Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/gem_ste/status/1487356467489357826?t=-04XiFlVPPsvp2nNhtuI_A&s=19

quote:

The vanishing slow trains of China
The time-honoured ritual of a long, slow, train journey home for Chinese New Year is under threat — both from Covid restrictions and the rapid expansion of high-speed rail

yesterday

The largest human migration in the world used to take place in the days leading up to Chinese New Year — which this year falls on February 1. Millions crossed vast distances to reunite with their families, many travelling on long-haul trains, sometimes for days. The last New Year of this kind was February 2019, when I joined a packed train heading from frozen Beijing to China’s warm southern province, Yunnan. It was a journey of 35 hours.

Perhaps it was only on these train trips that all the languages and diversity of China from north to south were drawn together so intimately. This seems unthinkable today, with Covid restrictions meaning many Chinese are unable to travel home for a third year in a row. Back then though, passengers were crammed in among piles of presents and luggage, sipping flasks of tea and Tsingtao beer, all buzzing for the holiday. In my compartment, a group of workers from Hunan province played Go noisily while passing round bags of melon seeds. These have a subtle roasted flavour and the chewing promotes reflection — perfect for the long hours on the train.

Progress was slow because we were aboard a lupiche, one of the “green skin trains” built in the 1950s under Mao. Characterised by heavy ironwork, clanking doors and faded yellow interiors, these old trains have lumbered across the vast country innumerable times — a slice of China perpetually in motion. Inside, they smell of metal, oil, and cigarettes from the smokers who lurk between carriages.

But lupiche are fast disappearing in favour of high-speed trains. In the past five years, about 20,000km of new high-speed track has been laid; earlier this month the China State Railway Group announced the total had now reached more than 40,000km, enough to stretch around the equator. Meanwhile, China recently debuted a Maglev bullet train capable of reaching a speed of 600km per hour. Tickets are much pricier; the Beijing to Kunming high-speed train can cost double my Y600 (£70) slow-sleeper ticket. Like many on the lupiche, I was travelling deeper into the countryside than the high-speed lines reach, to stay with a friend’s family for Chinese New Year.



My presence as the only foreigner on the train stoked mild interest, mostly from parents who passed me their children for free English lessons. In exchange they gave me advice on New Year etiquette: take piles of presents, especially fruit. Be careful on the baijiu — strong rice liquor. Always toast your glass below that of your host, it’s a mark of respect. Don’t forget to wear red underwear, it brings good luck! I was so absorbed by the train’s interior world that for hours I forgot to look out of the window.

When I did, the view was initially disappointing. The landscapes of Hebei province were flat and drab, smoke poured from factory chimneys. But by late afternoon we passed through the cliffs of Xingtai and into Henan province, where mountains began to loom, promising beautiful views that we would miss during the night. Pots of noodles were passed around as dusk fell, filling the train with umami fragrance. At last, the sun touched down over the lakes of Xinyang, and the train became quiet.

A strict ritual occurred at bedtime. Everyone wedged themselves into one of three tiers of bunks, feet dangling into the open corridor. A guard passed through to check tickets, followed by a man with a mop. Lights went out down the train, a few last cigarettes flared in the gaps between carriages. I was soon rocked to sleep by the motion of the lupiche lumbering on through the dark.

w e awoke to a different world, somewhere close to Huaihua in Hunan province. Everything was strange and new: the green earth dissolving into mist, haybales piled up like stupas, fishermen hauling nets in gleaming rivers. By midday, we were crawling through Guizhou, a province famous for its spectacular limestone orogeny. All around us, white peaks rose up like giant stalagmites. The region is also a centre of rice cultivation and its hills shone iridescent, tiled in hundreds of water paddies, farmers treading lightly along their seams.

Faces on the train changed as the language softened to southern dialect. Many people were wearing the intricately embroidered clothes of the ethnic minorities in the Guizhou and Yunnan region. Their distinctive dress has been captured by the photographer Qian Haifeng who travelled 150,000 kilometers across China on the slow trains, documenting his subjects with a rare intimacy — the kind encouraged by these long journeys. Indeed, Qian rarely ever points the camera out of the window.



Meanwhile I had become a windowseat-hogger, gazing out at the landscapes with the greed of an enchanted child. At midnight we finally arrived in Kunming, where the air felt warm and clean. 38 hours ago I’d been skating on a frozen lake in Beijing, now the tropical forests of Vietnam were close.


I spent the two-week holiday with a friend’s family among Yunnan’s mountainous rice terraces, consuming sublime amounts of home-brewed baijiu and festive foods. On New Year’s Eve, we watched the fireworks blazing above a mist-filled valley. There had been views I’d missed on the night train passage — Wuchang, Yueyang, Changsha — beautiful places to which I wished to return. Perhaps the line will still be open next time I go.

https://www.tillis.senate.gov/services/files/BD2BB031-829F-4172-9AD6-F383CF68462A posted:

The Chinese government sacrificed its own citizens, refusing to inform vulnerable people of the risk of human transmission and preventing them from protecting themselves when there was still time. They arrested and silenced the doctor who first raised the alarm about the danger and severity of the virus and the widespread risk it posed. They immorally ordered laboratories to destroy test samples and stop testing, intentionally crippling any early efforts to study this virus and develop necessary preventative measures. Then the CCP deliberately denied and downplayed the potential for human to human transmission, despite having clear evidence to the contrary, even encouraging the Chinese people to travel to celebrate the New Year. The CCP also exploited its influence at the World Health Organization (WHO), forcing the WHO to parrot its deceptive statements, assuring the rest of the world that there was no cause for concern.

Agrajag posted:

what the movie?

PhilippAchtel posted:

https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1487034870916386828

Well, time for war, I guess.

PhilippAchtel posted:

Well, time for war, I guess.

Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/gem_ste/status/1487356467489357826?t=-04XiFlVPPsvp2nNhtuI_A&s=19

gradenko_2000 posted:

To replace the Avro Arrow

Falstaff posted:

gradenko_2000 posted:

To replace the Avro Arrow

Truga posted:

https://twitter.com/ThinkPrague/status/1487172977334669313

lmfao

genericnick posted:

gently caress. I agree, that is the peak of the genre.

Palladium posted:

I'm not gonna check, but I'm probably right when I say kind and magnanimous US of A loves kicking their sworn "allies" down to corner the arms export industry

mawarannahr posted:

wondering who are all these folks

Palladium posted:

and now the media is painting Zelensky as a comedian who is not taking the situation seriously enough and now needs to be ousted

PhilippAchtel posted:

https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1487034870916386828

Well, time for war, I guess.

PhilippAchtel posted:

https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKyiv/status/1487034870916386828

Well, time for war, I guess.

Jose posted:

How much does it actually cost to take the train in China from say Beijing to Shanghai? For comparison for me to get from Newcastle to London, one of the highest speed trains in the UK if not the highest, costs £55 and takes 3 hours 15 minutes if I were to go on Monday. This is also extraordinarily cheap for the UK for that kind of distance.

If I wanted to go Bristol instead it's 6 hours and £90 lol

Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/gem_ste/status/1487356467489357826?t=-04XiFlVPPsvp2nNhtuI_A&s=19

Red and Black posted:

China is genociding slow trains

Jose posted:

How much does it actually cost to take the train in China from say Beijing to Shanghai? For comparison for me to get from Newcastle to London, one of the highest speed trains in the UK if not the highest, costs £55 and takes 3 hours 15 minutes if I were to go on Monday. This is also extraordinarily cheap for the UK for that kind of distance.

If I wanted to go Bristol instead it's 6 hours and £90 lol

genericnick posted:

That's not that bad, is it? Something like 400km? Looking up our best line for about 250km:


Though train travel gets a lot cheaper if you do it often enough to justify a time card, down here.

crepeface posted:

this is still king for me:

https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1483877670068756483?t=fTg-Jx5-jiNQ3hKFsYeZIw&s=19

Red and Black posted:

China is genociding slow trains

Jose posted:

https://twitter.com/gem_ste/status/1487356467489357826?t=-04XiFlVPPsvp2nNhtuI_A&s=19

Truga posted:

https://twitter.com/ThinkPrague/status/1487172977334669313

lmfao

genericnick posted:

Are we doing this again?

StashAugustine posted:

when has modern Russia even started a war? Being very generous, Georgia, Ukraine, Chechnya, then Afghanistan and hell let's throw in the 56/68 Warsaw pact interventions. Which of these fit that supposed pattern?

genericnick posted:

Are we doing this again?
https://twitter.com/MarkAmesExiled/status/1487183856369242115?cxt=HHwWhsCsqdD1xKMpAAAA

Red and Black posted:

Mali?