This Day, That Year

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Jan 21, 1996, the first train left Beijing West Railway Station, marking the official opening of the station. It was the largest in Asia when it was completed in 1995.

An item from Sept 2 that year in China Daily showed passengers lining up at the station to embark the first train to travel from Beijing to Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on the new Beijing-Kowloon line.