Longest journey

In 1984, Wei Richun, now a senior official with the Nanning Railway Bureau, undertook a journey that younger residents of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will never experience.

At the time, Wei was working as a middle school teacher, but he had to visit Beijing and the only train available took 60 hours to reach the capital.

Wei joined an old-style "green train" at Liuzhou in Guangxi late in the day. The carriage was crammed with passengers and there was no air conditioning, so even though it was evening, the carriage was stifling and uncomfortable.