Lai Châu Province in the context of Điện Biên Province

Lai Châu (Vietnamese pronunciation: [lāi cʌ̄w]) is a mountainous province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. Lai Châu province is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Vietnam, and it shares a border with China. It was once a semi-independent White Tai confederation known as Sip Song Chau Tai, but was absorbed by France into French Indochina in the 1880s and subsequently became part of Vietnam following Vietnamese independence in 1954. It became part of the Northwest Autonomous Area of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975, when Lai Châu province was formed. Điện Biên province was carved out of Lai Châu in 2004. The province covers an area of about 9,069 km (3,501 mi) and as of 2022 it had a population of 482,100 people.