It was bad enough that China beat Japan into space, but now we get word that China has surpassed Japan in a technology that Japan has had a lock on for at least 45 years

The train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan travel at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.

By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link.