Lao Airlines launched a new route connecting Kunming with UNESCO World Heritage site Luang Prabang on Saturday with an eye on the outbound Chinese tourism market, according to Chinese media reports.

Last year Luang Prabang province was visited by nearly 200,000 international visitors who contributed roughly US$80 million to the local economy, according to reports citing a Luang Prabang tourism official. The province and its ancient capital are expecting half a million tourists per year by 2010. Lao Airlines currently also operates four flights each week between the country's capital Vientiane and Kunming.

Although tourists are a primary reason for the new Kunming-Luang Prabang route, the growing importance of economic ties between Laos and China – especially Yunnan – should not be overlooked.

An example of this growing relationship is the announcement last week that Yunnan Copper Mining, Yunnan's second-'strongest' company according to recent rankings by the Yunnan Provincial Enterprise Association, will invest US$5 million in the construction of a five-star hotel in Luang Prabang province. Construction is scheduled to commence in August of this year.

Update: According to the Kunming office of Lao Airlines, the new Kunming-Luang Prabang route operates on Mondays and Fridays: The Kunming - Luang Prabang flight departs at 20:10 Beijing time and arrives in Luang Prabang at 20:40 local time. The Luang Prabang - Kunming flight leaves at 17:00 local time in Laos and arrives in Kunming at 19:30 Beijing time. The flight takes approximately 90 minutes.

Today Chinese media nationwide have broken the story of the murder of Mu Hongzhang (木鸿章), almost three weeks after the discovery of his remains. Mu, a Lijiang resident who was a manager at the Lijiang Highway and Bridge Management Company, was initially reported missing on December 19 of last year. He was reportedly murdered and hacked into more than 260 pieces that night.

The murder has sent shock waves through Lijiang, as has the identity of Mu's alleged murderer. The accused murderer is Mu's reported lover, 19 year-old Beijing native Zhang Chao (张超), a second-year student at Yunnan University's Tourism Culture Institute in Lijiang. The story has caught the interest of China's national and local media, with news outlets throughout the country running articles on the case today.

According to interviews with some of Zhang's classmates, the new arrival from Beijing quickly adapted to her new environment in Lijiang and led a life of leisure and barhopping. Zhang's classmates claimed that the woman met the married Mu - whose age has not been disclosed - during her nights out and the two quickly established a relationship in which Zhang would spend time with Mu in exchange for cash, with some deposits by Mu into Zhang's bank account as high as 30,000 yuan.

Details regarding Zhang's possible motive for murdering Mu have yet to surface and a trial date has yet to be announced.

The case is the second brutal murder case involving a Yunnan University student in the last four years. In June of 2004, Yunnan University student Ma Jiajue was executed for bludgeoning four of his classmates to death. Ma reportedly said that he murdered the four because they accused him of cheating in a game of cards.

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