from Hunan working or doing business in Laos, among whom more than 80% came from Shaoyang. This has laid a solid grassroots foundation for official cooperation between Hunan and Laos.

In 2017, the official inauguration of the Consulate General of Laos in Changsha opened a regular channel for government-to-government exchanges between Hunan and Laos, providing an institutional framework for cooperation in trade and investment, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. Sengmany Daravong, consul general of Laos in Changsha, said that the presence of the Consulate General of Laos has elevated the bilateral ties from fragmented, non-governmental interactions to a standardized, institutionalized level. 

The following year, Hunan Province and Vientiane established a friendship-city relationship, upgrading the long-standing, people-to-people friendship into comprehensive partnership within an official framework.

Today, a comprehensive multimodal transport network between Hunan and Laos has taken full shape. The direct air route between Changsha and Vientiane offers three flights a week. The Huaihua-Vientiane international freight train service now runs regularly with high frequency, recording 351 trips in 2025, up 362% year on year. The Huaihua International Land Port has handled over 800 China-Laos freight train trips, ranking first in central China in shipment volume. Relying on the China-Laos Railway, cold-chain trucks can travel from Hunan to Vientiane via Mohan Port in Yunnan.

"Economic and trade cooperation between Hunan and Laos has achieved leapfrog development,"Song said. He added that Hunan's competitive products such as construction machinery, photovoltaic products, and specialty rice noodles, are now being steadily exported to Laos, while high-quality Lao agricultural products, including tropical fruits and cassava flour, are entering the Chinese market in growing volumes. Meanwhile, new foreign trade models are thriving, including cross-border cold chains and overseas warehousing.

Tang Youru, a Hunan entrepreneur in Laos, said that Hunan merchants are now active in retail, auto and motorcycle, telecom, agricultural processing, infrastructure, real estate, and other sectors in Laos. "We plan to invest in a cold-chain warehouse at Vientiane South Railway Station to facilitate Lao agricultural exports to China."

People-to-people and cultural ties between Hunan and Laos have grown increasingly close. Hunan merchants have a strong presence across Laos, and the two sides have maintained regular personnel training and exchange programs. Hunan has frequently donated hygiene, emergency, and sports supplies to Vientiane.

Hunan's friendship-city partnership network continues to expand. The province has established friendship-province relations with Savannakhet and Oudomxay in Laos, while cities such as Xiangtan, Zhangjiajie, and Shaoyang have knotted friendship-city ties with Kaysone Phomvihane, Luang Prabang, and Hadxaifong in Vientiane, respectively. "This sister-city network is driving deeper collaboration between Hunan and Laos, while strengthening trade, industrial, and people-to-people ties," said Sengmany Daravong.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: Chinanews