Phill Wilcox is Research Associate in Social Anthropology at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany.

• Contents List of figures ixList of maps xiPreface – Development is the future xiiiAcknowledgements xixAuthor’s note xxiList of acronyms and abbreviations xxiiiPART IThe inevitability and allure of development 11 Development as (a) given 32 “Development is roads” – infrastructures, desires, and debts 30PART IILand and (im)mobility 553 Development means change: ambivalent – and inevitable – encounters with China 574 Express train to the good life: all aboard the Laos‑ China Railway 79PART IIIAspiring (with) China 955 Making aspirations move: future building in a changing Laos 976 “They cannot buy the land, but they will own the land”: coming to terms with China in Laos 116PART IVConclusion 1377 Conclusion: future building: possibility, pragmatism, and price 139Index 153

“Ostensibly, this is a book about Laos and China. But it is more than this. Phill Wilcox has written a book about the idea of development, and how it has colonised the space of Laos, the minds of its inhabitants, and the actions of its government. She does this from the ground up, as she puts it, and with China as the key agent of contemporary change. Importantly, Wilcox addresses the question of what the rise of China in the world means for low-income countries like Laos, and she does this with verve. This book represents an engaging and important addition to the literature.” Jonathan Rigg FBA, Professor of Human Geography, University of Bristol, UK