The usually sleepy Laotian capital Vientiane has an uncharacteristic buzz, bedecked with flags and T-shirt vendors ahead of commemorations of 50 years of communist rule Tuesday, but for many young people history carries little weight.

The communist Pathet Lao established the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) on December 2, 1975, following a decades-long civil war, months after another US-backed regime was defeated in South Vietnam -- a conflict which saw Laos devastated by American bombing.

The former French colony became a one-party communist state, King Savang Vatthana died in captivity, and centralised planning was imposed on the economy as landlocked Laos, always remote, became increasingly isolated.

It later opened up and embraced market reforms, but remains among Asia's p

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