China

China Crossroads: China’s High-Speed Railway Revolution: A Swiss Perspective

China’s railways are saving the world — literally — with a revolutionary modal shift underway. Having opened the world’s first 350 km/h High Speed line in 2008, China has grown the world’s biggest HSR network, a genuine alternative to road and air transport, and far greener as well.

Join us for another edition of China Crossroads with David Feng. David is probably the most-travelled Swiss citizen on the Chinese railways and one of the most visible voices in the rail world, takes a look at the Chinese rail network, its connections to the world’s largest metro networks, plans for future growth, and how the railways of China now lead a mobility revolution felt locally and worldwide.

This event is hosted by China Crossroads with the support and collaboration of Swissnex in China.

Speaker

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    Bio

    David Feng

    Transnational Rail Specialist, Research Fellow, Union of Western and Eastern Education in Beijing

    David is a Swiss citizen with a Chinese Green Card, is one of the most globally visible and authoritative experts on railways, including metro and tram systems, especially in China, but also with an added focus on his native Switzerland. Globally, he has travelled over half a million kilometres on rail, metro, and tram networks across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. In addition to being an independent transnational rail specialist, he is also research fellow of transnational rail transport and transnational sustainable infrastructure and urbanisation development at the Beijing-based Union of Western and Eastern Education. His rail engagements also including improving the level of English for rail crew in China. To this end, he is part of a highly prestigious language committee of CIty Hall Beijing Foreign Office. Along with other top experts, he sets standards in use for public signage, including for the railways. He has been featured by media both local and global, including Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Deutsche Welle, the New York Times, BBC, CNN, but also in China by Xinhua, and the national railway newspaper, People’s Railway Daily, as well as being on a Discovery Channel documentary, and keynoting TEDx. He’s done these interviews in 5 languages, including major Swiss national languages, and he has knowledge of up to 10 languages. His 4-year-old son is teaching him more, actually. He has visited every single station on the world’s largest metro network, the Beijing Subway. When he was resident in the UK in the mid-2010s, he did the same there. He combines passion, specialisation, and personal experience in his rail-oriented career.

China Crossroads hosts talks on all topics related to China, including business, foreign policy, and other areas as they relate to China, the idea being that China is both already a “crossroads” of the world and itself at a “crossroads” in terms of its future global influence. For more information, contact Frank Tsai at [email protected].