seneca (Expat in China)

I recognize the old way of traveling in China easily. Those green cars got extremely crowded. Men smoked endlessly; windows stayed open, although you made a point about closing windows to keep passengers out. The worst was they were not heated in winter and not cooled in summer. A trip from Beijing to Guangzhou would take 36 hours, then 24, but throughout such journeys the passengers had to keep their winter clothes on throughout the trip.

Today it's a piece of cake. Everyone has a seat, the windows stay permanently shut, as an interior air-conditioning system keeps the temperature comfortable. There are rubbish bins and the journeys take hours rather than days.