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On the right track
2019-03-16 
Qiandaohu Station sits on the railway connecting Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou and Huangshan city in Anhui province. [Photo/QIAN DEXING/FANG AINYU/FANG ZHANGHE/FOR CHINA DAILY]

The arrival of a new high-speed railway line to the scenic lakeside town of Qiandaohu in East China's Zhejiang province has changed the lives of its residents immeasurably

I sat quietly in my seat on the new Fuxing bullet train on the first day of February, looking out of the window and watching the views outside flash by in an instant.

I passed by the boundless plains of northern China, with its endless farmlands and rows of trees, starkly lifeless save for a few nests lying amid the bare branches. Then came the silvery landscapes of Jiangsu province shining after a fresh fall of snow.

The train continued its dash toward the south. Dense cities and rolling hills with green trees took turns to make an appearance.

As the train began to approach its destination of my hometown of Qiandaohu in East China's Zhejiang province, I could hear more people talking in our local accent.

Some of them kept checking with each other where we were, which was the next stop and how much longer it would take before we arrived.

It was the first time I have been able to travel home by train directly from Beijing without having to transfer-and the first time I had shared a train with so many of my fellow townspeople.

The railway connecting Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou and Huangshan city in Anhui province opened on Dec 25, linking a group of tourist attractions in the Yangtze River Delta and my hometown, which is named after the lake that it sits on.

Qiandao Lake, or Thousand Island Lake, was formed during the construction of the Xin'an River Reservoir in 1959 and it has now become a well-known scenic spot thanks to its beautiful landscapes and fresh water views.

A high-speed train leaves Beijing for Qiandaohu every day, taking five hours and 55 minutes.

Previously, I had to travel to Hangzhou, no matter if I traveled by train or by plane before heading onto my hometown by road, which added another three hours to my journey.

Seniors take a day trip on the opening day of the high-speed railway on Dec 25. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With the Spring Festival holiday fast approaching, my family members kept sending me train schedules and coverage of the new railway, even though I'd seen them a thousand times.

My mom and her photography-buff friends went to take pictures of the station, the railway and the surrounding water views and mountains over and over again-even before it was completed. And the day the new line opened, they managed to join the first group of Qiandaohu residents taking a day trip to Huangshan city.

The focus for the expansion of China's high-speed railway network is now shifting away from larger cities across China to smaller ones, and even onto the counties.

By 2020, China's high-speed rail network will extend to 30,000 kilometers, as outlined in the government's 13th five-year plan for railway development. The domestic railway network will extend to most cities with a population of over 200,000, while the high-speed railway network will cover more than 80 percent of major cities around the country.

And during the Spring Festival holiday between Feb 4 to 10, Qiandaohu station had received a total of 52,547 visitors, according to local government figures.

For many of the older generation, the completion of the railway is an exciting prospect.

My grandmother recounted the story of a hard-seat train trip to Beijing that she made in the 1950s which took two days. And when my grandfather was stuck in the crowded carriages on trips to Beijing during the 1960s and 70s, he would not have imagined someday that his granddaughter might have made the same trip sitting in a neat carriage and making the journey home in the time it takes between meals.

The only people around me that had a minor grumble were my friends from Hangzhou. One of them joined me for a quick dinner at the railway station when I was waiting for the train back to Beijing in a rare chance to catch up.

I still remember the time when my father accompanied me to Hangzhou for a junior high school entrance examination in 2004. The trip by road took more than four hours that rainy day, passing through various cities, towns and villages along the way, before we spent another hour battling city traffic jams.

Seniors take a day trip on the opening day of the high-speed railway on Dec 25. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It wasn't until the second year of my junior high school in Hangzhou in 2006 that the highway was constructed, and the bus journey was cut to two-and-a-half-hours each way. The flexible choice of bus stations in the city relieved me from the previously arduous trip.

When I started college, I was able to return home on Friday nights after finishing my daytime classes.

Travel by train between Qiandaohu and Hangzhou was simply out of the question before the old train service that had been in existence for around half a century ended in 2009.

But I did make the journey once by train when I was about 10-nearly two decades ago-just because I wanted the experience of riding on a train.

We got up before dawn and then took a boat for over an hour, before walking for about 2 kilometers just to reach the train station. The old-fashioned green-skinned train took us to Jinhua in the middle of the province and then we rushed to catch another train bound for Hangzhou.

The route was circuitous and we arrived at my aunt's home in what is now the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou late at night.

Yet, I still found it exciting when tree branches brushed against the carriage and touched my arm, and middle-aged strangers greeted me and asked me if the seats opposite were free.

And now with the new high-speed railway, commuting between Hangzhou and home can be completed within an hour, despite the railway station's less convenient location compared to the shuttle bus stations.

Developments in transportation are only one impressive aspect of the modernization process.

A view of Qiandaohu Station. [Photo provided to China Daily]

And people of my generation, who were born in the 1990s, have been witnessing the modernization of this charming yet slightly remote town since our childhoods.

We experienced the sensation when our town opened its first supermarket, and later the first KFC, Pizza Hut, and in more recent years, two Starbucks outlets. Domestic and international hotel chain brands including Hilton and the InterContinental set up branches there too.

We saw a growing number of people, mainly migrants from the countryside, flood into the town while another group of people, the younger ones, leave home to study or find work elsewhere-destined, no doubt, to one day become guests in their own family.

The town has grown over the years from a place that people could easily reach their destination on foot and greet their acquaintances along the way, to what is now a town "rolling on wheels" and frequently prone to traffic jams.

Like the main hospital, many of the government bodies and public institutions, shuttle bus stations, schools and even the county library have been moved to new suburban areas. People need a car to reach them or when they want to take a trip out of town to enjoy the lake views.

My hometown has certainly embraced change and advanced quickly because of this.

While I enjoy the convenience that technological and economic development has brought us, I sometimes scorn certain artificial additions to that don't really fit the character of the town. And I still miss the early days when people used to stick together and lead a life closer to untouched nature-and the smell of the fields filled the air.

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