Chinese Daily Photos, Videos & News!!

Originally Posted by HKSDU

Post #899 the girl in the middle...no offence but she doesn't look Asian, most probably a mix, but I'm just saying.

What Asian heritage does she have I wonder?

That is an interesting point.

After a quick search, it turns out that the Miss Asia pageant includes central asian states such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc. Also found the list of the finalists on the official homepage for the pageant (english version):

http://www.missasia.com.hk/profile-e.html

If I had to hazard a guess, the finalist you are refering to is likely to be Vita Tsybulska from Tajikistan (no 8 in the link above).

These old men have strong vitality, impressive. I wonder what the woman is thinking.

Yea..they have generic Viagra/Levtria & Cialis keeping them happy..Correct me if I'm wrong but >> It is my understanding that these drugs can be bought over the counter in China.

A golden statue of the late Chairman Mao Zedong is seen on display in a glass case at Caibai Ornaments store in Beijing December 2, 2010. Gold firmed on Thursday, within sight of its highest in nearly three weeks hit the previous day, but safe-haven flows into the metal could be capped by hopes the European Central Bank and the United States would step in to support debt-burdened euro-zone countries.

Customers look at a golden statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin on display in a glass case at Caibai Ornaments store, in Beijing, December 2, 2010.

Children play in Tenglong kindergarten, a school for children of migrant workers, in Beijing December 2, 2010. Preschools are the "weakest" part of China's education system, according to the Chinese government which says it will generally improve the country's kindergartens to ensure a quality start for children, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Dai Haifei, 24, from China's Hunan province, looks out from his egg-shaped mobile house where he has been living for the last two months, located near his office in Beijing on December 1, 2010. The house cost about 1,000 USD to build, and is made of bamboo strips and mattress, covered by a layer of heat preservation and water-proof material, with patches of bags stuffed with processed wood peels and grass seeds that could grow grass when spring comes, covering the house like a quilt.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 02: Wenchong Liang of China lines up a putt on the sixth hole during day one of the Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club on December 2, 2010 in Sydney, Australia.

Former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian is escorted into a police vehicle at the Tucheng Detention Centre, Taipei County, December 2, 2010. Chen, convicted on corruption charges, was transferred on Thursday from the detention centre to the prison in Taoyuan County where he is to serve a 19-year sentence.

Kaohsiung city elected-council Chen Chih-chung, son of Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian, waits outside the Tucheng detention center in Taipei county on December 2, 2010. Taiwan ex-president Chen Shui-bian had an emotional meeting with his son as he awaited his transfer from a detention centre to the jail where he will serve a 19-year graft conviction.

Restaurant owner Andy Tse holds his copy of the Michelin guide book in front of the India cuisine called Nawabi Bhojan, or a royal fare, at his Hin Ho Curry Restaurant in Hong Kong Thursday, December 2, 2010 after the restaurant is awarded one star by Michelin. Michelin on Thursday launched the third edition of the Michelin guide to Hong Kong and Macau.

A semi-submersible barge from Guangzhou Salvage Bureau lies in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on Thursday, December 2, 2010, deliberately unloading a caisson into the sea to build a seawall in a construction project. The barge that appeared to be sinking in the famed harbor prompted an emergency call from a witness who mistakenly thought it was going down.

Zhou Le, one of the top 10 finalists in a sports show performs a heart-stopping stunt - jummping over four people on his bicycle - at an event held in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Sunday. [Provided to China Daily]

Rescuers transport pipes on Wednesday for pumping out water from a flooded coal mine in Xiangtan county of Hunan province. [Photo/China News Service]

People gather near a flooded coal mine where seven miners were trapped underground in Xiangtan county of Hunan province, Dec 1, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

Experts and rescuers said Wednesday there was little hope of finding seven miners trapped underground alive after a coal mine was flooded nearly one day earlier in Hunan Province.

The flood happened at 11:38 p.m. Tuesday in a pit at the Yide Coal Mine in Xiangtan County, trapping seven miners at a depth of 89 meters, said Zhao Jun, one of the experts involved in the rescue operation.

The miners were believed to be stranded in a tiny area and it is possible they have drowned, said Zhao, who is also the chief engineer of Hunan's Coal Industry Bureau.

This is just awesome...Popeye loves trains...
We in the US may never see trains such as this because of our addiction to air travel. Maybe someday in the US we will have hi-speed trains in the Northeast and maybe California. I know the Governater is keen on hi-speed rail.

I'd love to ride on one of these beauties!

Enjoy the photos!

A train of China Railway High-Speed (CRH) is ready for a test running at a railway station in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 3, 2010. In September, the China-made CRH380A train hit a speed of 416.6 kilometers per hour on a test run to set a new world train speed record. It is expected to exceed the record at this test running, which will be held at a section of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed railway. (Xinhua/Chen Shugen)

A CRH high-speed train zips in a test run in Zaozhuang, in east China's Shandong province, Friday, Dec. 3, 2010.

The driver operates the train CRH380A of China Railway High-Speed (CRH), which runs between the north China's Zaozhuang city and Bengbu in the south, a segment of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, Dec. 3, 2010. China's high-speed train CRH380A hit a maximum speed of 486.1 kilometers per hour on Friday during its trial service, which broke a world operation speed record. (Xinhua/Chen Shugen)

Reporters take photos in the train CRH380A of China Railway High-Speed (CRH), which runs between the north China's Zaozhuang city and Bengbu in the south, a segment of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, Dec. 3, 2010. (Xinhua/Chen Shugen)

Technicians applaud in the train CRH380A of China Railway High-Speed (CRH), which runs between the north China's Zaozhuang city and Bengbu in the south, a segment of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, Dec. 3, 2010.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8343/19612990.jpg

In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, a China Railway High-Speed (CRH) train enters Bengbu south railway station, a stop in Anhui province on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, on Friday Dec. 3, 2010. The Chinese passenger train hit a record speed of 302 miles per hour (486 kilometers per hour) Friday during a test run of a yet-to-be opened link between Beijing and Shanghai, state media said.

I shall combine this thread with the Chinese Daily photos this weekend..

Guys I found this video of the train's hi-speed run on youtube. Where's is A.Man when you need him??



Hey a basic translation would be good..Thanks!

Why is train service in North America so terrible compared to Europe and Asia? We really need to invest more into it

^It's a result of initiatives that moved away from public transport and investing into private car ownership, as a result the public transport sector suffers.

If high speed trains means you can get to places without going through a naked scanner or getting groped, I'm all for it!

Originally Posted by Semi-Lobster

Why is train service in North America so terrible compared to Europe and Asia? We really need to invest more into it

Because as I stated above.. We in North America are addicted to air travel for city to city travel.. and as Player 0 mentioned somewhat we are addicted to our private cars.

If you ever see high speed rail in the US it will be in either California or in the US Northeast corridor from Washington DC to Boston MA. Just my opinion.

The USA once had the most extensive passenger rail system in the World.

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcolle...s-history.html

The height of US rail travel and usage was WWII

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=4571&type=0&sequence=1

By 1970, the year Amtrak was authorized, the number of intercity passenger-miles traveled by rail had plummeted to 6.2 billion from a high of 67 billion during World War II.(4) In comparison, travel by air carrier accounted for more than 100 billion passenger-miles that year, and intercity travel by bus topped 25 billion passenger-miles.(5) Since then, intercity rail travel has generally remained around 5 billion to 6 billion passenger-miles annually, and bus travel has stayed at about 25 billion. Air travel has continued to grow, however, reaching 515 billion passenger-miles in 2000.

It's also a funding issue. Public funding is contentious and private funding is a complete non-starter in today's investment environment. When trains were profitable you could observe great growth in how they grew - sometimes hugely redundantly, in parallel with each other, servicing the same lines and routes, due to great competition of age of Railway Barons.

That had later on impact of making lines no longer profitable, which in turn has great influence on culture of railway companies and predilections, financial situation, investment priorities etc, and all of that from foundation of over a century ago.

Regardless, and perhaps because of it, American rail is still massive and quite experienced when dealing with freight. America still haul the greatest amount of freight on Earth, and has almost THREE times the trackage compared to China.

Also, BTW Popeye, the Chinese state media has the tendency of omitting important information when speaking of 'fastest' and 'best'. While this is an incredible achievement and most likely the fastest commercially operated train in the world...

These experimental trains ARE faster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V150_(train)
JR–Maglev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would say that you are more likely to get your dream high speed trains in the US than not Big Daddy.
High Speed Train networks are being built as a viable alternative to short haul and continental flights. Not only are the speeds getting high enough to make a good comparison (factor in long tedious air port check ins and take off delays) but more importantly the energy cost of these trains being from overhead lines generated by any number of different power stations, is getting considerably cheaper than the cost of aviation fuel.

Flight is going to become the preserve of the rich and for the longest haul trans-ocean flights and use the big new double decker super jumbos to make it cost viable.

Arnie seems to be ahead of the US curve and his visit to Chinese manufacturers was significant as these included the ones that specialised in building HST's that run on existing standard speed lines. The Japanese bullet trains by comparison need to use dedicated HS Track to run.

I am sure that if you check Martians news threads from a month or two ago, you should find it all there.

Trains are overrated Obama's got a better idea high speed buses XD
YouTube - Obama Replaces Costly High Speed Rail Plan With High Speed Bus Plan The Onion America's Finest News Source Onion News Network

But Unless American attitudes change, I doubt a though highspeed rails will happen anytime soon. If you look at Europe and Asia, the national government is more centralized and more socialist and that is something a lot of American's are allergic to.

For the US, high speed rail will probably be good for the east coast but throughout the US regionally? It's not like they're going to make a line from Los Angeles and New York so you can see America. Americans love their cars and getting there the fastest by jet. High speed rail sits in between.

Regarding that this is not the fastest train. All the articles I've read specify this is the fastest commercial unmodified rail train. Supposedly sometime in the next year they will be testing something going faster. Not sure on the specifics if it's modified or not but it will be faster than this one.

Yeah looks like we need to rebuild the transcontinental railroad. This will certainly be more eco-friendly, convenient, and comfortable. Imagine being able to take "road trips" while enjoying nice views from the comforts of a high speed train instead of being crammed in a car. This will also greatly reduce high-way traffic accidents when more people switch to trains.