Guangzhou and Guilin, China

May 20, 2025

Ginny and I recently took advantage of China's visa-free transit policy and spent 10 days in China. We were mostly visiting Ginny's folks in Guilin but we also did a couple of side trips to play tourist for a day or two. It had been 11 years since we last visited China and some things had changed quite a bit while other things seemed pretty much the same. China's transportation system, for instance, has been completely transformed over the past couple of decades (more on that below) but many Chinese men still smoke like chimneys.

We took three different trips on China's high speed rail network and each trip was a breeze. The trains are well utilized but also very comfortable and far superior to flying in my opinion. The national network includes approximately 48,000 km of high speed rail lines connecting all major cities across 31 provinces. China has plans to expand the network to 70,000 km of high speed rail lines by 2035 so they have truly been bitten by the high speed rail bug. The train from Guangzhou to Guilin took 2:40 to travel the 484km distance (average speed of 181 km/hr). The maximum speed was just under 300 km/hr (they show the current train speed on a digital display in each car which is fun) and some high speed rail lines in China can travel as fast as 400 km/hr. All of our trains were on-time and the whole experience just felt so civilized, aside from the men jumping off the train at each station to speed smoke a cigarette.

The other facet of the transportation system that just blew me away is just how many electric vehicles (EVs) there are on the streets in China. In 2024, 48% of new passenger vehicle sales were electric vehicles in China and EV market share is projected to continue to increase in coming years. BYD is the EV behemoth in China followed by Geely and Tesla but there are countless other companies (NIO, XPeng, AITO, Wuling, etc.) also producing EVs in China. Some of these cars sell for as little as US$4,500 (Wuling Mini EV) so these vehicles are affordable to large segments of the Chinese population. More than 90% of the rideshare trips we took were in EVs and we took a lot of trips! China boasts the world's most extensive EV charging network (12.8 million charging points in 2024) so it's not difficult for EV owners to charge their vehicles. Scooters continue to be widely popular in China and approximately 80% of two-wheeled vehicles are electric, encompassing both electric scooters and bicycles. Unfortunately, many of these electric transport options have made human powered bicycles almost extinct. They're still in use but it seemed to be mostly older or younger people who were riding bicycles.

If you're planning a visit to China, it's far easier with someone who knows Mandarin (thanks, Ginny!) because most Chinese people don't seem to speak English, at least outside of Shanghai and Beijing. It's not like other countries on the Gringo Trail where you can easily get by without knowing the language. Google Translate definitely helps but it's not quite the same as knowing the language.