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    Go Travel on a High-Speed Train

    Written by: Feng Yang
    Posted on: May 15, 2018 | | 中文

    Locals enjoying the high speed train

    When transport is convenient, trains are not the fastest choice for long journeys. High-speed trains, however, always brighten up a travelers’ day on middle and short distance journeys. The convenient travel conditions make trips within reach. The breath-taking scenes visible from the windows make every trip a unique experience. As Mark Smith, a British traveling writer, once said, “A quality trip on a train includes three components - the beautiful sceneries outside, the wonderful experience inside, and one’s encounters.”

    The changes that high-speed trains bring to tourism are not only about making it more convenient, but more importantly are about linking up former individual resources and regional tourism circles.

    High-Speed Trains “Fly” and Trips Become More Pleasant

    “Transport wasn’t very good before, so it took half a day on the bus to go to Huangshan. Now the high-speed train makes it more convenient and it only takes about 1 hour 20 minutes to travel from Hefei South to Huangshan North. We can visit the mountains easily on weekends now,” says Wang Nali, a Hefei citizen who is at the Hefei South Station, waiting for her trip to Huangshan with her family.

    In the morning of Dec 11, 2017, at the exit of Nile Station along the Yunnan-Guilin Railway, Liu Yijia’s son Xiaoran was very excited. Liu’s mother, Zhang Fengyun, took off her hat to enjoy the sunshine and remarked, “I don’t even have to wear my feather jacket, for it only takes three hours!” Liu is a white collar worker, working for a big private-owned enterprise in Guiyang. Thanks to the convenience of the high-speed railway, she can enjoy the charm of Yunnan easily with her mother and her child.

    In recent years, with the opening of several passenger lines such as Hefei-Fuzhou, Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Kunming-Ningbo, Beijing-Guangzhou, Hangzhou-Shenzhen, Hefei-Bengbu, Harbin-Dalian, Xi’an-Chengdu and Qing Rong Intercity Railways, tourism circles and living circles have been formed, including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei One-Hour Tourism Circle, the Yangtze River Delta One-Hour Tourism Circle, the Pearl River Delta Two-Hour Living Circle, Guangdong-Guangxi-Guizhou-Hunan Four-Hour Economic Circle and the Sichuan-Shaanxi Three-Hour Tourism Circle. The neighboring provincial capitals in China will form one-hour or two-hour economic circles, and the provincial capitals will have half-hour or one-hour living circles with their neighboring cities. The network of high-speed trains greatly shortens the distances between cities, while enhancing the same city effect and improving the recreational activities between cities.

    High speed Railway from Xinjiang to Lanzhou

    High speed Railway from Xinjiang to Lanzhou

    In the era of tourism up-gradation, high-speed trains link up regional tourism circles. One may get up in the morning, take the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway to Beijing, take a walk in Shichahai Park, go shopping in Nanluogu Lane at noon, go grab a bite of authentic Beijing snacks for supper at Huguosi, and go home at night on a train with Peking ducks for the family. If one wants to go somewhere on weekends and experience the temperament and details of a city, a trip on a high-speed train, taking just a few hours, brings one close to the destination and shortens the time. This has been realized, and has already become a way of life in many places.

    High-Speed Trains Create New Opportunities for Tourism Circles

    The fast popularization of high-speed railways influences the development of tourism. At present, the length of operating high-speed railways in China is more than 20,000km, giving births to many “high-speed railway scenic spots,” that are changing the tourism pattern in all the places involved. The highly developed public transport systems of high-speed trains in China include the Yangtze River Delta Circle (mainly around the Shanghai-Ningbo-Hangzhou area), Beijing-Tianjin High-Speed Railway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, and the most developed one, Nanjing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

    Besides, more and more high-speed passenger lines are providing services to ordinary people. Not very long ago, several tourism lines were opened in Fujian and Zhejiang. Together with the lines opened in Beijing and Shanghai, tourism railways are now expanding nationwide.

    The recent years have also witnessed the foundations of regional tourism unions formed along high-speed lines, such as Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Tourism Union, Beijing-Fuzhou High-Speed Railway Tourism Union, and the Yangtze River Delta High-Speed Railway Tourism Union. Regional economy is stimulated by high-speed railways. For example, the Beijing-Hebei-Shanxi-Shaanxi High-Speed Railway Tourism Union has abundant tourism resources. Thanks to the high-speed railways connected to each other, tourists can now spend less time and money on traveling through all the scenic spots, in all these four provinces and municipalities.

    In addition to that, some scenic spots also provide “high-speed train ticket + scenic spot entrance ticket” coupons. The New Year’s Day of 2018 was the first holiday celebrated after the opening of Xi’an-Chengdu High-Speed Railway, so Zhuge, an ancient town in Shaanxi, provided a special “New-Year’s-Three-Kingdoms-Tour” price, to cope with the sudden increase of tourists, who could buy the ticket to both the Temple of Marquis and Ma Chao’s Mausoleum at half price, with the high-speed train ticket and the ID card in their hands.

    The continuous improvement of the high-speed railway network changes the tourism transport pattern. By 2020, an independent passenger lines network will be formed, and will cover the major cities and towns in the three economically developed and populous areas - the Bohai Sea region in North of China, the Yangtze River Delta in East China and the Pearl River Delta. Meanwhile, in South China, with the opening of Lanzhou-Xinjiang and Xi’an-Chengdu high-speed railways, the high-speed networks in Middle and West China are taking shape. Therefore, for Middle and West China that are endowed with abundant tourism resources, the expansion of their tourism circles is at hand.

     

    Translated by Zhu Siyu


    As the new year begins, let us also start anew. I’m delighted to extend, on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and in my own name, new year’s greeting and sincere wishes to YOULIN magazine’s staff and readers.

    Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only with courage can we live to the fullest. 2020 was an extraordinary year. Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Pakistan supported each other and took on the challenge in solidarity. The ironclad China-Pakistan friendship grew stronger as time went by. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects advanced steadily in difficult times, become a standard-bearer project of the Belt and Road Initiative in balancing pandemic prevention and project achievement. The handling capacity of the Gwadar Port has continued to rise and Afghanistan transit trade through the port has officially been launched. The Karakoram Highway Phase II upgrade project is fully open to traffic. The Lahore Orange Line project has been put into operation. The construction of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project was fully completed. A batch of green and clean energy projects, such as the Kohala and Azad Pattan hydropower plants have been substantially promoted. Development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ has been signed. The China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future has become closer and closer.

    Reviewing the past and looking to the future, we are confident to write a brilliant new chapter. The year 2021 is the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The 100-year journey of CPC surges forward with great momentum and China-Pakistan relationship has flourished in the past 70 years. Standing at a new historic point, China is willing to work together with Pakistan to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, connect the CPEC cooperation with the vision of the “Naya Pakistan”, promote the long-term development of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with love, dedication and commitment. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan said, “We are going through fire. The sunshine has yet to come.” Yes, Pakistan’s best days are ahead, China will stand with Pakistan firmly all the way.

    YOULIN magazine is dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan and is a window for Pakistani friends to learn about China, especially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is hoped that with the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, YOULIN can listen more to the voices of readers in China and Pakistan, better play its role as a bridge to promote more effectively people-to-people bond.

    Last but not least, I would like to wish all the staff and readers of YOULIN a warm and prosper year in 2021.

    Nong Rong Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
    The People’s Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    January 2021