I’ve witnessed some incredible developments during my time in China, but nothing underscores the country’s rapid progress quite like the transformation of a single journey. The trip I often take between my wife’s hometown to the capital used to be a 12‑hour slog on a sleeper train—cramped berths, restless nights, and the gentle clatter of the tracks marking time. Now, that same route is covered in under two hours on a bullet train, gliding silently past the countryside at over 300 kilometres per