There is an old Chinese proverb that it’s better to travel 10,000 miles than read 10,000 books – perhaps not on the trains like this though!
中国古语有云:读万卷书不如行万里路。不过可能不是在这样一列火车上行万里路。
Dubbed “Lv Pi Che” or “green-skinned” train for the colour of their exterior paint, these crowded, noisy antiques were steam-driven, rarely topped 40 km per hour and could take days to reach their destination.
This is an electric train with air conditioning and softer seats, and the services on board have also improved.
这列车就是一列电力机车,车厢有空调和座椅也柔软一些了,列车上的服务也提高了。
These trains were still very crowded, filled with business people, migrant workers and students travelling to the big cities – all with hope in their eyes, and the confident expectation of a bright future.
This is China Railway High-speed, known as CRH or HéxiéHào, which literally means harmony.
这就是中国的高速列车,众所周知的“和谐号”。
In less than three hours, you can complete a journey that would have taken a full day on a green-skinned train's yesteryear.
二十年前乘坐“绿皮车”需要耗时一天的旅程,如今仅需要不到三个小时。
From 1864, when a British merchant built the first railway in China a 500-meter-long demonstration project in Beijing - to the present day, we can see that the growth of the country has been mirrored in the development of its railways: from poverty to abundance, slow to fast, weak to strong.