Intermittent sales on century-old int’l railway

Every Monday, nearby villagers would come to set up stalls on both sides of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in Baihe Town, Pingbian County, south Yunnan’s Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

The bazaar is extremely busy and prosperous. Whenever a train was coming with whistles, the vendors would quickly put away their goods to make way for the steel giant. Following train passes, everything is back to normal again.

The Yunnan section of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has been in operation for a century, traveling through many ethnic minority settlements along the way, and it has become the memory for old generations.

Nowadays, freight trains are still running twice a day, setting the life rhythm of local vendors. The train is slow, and the whistle will send alarms the busy villagers in advance.

Built in 1910, the 465-km Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was China's first international railway. The standard gauge is 1,435 mm, but this old railway has a narrower gauge of 1,000 mm. Hence, it has got the name: “one meter gauge”

Reporting by Tian Weixing (Wenlü Headlines); Photos by Tian Weixing and Honghe Culture and Tourism Bureau; Trans-editing by Mo Yingyi