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Quora users thumb-up for China's high-speed rail

Editor: Li Shouen 丨CCTV.com

03-19-2018 16:24 BJT

By Li Shouen, CCTV.com reporter

Boasting low cost and quick delivery, China has built the world's longest high-speed rail (HSR) network, which has been branded a "name card" for the nation. Not only did the Chinese discover their travel habits have fundamentally changed with the high-speed rail network, foreigners have given their thumbs up to it as well.

On Quora, a famous US Q&A SNS platform, topics about China's high-speed rail have drawn much attention.

First, if you type in the key words, "China high-speed rail," you can see a long list of questions raised by Quorans, for example some Quorans are wondering "how advanced high-speed rail in China is?" or "how profitable is China's high-speed rail?"

Some are curious about "how does it feel to take the high-speed train in China?"

Some are interested in "how easy is it to travel in China via high-speed rail?" or "how did China become a strong competitor in the high-speed rail industry?"

Some compare China's high-speed railway with those of other nations from the infrastructure construction perspective or from an investment perspective, and etc.

So, what exactly are Quorans discussing and what kind of experiences are they sharing on the platform? Let's take a closer look.

Click into this question "How does it feel to take the high-speed train in China?" which has already drawn more than 100 answers, the most viewed answer is from Adam Richards, with 306.7k Views and more than 8,300 upvotes.

 

 Here is Adam Richards' full text of his answer:

"When you buy the ticket, you feel that price-wise maybe you should have flown domestic instead.

When you arrive at the station 10 minutes before the train leaves instead of an hour before, you feel like okay you’ve saved some time. At the very least you’ve saved yourself hanging around an airport for a while.

When you sit down in your seat and realize that you can actually move your legs, or get past your neighbor without disturbing said neighbor, you feel skinnier.

When you look out your window and see rural China flying by, you feel caught in a time-warp.

When you walk up and down the aisles at your pleasure and convenience, you feel the blood circulating.

When you use your 4G (or portable wifi) on the trip without anyone telling you that it interferes with the operation of the vehicle, you feel productive (more realistically, you feel entertained/distracted).

When you rush out of the car with your fellow passengers (and a few of the crew) to have a smoke at one of the longer stops, you feel a head rush.

When you realize that your North American infrastructure is light years behind China’s, you feel ashamed."

As for the question of "How advanced is high-speed rail in China?," as of March 19, 2017, there have been about 47 answers.

Tillman Huett-Lassman, who shared his experiences of taking a China high-speed train last year, had captured over 254.9k Views and 7,500 upvotes.

Tillman wrote:

"I had my first opportunity to ride the high-speed trains last week when I had a business meeting in Zhengzhou.

As someone who grew up with a disdain for public transportation (not sure why the US hates it so much), I was dreading the experience. I pushed hard to fly, but was told that it would be much better if I took the train.

The train was amazing. I had traveled on an Amtrak train before in the US, and hated how slow it was and how many stops there were. Chinese high-speed trains are on a different level.

First, when I say they are high-speed, I mean they are high-speed.

This was taken on my ride back to Beijing.

The trains are clean and the seats are huge. There are ample power outlets and you can't even feel how fast the train is moving. If there were no windows, I wouldn’t be able to tell when we were stopped or when we were traveling at 300 km/h—it is that smooth.

My train wasn't full, so on the ride back, I had an entire row to myself. You can use your cellphone on the train (looking at you Chinese flights—you need to learn from the trains) and you generally have full service.

The trains are very advanced and the stations are new. The terminal in Zhengzhou looked like you could fit a million people in it even though it isn't a Tier-1 city. It had shops and a food court and the trains would silently pull in and out of the station perfectly on schedule.

I'm traveling again this week by train and I'm excited.

The high-speed trains are incredible."

But the answer with the highest views came from Robin Daverman, who has accumulated more than 325K views since he posted the answer from Feb. 16, 2017 and more than 8,600 upvotes.

 

Of course, there are also many other interesting and informative answers to all these questions, but due to a limited space here, I will leave more for you to explore by yourselves.

(The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com)

Panview offers a new window of understanding the world as well as China through the views, opinions, and analysis of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.

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