Electricity is essential to our daily lives. For over a decade, China has been the world’s largest green power producer, with over 80% of its solar and wind energy generated in the western region.
But sunlight and wind can’t be barreled like petroleum or gas; they aren’t available 24 hours a day. So we need to store the energy in these storage stations.
Storage is only the first step. Transmitting electricity thousands of kilometers from the northwest to the southeast with ordinary high voltage wires, would mean losing most of the power during the process.
40 years ago, China started developing ultra high voltage (UHV) transmission, which carries 4 to 6 times the capacity of conventional lines, with a loss of less than 3%. From Xinjiang to Anhui — 3,293 kilometers, roughly the distance from Hong Kong to Hokkaido — the electricity arrives in just 0.01 seconds.
China is the only country that can master and apply UHV on such a massive scale. Since 2009, we have built 42 projects, with the total length enough to circle the equator.
Today, China has also established the world’s first complete set of UHV AC standards. Our technology and equipment have been exported to South America, the Middle East, and Africa — turning Chinese standards into global standards.
From Hong Kong, you can take the high-speed rail to Beijing and transfer to Harbin, where you can go further north to the Xiaoxing'anling forest region, following the launch of the new Harbin-Yichun High-Speed rail line which takes only 2 hours. Yet, it is the world's first high-speed rail line crossing island permafrost.
Permafrost has long been a world-class challenge in railway construction. The soil freezes and expands in winter, then thaws and collapses in summer, easily twisting and breaking the tracks.
But the challenge in Northeast China is even greater due to the larger temperature swings, uneven soil, and different freezing points. Chinese engineers developed a Chinese solution: replacing shallow permafrost with stone and burying liquid ammonia thermosyphons in deep permafrost to keep it frozen.
Beyond permafrost, China has also tackled sandstorms, karst, faults, and other complex climate and geological conditions. China's high-speed rail operating mileage has exceeded 50,000 kilometers, over 70% of the world's total. China also exports equipment and construction expertise overseas, turning Chinese solutions into global standards.
Still, China's railways are for the people. Today, 81 pairs of public-service trains run through the remote mountainous areas, with frequent stops and low fares, helping residents reach markets and students reach school.
Chinese railway serves as an economic artery, connecting 1.4 billion people closely together.
