The high speed rail maps are astonishing. In October 1976, I took a train pulled by a steam locomotive from Chengdu south to the Yunnan province. It was a very primitive train ride. Later, I rode steam trains from Beijing north to Harbin and then another 800 miles further north into Manchuria.
Hard to believe what they’ve accomplished in only 40 years.
“Hard to believe what they’ve accomplished in only 40 years.”
Newton said he ‘stood on the shoulders of giants’.
In this case, the Chinese did something similar.
“When the Japanese and European companies that pioneered high-speed rail agreed to build trains for China, they thought they’d be getting access to a booming new market, billions of dollars worth of contracts and the cachet of creating the most ambitious rapid rail system in history.
What they didn’t count on was having to compete with Chinese firms who adapted their technology and turned it against them just a few years later.”
“”See, this is nothing like Kawasaki’s bullet train,” chimes in Wu Qunliang, chief spokesman for the CSR factory. “Real original innovation is rare,” adds Wang Xinhong, another senior engineer. “We attained our achievements in high-speed train technology by standing on the shoulders of past pioneers.””
“But Kawasaki, in a statement, says it and other high-speed train producers disagree with China’s claim that it has created its own technology. ...”
“Any company bringing new technology, innovation or ideas to China has to deal with shanzhai, what one could readily refer to as ‘bandit’ culture,” says Andrew Forbes Winkler, an analyst with Commodore Research & Consultancy in New York. “From cellphones to automobiles, Chinese companies have taken pride in using others’ intellectual property and either innovating or counterfeiting goods.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704814204575507353221141616