This "green gift" from Zhejiang also carries special significance, coming in the 65th anniversary year of China-Laos diplomatic relations and the jointly declared "China-Laos Friendship Year." In June, Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos, visited China, with his first stop in Zhejiang, where both sides reached a series of agreements on deepening a China-Laos community with a shared future. Two months later, those agreements took root along the Mekong River in the form of a library.

Inside, the outdoor heat gives way to cool air, with computers, televisions, bookshelves and Chinese-Lao bilingual books neatly arranged. Students can browse books, search the digital library, and study independently in a quiet, comfortable environment.

"Since the China-Laos Railway opened, we have been exposed to many new things—concepts like artificial intelligence and the digital economy that we rarely heard of before. We are still students with few opportunities to go out, so reading has become our only way to broaden our horizons and gain knowledge," said Zalen, a second-year student at Luang Prabang Peace High School.

However, local extracurricular reading resources are scarce; to find books beyond their textbooks, students often had to travel by train more than 200 kilometers to Vientiane, the capital—a two-and-a-half-hour journey one way. "Now the library is right outside the classroom. There are many books I want to read here, and there's air conditioning too. It feels especially convenient and comfortable," Zalen said.

Principal Bounkham Vansy believes that this library is not just a reading room, but also a new channel connecting to the outside world. "This is another passage to the outside world after the China-Laos Railway, a path for students to gain new knowledge and ideas. The school will make good use of this library and manage it well, so that it can truly be integrated into daily teaching, provide students with more opportunities to learn and grow, and realize its greatest value," he said.

Laos relies heavily on hydropower, and seasonal changes in water flow put pressure on the power supply during the dry season. Luang Prabang, in northern Laos, also has limited grid infrastructure in some areas, adding to the school's electricity challenges.

Since upgrading the main power grid was difficult to achieve in the short term, a microgrid solution was adopted. The "Green Energy TO" public welfare team of State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. decided to use China's mature integrated photovoltaic-storage-charging microgrid technology. The library was manufactured in factories in Zhejiang in the form of prefabricated cabins and completed in Laos in just four days.

During the day, rooftop photovoltaic panels generate electricity, storing surplus power in an energy storage system that releases it at night to provide the library a stable energy supply.

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