滇越铁路是进入云南的第一条铁路，在很长时间内也是云南连通外界的唯一一条现代道路。在19世纪末中法战争后的一系列条约中，法国获得了在云南修建铁路的特权。1901年，印度支那铁路公司成立，即此后的滇越铁路公司。1902年，滇越铁路在云南境内的路线被确定为东线方案，即以米轨为标准，经海拔74米的云南河口入境，沿南溪河谷上溯，过南溪、白河、湾塘、倮姑、芷村，进入蒙自坝子，过碧色寨、草坝、大庄，至阿迷州（今开远），然后沿八达河（南盘江）河谷上溯，经婆兮（今盘溪）抵宜良，再沿汤池河至可保村，翻越海拔超过2000米的分水岭，最终进入滇池坝子，抵达海拔1890米的云南府（今昆明）。1903年，滇越铁路滇段正式开工，并在八年后的1910年全线贯通。该铁路全长854公里，其中滇段长度465公里，在河口经跨南溪河的铁桥与越南部分的铁路接轨，经牢该（老街）连接至安沛、河内、嘉林，最终在终结于海防港。1910年1月31号，第一列火车被命名为法国号(France)的火车头牵引，到达云南府。无论贫富男女，人们涌上街头，围观这前所未见的钢铁怪物。火车的到来引起了轰动，但其实际意义或许远超过当时人们的认知。从这一刻起，云南不再是帝国难以抵达的遥远西南山地边疆，而成为了可以经海路转铁路便捷抵达的港口腹地。云南从此以铁路——而不再是马帮——连接于越南的港口海防。除去因二战中拆毁部分路段而中断的17年（1940-1957），晚至20世纪60年代贵昆铁路修通前，滇越铁路都是云南连接外界的唯一一条铁路。

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这条通往海洋的铁路深刻地影响了云南二十世纪的历史，甚至在某种程度上催生了云南的民族国家认同与无产阶级革命。同样重要的是，随着滇越铁路的建成，它迅速成为了外界进入云南最主要的通路，也由此彻底改变了云南行旅的时空感知与身体经验。如今，滇越铁路已经和这片土地共存了110余年，在相互影响中造就了云南的历史，也成为了后者的一个部分。我从小生活于这条铁路旁。在小学时，从父亲的讲述中，我得知了这条高原铁路的尽头是一片大海，从此将大海与铁路的意象捆绑在一起。

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​这是一个关于滇越铁路的艺术项目，也是我一系列与道路与步行相关的计划的开始。它由步行、写作与录像作品组成。这个项目试图谈论两个东亚国家被殖民的历史，东南亚山区的现代化，同时也回应着我自己的童年记忆，地理想象，以及我和故乡、和这片地域的联系。

The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was the first railway to enter Yunnan and for a long time was the only modern road linking Yunnan to the outside world. In a series of treaties following the Sino-French War in the late 19th century, France was granted the privilege of building a railway in Yunnan, and in 1901 the Indochina Railway Company was established, which was to become the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway Company thereafter. In 1902, the route of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway within Yunnan was determined to be the eastern scheme, i.e. a standard metre-gauge line, entering via the Yunnan Hekou at an altitude of 74 metres,  and ending up in Yunnan-fou (Kunming) at 1890 metres above sea level. In 1903, the construction of the Yunnan section of the Yunnan-Yue railway began and was completed eight years later, in 1910. On 31 January 1910, the first train, drawn by a locomotive named France, arrived in Yunnan province. Men and women, rich and poor, flocked to the streets to see this monster of steel as never seen before. The arrival of the train was a sensation, but perhaps more significant than people realised at the time. From this moment on, Yunnan was no longer a remote south-western mountain frontier inaccessible to the Empire, but a port hinterland easily accessible by sea to rail. Yunnan was henceforth connected by rail - no longer by horse gang - to the Vietnamese port of Haiphong. Apart from a 17-year interruption (1940-1957) due to the demolition of parts of the line in World War II, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was the only railway linking Yunnan to the outside world until the 1960s, when the Guiyang-Kunming Railway was opened in late 1960s.

This railway to the sea profoundly influenced the history of Yunnan in the twentieth century, even to the extent that it gave birth to Yunnan's nation-state identity and proletarian revolution. Just as importantly, with the completion of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, it quickly became the main access point to the outside world and thus revolutionised the perception of time and space and the physical experience of travelling in Yunnan. Today, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has been with the land for more than 110 years, influencing each other in a way that has shaped Yunnan's history and become a part of the latter. I grew up living near this railway. In primary school, my father told me that the other end of this highland railway was a sea, and the imagery of the sea and the railway has been bound together ever since.

This is an art project about the Yunnan-Vietnam railway and the beginning of a series of road and walking related projects for me. It consists of a series of walks, writing and video works. It is about the colonised history of two Asian countries, about the modernisation of the mountains of South East Asia, but also about my own childhood memories, my geographical imagination and my connection to my hometown and to this land.