The original aspiration and the mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. This founding aspiration, this mission, is what inspires Chinese Communists to advance.
——Excerpt fom Report delivered by President Xi Jinping at the 19th CPC National Congress
Mile is a county-level city in southeast Yunnan's Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, with abundant tourism resources. It is just about 100 kilometres away from the provincial capital Kunming. However, it used to take nearly three hours to travel this distance by road, causing the tourism resources of Mile to lie idle for many years.
In December 2016, the Yunnan-Guangxi railway went into operation, and brought Mile into the era of high-speed rail. Now, dozens of high-speed trains run between Mile and Kunming on a daily basis, reducing the travelling time to just 30 minutes.
The high-speed rail has given new impetus to the local tourism industry, and brought a growing number of tourists. In 2017, Mile received more than eight million tourists.
However, the 6162 green train stills operates between Panzhihua, Sichuan and Kunming, Yunnan. It is perhaps the slowest train in China. It departs from Kunming at 7 am and terminates in Panzhihua at about 3 pm, covering 351 kilometers.
This train runs through a mountainous area where windy roads make for long hours of travel between towns. The train calls at many towns and offers an easier mode of transportion for passengers and cargo.
Some villagers travel by train to sell their agricultural produce elsewhere. The train is just like a market and the villagers sometimes buy vegetables, meat and fruit from each other.
When young people who live in the towns and villages along the railway get married, they and their relatives and friends usually take the 6162 train to attend the wedding.
The train covers 300 kilometrers in eight hours. But, it still plays a practical and romantic role in the lives of the local people.