Zooming ahead from distance to convenience

After a two-hour drive from Beijing, my family and I arrived at a scenic area on the outskirts of the city. As we hiked in the mountains, along the giggling streams and under the roaring waterfalls, I remembered visiting the place about 35 years ago.

Memories of that earlier visit returned to me in pieces. We had two days off, so some friends decided to visit the area about 100 kilometers away from the city center.

We set off before daybreak and after several bus transfers eventually reached the place before sunset.

It was too late for sightseeing, so we settled down in the only hotel in the area. The next morning we got up early and hurried to the mountain so that we could catch the last bus to Beijing around noon.

When we finally reached home in Beijing, it was completely dark. We were tired to the bone, but happy that we had accomplished the feat within two days.

Today, I will not undertake such an exhausting and complicated journey for a short visit to a scenic spot. Easy access to planes, high-speed trains, expressways and dense bus networks has recalibrated our expectations.

If I get two days off now, I will probably go to a place 1,000 kilometers away.

In the past 40 years or so, China's GDP has increased by about 40 times, making the country the second-largest economy in the world.

Some economists attribute China's remarkable success to global industrial growth while others argue that China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 enabled it to enjoy favorable tariffs.

Some politicians in the United States even claim that China hitched a ride with the US.

Whatever the reasons, one fact is undeniable: China has maintained robust economic growth in the past four decades. Even its "low"5 percent GDP growth last year was, in fact, among the highest worldwide.

The country's rapid economic development is built on systems and facilities that are running at high speed.

Look at how transportation has changed in the country. By the end of 2025, China's high-speed railway network had extended to 50,000 kilometers — longer than the combined length in all other countries.

A new generation of high-speed trains, capable of running at speeds of 450 kilometers per hour, is already under trial and will soon enable passengers to travel even faster.

Meanwhile, China's expressway network has reached 191,000 kilometers, again the largest in the world.

More than 453 million motor vehicles run on these expressways where the speed limits are 100 to 120 kilometers per hour. Speed has become a structural feature of everyday life.

Civil aviation is also expanding, with a number of new airports beginning operations every year while existing ones are continuously upgraded. Eleven of the world's 50 busiest airports are in China, some of them handling about 100 million passengers a year.

General aviation and low-altitude economy, rarely heard of by many Chinese until recently, are taking off. The domestically developed C919 aircraft has already received hundreds of orders.

All these indicate that air travel will become faster, more convenient and more affordable in the future.

The improvements in vehicles and transport infrastructure have led to another visible transformation. They have helped accelerate the logistics delivery business.

If you order a bunch of flowers in Beijing, you may get them the next day from Yunnan, a few thousand kilometers away.

Order a takeaway lunch, and within 30 minutes a delivery man on his e-bike will knock at your door. In fact, many delivery workers have even disabled the speed-limiting devices on their bikes in order to move faster and earn more. The result is not just faster deliveries, but also a higher risk of accidents, affecting both riders and pedestrians.

Many of us sometimes hate the escalating push of speed that exists everywhere in our society and leaves us little room for relaxation.

At the same time, we must also acknowledge that the comforts and conveniences we enjoy can be attributed to that very speed.

Fast speed has changed our lifestyles and our lives. There is no way back. Nor, perhaps, is there a need for one.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.

kangbing@chinadaily.com.cn