Causing a locomotion in the stunning People’s Republic of China

Damon Smith feels the needs for speed on the world’s fastest bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai as he explores the delicate flavours of China

An elderly man snores with a raspy purr, air-conditioning sighs contentedly and chopsticks clatter in plastic tray compartments laden with glutinous rice, fragrant winter melon and tender beef and mushroom, as a scroll of orange LED dots above the doorway of the 16th carriage relays our speed – 351 kmph.

I quietly drink in the soothing soundtrack to the world’s fastest bullet train between Beijing South and Shanghai Hongqiao stations. No cacophonous clatter of wheels over rail joints, jolted gasps caused by sudden tilts in the track or fizzing frustration from overcrowded carriages. Just a four hours and 28-minute symphony of dreamily reclined calm, composed by impeccable Chinese engineering.

Serenity threatens to derail just once, during passport checks and luggage scans at the station. Flammable liquids are unwelcome passengers on China’s sleek-nosed high-speed trains, so toiletry bags are hurriedly divested of aerosol antiperspirants, hairsprays and insect repellent by stony-faced security guards. In heat approaching 30C, roll-on deodorant could have been my salvation.

The 1,318km journey down the eastern coast is the centrepiece of the opening two legs of Rail Discoveries’ 13-day escorted group tour of China, which concludes with a four-day scenic cruise along the Yangtze River and visits to the Panda Research Centre in Chengdu and Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an, guarded by life-size pottery soldiers, horses and chariots of the Terracotta Army.

The termini of Beijing and Shanghai epitomise the intriguing contradictions of modern China – centuries of dynastic rule and imperial tradition coupled to the future-facing, technologically driven ambition of the second-largest economy in the world.

A manufacturing powerhouse founded on Mao Zedong’s pillars of equality, mutual benefit and respect in October 1949, cloaked behind a great firewall monitored by the ruling Communist Party. A giant portrait of the chairman hangs from the north gate of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, serenely observing tourists and locals as they are funnelled through security checkpoints.

Flocks of fixed surveillance cameras, some with facial recognition software, perch like beady-eyed birds of prey on lampposts. Big brother, father, uncle and great granddad Mao are watching.

The past is malleable here unless you install a virtual private network (VPN) app on your phone before travelling to China to circumvent strict censorship of the internet and social media.