What is China’s High-Speed Rail (HSR)? Generally speaking, a rail network that offers 200–350 kph trains is an HSR network. Now, China has the largest high-speed rail network in the world. There are “4 vertical lines and 4 horizontal(水平的) lines” for the main China HSR network. This means there are four north–south high-speed rail lines and four east–west high-speed rail lines. They are the basis for the China high-speed rail network.

The four north–south HSR lines

Beijing–Shanghai Route

* Length: 1,318 km

* Design speed: 350 kph

It connects two popular cities and reduces the journey time from 12 hours to 5 hours (2 hours by air).

Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Route

* Length: 2,240 km

* Design speed: 350 kph

It is the longest passenger-transport dedicated high-speed rail line in the world. It connects North China, Central China, and South China.

Beijing–Harbin Route

* Length: 1,300 km

* Design speed: 350 kph

It connects Northeast China with the national capital, Beijing. It cuts the journey time from 12 hours to 6 hours between Beijing and Harbin.

Hangzhou–Shenzhen Route

* Length: 1,600 km

* Design speed: 250–350 kph

It connects the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. The Hangzhou–Ningbo section is passenger-transport dedicated. The rest trip is mixed for passenger and cargo (货物) transport.

Experience Bullet Train in Your China Trip

If you are interested in experiencing a bullet train in your China trip, please see our popular tours below for inspiration:

* 5-Day Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou Bullet Train Tour

* CLASSIC WONDERS - 11 Days Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin/Yangshu, Shanghai Private Tour

Or you can just tell us your interests and requirements, and we can help you create a China tour.

The bristlecone pine is the longest-living thing on the earth. These trees, with their strangely-shaped, wind-beaten limbs(枝干), can live up to 5000 years. But experts worry that a warming climate in some areas may threaten its future.

Researchers say warmer weather is permitting a similar kind of tree, the limber pine, to take over good growing places from the ancient bristlecone. They say the tree is being crowded out of mountainous areas where it grows.

“The bristlecone pine is the oldest individually growing organism,” researchers say. They grow in high mountain forests in eastern California, Nevada and Utah. In those mountains, the trees face high winds and extreme temperatures, which leave them with twisted limbs and shapes. “Even in such tough conditions,” Brian Smithers, a researcher at the University of California, said, “the limber pine is taking all the good spots.”

The limber pine is the bristlecone’s distant relative and competitor. It can also live a long time-up to 2000 years. And it is usually found at lower altitudes, where temperatures are warmer. However, according to a three-year study which centered on trees that have started growing in the last 50 years in California’s White Mountains, most of the trees growing at higher altitudes were limber pines.

Scientists compared the competing species to two old men in a very slow race up a mountainside. This race between such slow-growing trees takes thousands of years. They say climate change is causing the competition.

Smithers said the bristlecone pines are not in danger of disappearing. But he assumes they could be crowded out of some places where they have grown for thousands of years.

The researchers say the findings show how climate change can affect the two kinds of trees. The information, they say, can help scientists understand more complex forests.

One afternoon, after finishing shopping in a supermarket, my family and I went to the check-out. I suddenly thought we didn’t need any of the junk, and we abandoned all of those, saving $300.

That got me thinking about all our pointless expenses in life. With a promise that we’d stop if it was killing us, I convinced the family to take the leap into frugality. The rules were that we would buy nothing for 30 days except absolutely essentials.

Our adventure began with a great start. By 9 a.m., my wife, Ruth, had already made cakes from old strawberries and picked flowers I didn’t even know we had in the garden. I cleared the car by hand for the first time for years. I read and returned the neighbor’s newspaper before he woke up. Total spending on the first day: $0.

As days turned into weeks, we became so proficient(熟练的) at living frugally. We started riding our bikes to save gas. My child’s finger painting was recycled as gift wrap for the home-made presents. We started to use an Internet application like Skype for free phone calls and ask neighbors with gardens for extra vegetables and herbs.

In the end, we saved more than $2000 by not spending for a month. When we began, I imagined we would rush out the moment we were done and buy a lot of things in the supermarket. Then maybe hit the mall or go to the movies.

A new app aims to help parents interpret what their babies want based on the sound of their cry. The free app ChatterBaby, which was released last month, analyzes the features of a baby's cry, to help parents understand whether their children might be hungry, fussy (大惊小怪) or in pain. While critics say caregivers should not rely too much on their smartphones, others say it's a helpful tool for new or tired parents.

Ariana Anderson, a mother of four, developed the app. She originally designed the technology to help deaf parents better understand why their babies were upset, but soon realized it could be a helpful tool for all new parents.

To build a database, Anderson and her team uploaded 2,000 audio samples of baby cries. She used cries recorded during ear piercings and vaccinations (接种) to distinguish pain cries. And to create a baseline for the other two categories, a group of moms had to agree on whether the cry was hungry or fussy.

Anderson's team continues to collect data and hopes to make the app more accurate by asking parents to get specific about what certain sounds mean.

Pediatrician Eric Ball pointed out that evaluating cries can never be an exact science. ''I think that all of the apps and technology that new parents are using now can be helpful but need to be taken seriously, '' Ball said. ''I do worry, that some parents will get stuck in big data and turn their parenting into basically a spreadsheet (电子表格) which I think will take away the love and caring that parents are supposed to be providing for their children.''

But Anderson says the aim of the app is to have parents interpret the results, not to provide a yes or no answer. The Bells say it's a win-win. They believe they are not only helping their babies now but potentially others in the future.