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Busted flush 好景不再 How a Sino-Lao special economic zone hit the skids 一个中国老挝边境经济特区如何走向衰落 AT HOME and abroad, China is a byword for fast-track development, where yesterdays paddy field istomorrows factory, highway or hotel. Less noticed isthat such development can just as quickly go intoreverse. Golden City, in Boten, just over the border from China in tiny Laos, is a case in point. 无论是在国内还是国外，中国都是超速发展的代名词。在那里，也许昨天还是一片稻田，而明天就发展成为工厂、高速公路或宾馆。然而很少有人会意识到，这种发展也可能会迅速走向萧条，位于中国老挝边境老挝一侧的磨丁黄金城经济特区就是这样。 When a Hong Kong-registered company signed a 30-year, renewable lease with the Laogovernment in 2003 to set up a 1,640-hectare special economic zone built with mainland moneyand expertise, Golden City was touted as a futuristic hub for trade and tourism. The builderspromptly went to work, and a cluster of pastel blocks rose amid the green hills of northernLaos. Thousands of Chinese tourists and entrepreneurs poured into the enclave, drawn largelyby the forbidden pleasures and profits of gambling, which is illegal in China, except in Macau.Today the main casino, inside a three-star hotel, lies abandoned, its baize tables thick withdust. | 
