Updating a colonial legacy railway might offer more than a
smoother connection between sometimes tense neighbours.

An early morning start in Lao Cai in 2013 (Photo: Biggs/Flickr)
Published 15 Jan 2020 06:00 Lowry Institute
Last year, China and Vietnam unveiled plans to refurbish a colonial-era railway between the two countries. It was an attempt to update a historical legacy – and also signified new bilateral dynamics in a consequential and sometimes fraught regional relationship.
People along the Mekong are struggling with sharply fluctuation water levels as China tests dam equipment. This Thai woman said her garden on the river bank was damaged by flash floods as water was released from the upstream dam [International Rivers via Al Jazeera]





Vietnam’s publishing industry is tightly controlled by the government [File: Kham/Reuters]![Vietnam court sentences ex-minister to life in prison for fraud The Hanoi court sentenced Nguyen Bac Son to life in prison in a case that also saw another minister and a dozen executives receive lengthy prison terms [Nguyen Van Diep/VNA via AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/12/28/79a06003aac948899dfd71b8d23ed131_18.jpg)



