On Saturday, China’s new Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, dubbed the Harmony Express, began operations as the fastest train service in the world. Connecting 20 cities throughout central and south China, the electric train runs on a ballast-less track and averages speeds of 217 mph – squeezing the 683-mile journey into less than 3 hours (it typically takes 10) and trumping the pace of similar “bullet” trains in Germany (144 mph), Japan (150mph), and France (172 mph). With massive plans to expand its high-speed rail service to 42 lines by 2012 – with networks running between 70 percent of China’s key cities by 2020 – the country is now leading the budding revolution in modern transportation from plane (back) to train. Read the rest of this post »

Now that I’m in a plane en route to Hong Kong, I finally have time to reflect upon Qingdao (pronounced cheeng-dow), a city of nearly eight million people that feels refreshingly uncrowded compared to most big Chinese cities. Located across from South Korea on the Yellow Sea, Qingdao is a rapidly expanding port city known for its pleasant maritime climate, clean beaches, excellent seafood (spicy clams, seafood wonton, roasted squid, etc.), hilly streets filled with German-colonial architecture, massive apartment complexes with idiosyncratic names like Ideal City and International Mansion Settlement, and, of course, a healthy obsession with beer. Fly here after conquering the well-trod tourist trails of Beijing (just one hour and 15 minutes away) and you’ll experience a completely different side of 21st-century China. Discover seven quintessential Qingdao experiences after the jump.

Read the rest of this post »