The building of railways in China has had a tortured history. Early attempts were foiled by residents who feared the building of tracks would disturb grave sites and upset an area’s natural harmony. Laborers who made their living driving cart mules or pulling barges naturally felt threatened by competition. Despite the best efforts of reform-minded officials like Li Hongzhang, by the end of 1896 the vast expanse of the Qing Empire had only 370 miles of track compared to 2,300 miles in Japan, 21,000 miles in the UK, and 182,000 miles in the US. Shady deals to finance the building of railways were part of a parcel of factors which led to the demise of the Qing, and even shadier deals with foreign banks (and the governments behind them) over who would control those railroads would continue to plague a succession of Chinese governments into the 20th century.
China has come a long way since then. As of 2006, the PRC could boast of nearly 50,000 miles of track with plans to increase that number to 120,000 by 2010. I recently rode the new Beijing-Tianjin high speed rail line and came away very impressed. In fact, getting from our house to Beijing’s new “South Station,” seemingly halfway to Hebei