Tongzhong Border Port in Guangxi
Tongzhong Port is a second-class national port and is currently applying to become a first-class national port. Located 125 kilometers southwest of Fangcheng District, the Tongzhong Port is accessible via a double-lane third-grade asphalt road directly to the port. It is the largest border port for small-scale trade and border market trade approved by the state in Fangcheng District, enjoying various preferential policies granted by the state to border areas. The port facilities are relatively complete, with a port inspection building constructed, corresponding to the national-level port of Hekou Modao in Lang Son Province, Vietnam.
Before 1979, the Tongzhong Port was a second-class national port. In 1979, due to the turmoil of war, the Tongzhong Port was forcibly closed. In October 1991, the governments of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Lang Son Province, Vietnam held discussions and agreed to establish a border market trade point between the old street in Tongzhong, China and Hekou Modao, Vietnam.
The Tongzhong Port is located in Jiujie Town, Fangcheng District, Fangchenggang City, with a longitude of 107°30′ east and a latitude of 21°38′ north. It is situated at the westernmost end of Fangcheng District, 124 kilometers away from the district government, adjacent to the Ten Thousand Mountains in the north and bordering Hekou Modao, Lang Son County, Guangning Province, Vietnam in the southwest. The Tongzhong Town Port has an area of 156 acres, with resident units including customs, inspection and quarantine bureau offices, border trade offices, border defense stations, as well as financial and tax departments. Across the river from Tongzhong Town Port, the Hekou Modao Port in Vietnam has built a batch of modern shops, hotels, and other service facilities. The asphalt road connecting Hekou Modao to the northern hinterland of Vietnam has become the shortest transportation line from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, to China. In recent years, a large number of agricultural and sideline products from Vietnam, as well as daily hardware and household goods, light industrial machinery products from Guangxi and even South China, have been gathered and imported and exported through the Tongzhong Port. In 2004, the number of people engaged in border trade activities entering and exiting reached 150,000, with import and export cargo reaching 50,000 tons, border transaction volume reaching 330 million yuan, and annual tax revenue reaching 5 million yuan. The prosperity of border trade has also driven the development of a large number of industrial enterprises and the tertiary industry.