[M II A II R II K]

World's fastest train unveiled in China


10 December 2009

Jenny Wivell

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8406910.stm?ls

As China's economy and population expand, so do its transport needs. Although car ownership is on the increase, the Government is investing more in the railways.

China now has the fastest train in the world. It runs from the central city of Wuhan down to the south coast, at a speed of more than 380km/h.





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[Jasonhouse]

393kph!!!

[BrighamYen]

I can see it already, searching for that "Chinese Dream."

[JRinSoCal]

I wonder if its too hard to learn mandarin.

[Duffstuff129]

I wonder if its too hard to learn mandarin.

I did it, it's not too hard. Writing characters is tough, but reading and speaking is a breeze.

Living there is a different case though...

Regardless, I really want these all over America, or at least NY to Chicago or something.

[SlickFranky]

I wonder if its too hard to learn mandarin.

I heard it's really, really easy

[speedy1979]

Wait a sec. I thought Chinese was the hardest language to learn in the world? No!

[sabino86]

Awesome...

[muppet]

wooo

[emathias]

Wait a sec. I thought Chinese was the hardest language to learn in the world? No!

Two things hard about Mandarin: memorizing the written characters and, for those not used to speaking a tonal language, remembering to use tones as you speak. Depending on your own background one or the other might not actually be so difficult. Grammatically and pronunciation-wise, though, it's pretty straight-forward.

The only other thing that's difficult is the wide-spread use of idioms and cultural references within speech. I think that's less of an issue than it used to be, as younger Chinese are more worldly and direct (though still not as direct as English-speakers are), and of course that sort of thing exists in some extent in all languages, but it's one reason Chinese has been considered difficult historically.

[quattordici]

English is supposed to be the most difficult language to learn. Pronunciation is so different for nearly every word. Not to mention that English has more words than any other language (or so I've heard).

[Political_R]

With that high of average speed, I saw in one news report it is about the distance between Detroit and Houston. With the recent plot foiled on airliners and stricter security, high speed rail looks like a very nice alternative right about now.

[JManc]

since most of china's 1.4 billion people are crammed in the western third of the country, i can see a lot more of these trains.

[The Chemist]

^ The majority of China's population is in the east, not the west.

But yes, there will be a lot more high speed rail to come in the future, including the centrepiece Beijing-Shanghai line which will open in a couple of years.

[Jasonhouse]

^I think he said that backwards.

[Bootstrap Bill]

I can see it already, searching for that "Chinese Dream."

You couldn't pay me enough to live there.

[The Chemist]

You couldn't pay me enough to live there.

Why not? :shrug:

[Jasonhouse]

Yeah, seriously. If I had the skills to get a good paying job over there for a while, I would do it.

[Bootstrap Bill]

No freedom of speech. That's a biggie. They censor the Internet.

If we were there, we wouldn't be able to have this conversation.

[The Chemist]

No freedom of speech. That's a biggie. They censor the Internet.

If we were there, we wouldn't be able to have this conversation.

I'm there. We're having this conversation. :P

Plus, the censorship on the Internet is a piece of cake to get around...

[Alpha]

I wonder me why the Chinese did not build a Maglev link between Guangzhou and Wuhan. In opposite to Europe they may not to fear protests from ecologists who want to stop such a project by all means. And a Maglev has less problems with track inclination and requires less maintenance.

[urbanfan89]

The extension of the maglev in Shanghai has been delayed/cancelled because of protests by NIMBYs. And maglev trains cannot integrate with the existing rail network, which is probably what killed the technology. I'm pretty sure it's fallen out of favour.

[Bootstrap Bill]

I'm there. We're having this conversation. :P

Plus, the censorship on the Internet is a piece of cake to get around...

Maybe, but try holding a public rally to support a free Internet and see what happens.