Railway over the world  

1.  The impossible seems possible. The railway to Tibet is one of the greatest symbols of that spirit.

2.  I was surprised to find a living Buddha make one of the strongest arguments in favour of it. "We've been too backward, too isolated for too long," said the lama, who asked that his name not be used. "The rest of the world is in the 21st century. We are still in the middle ages."

3.  Economically, China's expansion is a storming success, with 9% growth for each of the past 25 years, lifting hundreds of millions of peasants out of poverty, making a fortune for foreign manufacturers who exploit low-cost labour and boosting trade with other developing nations.

4.  This railway is going to be even harder to maintain than it has been to build.

5.  Acid rain falls on a third of the Chinese landmass. According to the World Bank, 16 of the planet's 20 worst polluted cities are in China.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/story/0,,1580914,00.html