Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest and longest plateau railroad, went into trial operation one year ahead of the schedule on July 1. The 1,956-km railway, which starts from Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province, and ends in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, is the first direct rail link to Tibet. Linking Tibet to China's extensive rail network, the line greatly shortened the land journeys from Lhasa to other Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Xining, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

(Beijing Review: Top 10 Domestic Stories, No.52, 2006)