Alumni from "67" School reunite at Chinese New Year event in Laos

Alumni from "67" School make dumplings during the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" Festival at the China Cultural Center in Vientiane, Laos, Jan. 10, 2023. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

VIENTIANE, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 50 alumni from "67" School took part in an event here on Tuesday to celebrate the Chinese New Year, saying that they will always cherish the friendship between Laos and China.

President of the Lao Women's Union Inlavanh Keobounphanh, Lao Minister to the Prime Minister's Office Khampheng Saysompheng and more than 50 alumni participated in the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" Festival held at the China Cultural Center in Laos.

Alumni from "67" School participate in the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" Festival at the China Cultural Center in Vientiane, Laos, Jan. 10, 2023. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

Keobounphanh delivered a speech on behalf of the alumni from "67" School, saying that Laos and China, connected by mountains and rivers, and sharing similar customs and habits, have been in close contact and helped each other since ancient times.

In the 1960s, the Chinese government helped more than 1,000 Lao people study in China, while now, the Laos-China Railway is becoming a road for the Lao people to get rid of poverty, said Keobounphanh.

Alumni from "67" School participate in the 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" Festival at the China Cultural Center in Vientiane, Laos, Jan. 10, 2023. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

"We are deeply grateful to the Chinese government and people for their selfless help. We will never forget the mountainous kindness of Chinese government and will always cherish our precious friendship," she added.

Li Yiping, director of the China Cultural Center in Laos, said the alumni from "67" school is a historical witness of the friendship between China and Laos, and they are the inheritors of the friendship.

President of the Lao Women's Union Inlavanh Keobounphanh (1st R) makes dumplings with alumni from "67" School at the China Cultural Center in Vientiane, Laos, Jan. 10, 2023. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

She added that the China Cultural Center in Laos will be a gateway for alumni to keep in touch, and will be a warm home and a bridge in deepening the friendship between Laos and China.

In 1960s, China built the "67" School in Nanning, the capital city of southwestern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The school is named after the year of 1967 when the two countries decided to build such a school, which later set up kindergarten and primary school classes of grade one to six, receiving more than 1,000 Lao teachers and students.