China has the world’s largest high-speed railway. Known as an “infrastructure monster”, it only took about 20 years for the country to develop the 45,000km (28,000-mile) network. The country also exports railway technology as a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the central government’s plan to link economies into a China-centred trading network.
The scope of the infrastructure project was hailed as an example of the sort of development that was only possible thanks to China’s central planning and top-down leadership.
However, the rapid development of the high-speed transport system has also raised some environmental concerns.