For those who wish to understand today’s China, a new documentary called The Iron Ministry is not a bad place to start. Filmed entirely on China’s trains as they cross the countryside, it follows hopeful job seekers from the country to the city, and factory workers returning to their birthplace.
Most of the trains are a far cry from the Maglev that transports passengers from the outskirts of Shanghai to the Pudong airport, or the bullet trains that speed between major cities at 300 kilometres an hour. No matter. The network has facilitated the migration to cities that has done so much to fuel China’s growth in recent years, as well as laying the foundation for rising property values beyond the country’s first-tier cities.
Now, as part of China’s latest fiscal stimulus, there will be even more railway construction. Railway companies are already among the biggest beneficiaries of several new Beijing’s initiatives, including the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the peculiarly named “One Belt One Road” programme. This will commission railways beyond China’s own borders, down through Southeast Asia and across Central Asia. China is also exporting its rail expertise: in early September, China Railway Rolling Stock (