Travel China by Train

Before traveling in China, I thought that traveling by train was an expensive, inconvenient, slow way to travel. Well, in China, trains are definitely not expensive, compared with the US. Also, a long trip in a sleeper car is really much more comfortable than sitting on a bus all day, and is definitely more convenient than driving cross-country as Americans often do. Though not as fast as flying, an overnight ride in a sleeper can leave you feeling rested, instead of feeling groggy like I do after overnight flights. The best part about trains in China is that it's like a big party. If you are studying the Chinese language, this is the place to learn. The passengers always meet each other, talk, eat together, play cards, and make friends. I have, however, had some horrible train experiences in China, but they were avoidable for the most part. I'll give some advice on which train tickets to by, how much they cost, and what you need to take with you on a long train trip.

Taking the train in China is very different from the Massachusetts commuter trains I grew up riding. Chinese people seem to prefer taking the train for long trips, which often means sleeping on the train. The sleeper cars are designed to squeeze the maximum number of passengers into a small space. All sleeper cars have berths arranged in cabins, with two rows of bunks facing each other. There are two types of sleeper cars, 软卧 (ruǎnwò, soft sleeper) and 硬卧 (yìngwò, hard sleeper). 硬卧 yìngwò is the cheaper option, and the beds aren't actually any "softer" than 软卧 ruǎnwò, which is more expensive. The only difference is that the soft sleepers are in private cabins with only four berths each, two high bunks (上铺, shàngpù) and two low (下铺, xiàpù), with a sliding door for the cabin and doilies and a vase of plastic flowers on the table (see picture). A person brings you hot water for tea, instead of having to get it yourself. The "hard sleepers" are stacked three bunks high; the middle bunk is called 中铺 (zhōngpù, middle berth). Our favorite is the highest "hard sleeper" bunk, which is over eight feet (2.5m) from the ground, well above the hustle-bustle in the aisle and below, and also the cheapest sleeper. There's just enough headroom to recline and read. You get a pillow and warm blanket, and the bed is long enough for anyone (I'm 5'11" and have about two extra feet of bed). Brandon always gets the high 上铺 berth across from me so we can talk. For shorter trips (preferably not overnight), there are 硬座 (yìngzùo, hard seat) and 软座 (ruǎnzùo, soft seat) tickets, which are even cheaper. Both have pairs of cushioned benches or seats facing each other and a table in the middle, usually with a bit more legroom than airplanes.

The fun part about the train is talking to people. On sleeper cars, the very bottom bunk is often taken by older people who don't want to climb, and they'll usually invite everyone else down to sit on their bed and chat. The bottom bunk is the only one with enough room to sit up completely, and across from it is a little table with two fold-up chairs by the window. Everyone first needs to ask where the other people are from, what they do for work, how old they are, whether they are married or have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and how much money they make. Even elderly people get asked their age. The customary food to bring is 瓜子 (guāzi, melon seeds) or peanuts for a snack, and ramen noodles (方便面) for meals, and there is a large variety of foods available from snack carts that come by every few minutes. Hot water from the boiler at the end of each car is used to make tea or ramen noodles. Games of cards can last for hours, though the lights are turned out around 11. The whole train is filled with snoring at night. If you can't tolerate noise, don't expect to sleep in too late unless you have the high bunk—people usually get up early or start shuffling around luggage when the train gets to their stop. Sometimes the speakers start blasting annoying music in the middle of the night, if a stop is approaching. The one time we rode "soft sleeper", the elderly woman below us woke up at 6AM and turned on the lights to read her Buddhist prayers out loud (that's the picture above of the woman with the book).

One of our worst experiences on the train was going from Beijing to Xi'an with 无坐 (wúzùo, "no seat") tickets. This is the cheapest way to travel, but it's really not worth it unless the trip is under an hour long. We had bought sleeper tickets, but missed our train, and there was no extra fee if we were willing to take the "no seat" tickets. There were no sleeper tickets left anyway. The train left at 6PM and arrived the next day at 1PM. It was 19 hours of hell. With no seats, we were crammed into the aisles standing up with our bags, and when I say "crammed" I mean that so many people are stuffed in the aisles that it takes about 1/2 hour to push and shove from one end of a train car to the other. People formed a ramen brigade to get hot water from the other end of the train for their noodles. At about 5AM I broke down and slept in the peanut shell and spilled-ramen strewn aisle, exhausted, and was woken up every few minutes by someone making their way to the bathroom stepping on my hand or head. I don't even want to think about what was on their shoes after using the squat toilets (with hole open to the tracks below), but I had footprints all over my hands and face by the morning. So remember not to miss your train.

Ticket prices are usually quite cheap by American standards. For example, we went from Shanghai to Kunming, a 48 hour trip across most of the country, for 530RMB (about US$70) each, in "hard sleeper" high bunks. The same trip by plane cost 980RMB (about $125), which was actually an extremely good deal on plane tickets. "Hard seat" tickets for the same trip cost about 300RMB ($40). A sleeper car ticket is really cheaper than most hotels in the US, and you do save a night's hotel fare. If you want to see the country and meet the people without spending too much, China by train is the way to go.