Ten years ago Xi Jinping announced the “project of the century”, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the last decade, more than 150 countries have signed up to Mr Xi’s global infrastructure project.

In this first episode of a two-part look at the BRI, Alice Su, The Economist’s senior China correspondent, travels to Laos to assess the impact of the project. She rides a train from Luang Prabang to the Chinese border, on a railway built by China. She and David Rennie, our Beijing bureau chief, ask who gains more from the Belt and Road Initiative: a host country like Laos; or Beijing? Runtime: 43 min

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Drum Tower: Riding an express train of China’s development

Drum Tower from The Economist