Coal train era ends in rural Heilongjiang

Every evening, Wang Shengkui takes the train to get to his job at a wood product factory in Changting.

Without roads linking his village to Changting, the 52-year-old farmer spends an hour on the train and returns the next morning.

"I start work at 8 pm and finish at midnight," he said. "After having a rest in the dormitory, I return home on the 6:36 train, " he said. "The train is very convenient. I can easily arrange working and farming, and I earn 3,000 yuan from the factory every month, a large part of my family's income."

For Zhang Guanglai, a farmer from Shanzuizi village, the period in winter just before the Spring Festival is the busiest time of the year.

His handmade doubao have become very popular in nearby city markets.

A sticky steamed bun stuffed with sweetened bean paste, doubao are a popular snack in the northeastern part of China, but few people know how to make them anymore.

Zhang usually prepares a large quantity of the buns every couple of days and sells them in Mudanjiang, which can make him about 200 yuan each time. "That's thanks to this slow train, which allows me to travel," he said. "The extra income can be used for the Spring Festival and spring plowing."

The trains have also brought increasing numbers of visitors to Changting, which has been undergoing a tourism boom in recent years.

In Hada, a village near the Yilong Water Garden, the largest of its kind in the province, more villagers are getting directly involved in tourism.

So far, there are 20 homestays, all of which receive plenty of tourists during the peak seasons.

"We plan to decorate the trains with tourism-themed elements," said Sun Zhenjie, an official from the Mudanjiang Railway Station's passenger transport section.

"We will work with tourism companies to develop more rural tourism packages to contribute to rural vitalization."