Mixed bag

摘要

The high -speed train journey from Beijing to Shanghai is a revelation to a visitor used to Britain's dilapidated railway system. Young women in neat red uniforms take pity on a foreigner and guide him to his seat. The train quickly accelerates to its cruising speed of 300km an hour and reaches Shanghai, 1,318km (820 miles) away, in under five hours. The new station there is a festival of sweeping curves.