萊拉

Close your eyes and imagine China， home to 1.4 billion of the worlds population. What do you see？

Rice paddies， pointed little hats strapped on under the chin， long， wispy mustaches floating above the wide grin of a country farm worker？... Well， while agriculture is still one of Chinas biggest industries， a lot has changed. Today， the state of modern China and its innovations are changing the game for what people think about this oriental giant. So， here are a few things to bring you up to speed on modern China.

1. China has the fastest trains in the world

In a country as large as China， people need to get around， and quick！ The Shanghai Maglev is the worlds fastest commercial train， clocking in at 431 kph （303 mph）. So， when you are in Chinas capital of Beijing， you can travel to the shiny city of Shanghai on one of these bullet trains in around 4? hours.

In addition， you can hop on a train in China and arrive at the doorsteps of major attractions such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xian， often with less hassle and a similar speed to flying， as the second-longest railway network in the world connects every major city in China （except Macao）.

2. China will boldly go where no man has gone before

Not to be confused with the Pink Floyd album， China is setting course to be the first nation to reach the dark side of the moon1. In 2018， China sent their Change 4 probe out to see if they can establish a suitable communication link. China is using their leaps in technological innovations to fill a void in the experts understanding of the universe.

If you want to learn more about Chinas explorations to infinity and beyond， during your visit you can check out the 10，000-square-meter China Space Museum in Beijings Fengtai District， featuring the history and future of the space industry in China.

3. The Silk Road is back in action

This billion upon billion dollar investment will create modern infrastructures in areas less trodden and open up vast opportunities to walk in the footsteps of those who risked their lives and adventured the trails to find new and exciting places and riches along the way. With the One Belt， One Road initiative well underway， China is linking up the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road to create connections with more than 60 countries along its path.

4. Chinas gone bot-y2

While Skynet3s takeover is probably a few millennia away， today many of Chinas industries are going bot！ Robots are doing taxes， conducting surgical operations， taking over dangerous jobs at ammunition plants， and even made into cute little helpers rolling around banks waiting areas servicing and joking with customers.

However， China is still labor heavy， and labor is still relatively cheap， keeping the bots at bay; with many jobs still being done by many people that would be done by machine in the developed world： farming， factory processing， construction， toll gate ticketing...

5. Poverty-free is the way to be

China has lifted 68 million people out of poverty over the last five years. China has set a goal to lift all of the people in the nation out of poverty by 2020.

One major bonus for people living in small poor regions of China is that there is now a tourism infrastructure being built around and invested in ancient towns， allowing people to earn money as well as preserve their historical cultures.

6. WeChat is where its at

Since its launch in 2011， WeChat has become the all-in-one tool for modern China. Before you step foot across Chinas border make sure to download this app as it is the favored tool of communication for its 980 million active users in China.

There are 300 million users who have their credit cards attached to their accounts which allows users to have food， groceries and goods delivered to their house， pay cell phone， utility or other bills through third-party plugins and even hail a cab. It even has a built-in QR scanner to make all your QR purchases a breeze4.

7. QR codes， QR codes everywhere

Payment and information come in a nice， neat little package in China—QR codes. While in the West， these never quite caught on， QR codes are a way of life here， from getting another persons contact information and following a publication you like， to ordering food or paying bills.

If you are walking down the street and see a wrinkled old man serving some local Chinese snacks， you can be sure that you will also see a QR code somewhere to scan and pay for his wares over the phone！

8. A booming sharing economy

Remember those QR codes we just talked about， well they go even farther. In China， the sharing economy is so vast that you can share just about anything. But the biggest boom in todays market is the share transportation.

With one little scan， you are off on your share bike to your destination. Pesky 15-min walks from the subway have turned into 5-minute jaunts and weekends are now spend “share-biking” the city with friends. With over 600 million people participating in Chinas $550 billion sharing economy， there is nowhere to go but up.

9. China has Uber， well Didi， too

Founded in June 2012， Chinas car-hailing app Didi Chuxing （Didi）， the only company to have all of Chinas three internet giants—Alibaba， Tencent， and Baidu—as its investors， is the most valuable start-up company in the world.

With an interface like Uber or Lyft， users can simply plug in their location and destination and be on their way in a few minutes. In addition to regular car-hailing services， customers can also request luxury cars， airport pickup and full day car and driver rentals. In addition， Didi added an English interface in 2017 making it accessible to more and more people living in and visiting China.

10. Life in China is a mixed bag

While you can dine in lavish Michelin-starred restaurants in Chinas large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai， there is still deep-rooted culture at every turn.

In a little more than an hour from Beijings city center， you can step into rural China and tour ancient villages and even participate in homestays to learn more about traditional culture.

China is one of those places where you can see a Tesla zoom by and also have handmade dumplings from a vendor for less than one US dollar.

While there is a lot of modern changes happening in this vast country， there are still areas that are practically untouched that you can spend some time getting away from it all.

閉上眼睛，想象一下中國——那個(gè)擁有14億人口的國度。你想到了什么？

片片稻田，帶子系在下巴處的尖頂小草帽，咧嘴大笑的農(nóng)民隨風(fēng)飄動(dòng)的長長胡須？……嗯，雖然農(nóng)業(yè)仍然是中國最大的產(chǎn)業(yè)之一，但中國已經(jīng)發(fā)生了很多變化。如今，中國的現(xiàn)狀及其創(chuàng)新正在改變?nèi)藗儗?duì)這個(gè)東方巨人的看法。以下幾件事可以讓你快速了解當(dāng)今中國。

1. 中國擁有世界上最快的火車

在像中國這么大的國家，人們需要到處走動(dòng)，而且速度要快！上海磁懸浮列車是世界上速度最快的商用列車，時(shí)速高達(dá)431公里（303英里）。也就是說，如果從中國的首都北京乘坐這樣的高速列車出發(fā)，大約4個(gè)半小時(shí)即可到達(dá)活力四射的上海。

此外，中國擁有世界第二長的鐵路網(wǎng)，連接起國內(nèi)除澳門外的每一個(gè)主要城市，只要踏上火車，便可直達(dá)西安兵馬俑等主要景點(diǎn)，這不僅比搭乘飛機(jī)更方便，而且速度相當(dāng)。

2. 中國勇于探索前人未至之地

別跟英國搖滾樂隊(duì)平克·弗洛伊德的那張概念專輯混淆了，中國正努力成為首個(gè)真正發(fā)現(xiàn)“月之暗面”的國家。2018年，中國發(fā)射了“嫦娥四號(hào)”探測器，考察能否在月球上建立起合適的通信鏈路。中國正在利用其技術(shù)創(chuàng)新的巨大進(jìn)步來填補(bǔ)專業(yè)人士對(duì)宇宙認(rèn)知的空白。

如果想了解更多中國探索浩瀚宇宙的信息，在中國游覽期間可以去參觀位于北京豐臺(tái)區(qū)的中華航天博物館，該博物館展出面積約達(dá)1萬平方米，場館主要展示中國航天事業(yè)的歷史和未來。

3. 重振絲綢之路

這項(xiàng)數(shù)十億美元的投資將用于在人跡罕至的地方建造現(xiàn)代化基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，為人們開拓廣闊的機(jī)會(huì)，以追隨那些為發(fā)現(xiàn)沿途新地方和新財(cái)富而冒著生命危險(xiǎn)篳路藍(lán)縷的先輩。在“一帶一路”倡議的順利推進(jìn)下，中國正在搭建陸上“絲綢之路”和“海上絲綢之路”，以與沿線60多個(gè)國家建立聯(lián)系。

4. 中國迎來機(jī)器人時(shí)代

雖然人工智能系統(tǒng)“天網(wǎng)”統(tǒng)治地球的那一天可能幾千年后才會(huì)出現(xiàn)，但如今中國的許多產(chǎn)業(yè)都正在步入機(jī)器人時(shí)代！機(jī)器人可以做稅務(wù)工作、做外科手術(shù)、做彈藥廠的危險(xiǎn)工作，甚至還可以化身可愛的小幫手——在銀行的等候區(qū)游走，為顧客提供服務(wù)，和顧客聊天解悶。

然而，中國目前仍是勞動(dòng)密集型國家，勞動(dòng)力依然相對(duì)廉價(jià)，限制了機(jī)器人的大范圍推廣。發(fā)達(dá)國家許多可以由機(jī)器完成的工作，在中國仍依靠大量人力完成，例如：農(nóng)業(yè)種植、工廠加工、建筑施工、收費(fèi)站售票等。

5. 脫貧指日可待

過去五年，中國已經(jīng)讓6800萬人擺脫了貧困。中國已設(shè)定目標(biāo)，在2020年實(shí)現(xiàn)全民脫貧。

對(duì)生活在中國貧困小地方的人們來說，有一個(gè)重要的福利：如今許多古鎮(zhèn)都獲得投資，興建了旅游基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，使當(dāng)?shù)鼐用窦饶軓闹袙赍X，又能保護(hù)當(dāng)?shù)氐臍v史文化。

6. 微信無“微”不至

微信自2011年推出以來，已然成為現(xiàn)代中國的一個(gè)全能工具。入境中國前，務(wù)必下載這個(gè)應(yīng)用程序——它可是深受中國9.8億活躍用戶青睞的通信工具。

有3億微信用戶的賬號(hào)綁定了信用卡，這些用戶可以通過第三方小程序插件讓食品、日用品和其他商品送貨上門，支付話費(fèi)、水電費(fèi)或其他賬單，甚至可以叫出租車。為了讓用戶可以輕松掃碼支付，微信甚至內(nèi)置了一個(gè)二維碼掃描軟件。

7. 二維碼無處不在

在中國，付錢和獲取信息有一種簡潔小巧的形式——二維碼。在西方，二維碼從來不是很流行，在中國，二維碼則是一種生活方式——從獲取他人的聯(lián)系方式、關(guān)注喜歡的出版物，到點(diǎn)餐或付賬單。

如果走在街上，看到一位滿臉皺紋的老大爺售賣著一些當(dāng)?shù)氐闹袊〕?，你肯定也?huì)在其攤位看到一個(gè)可供手機(jī)掃碼支付的二維碼！

8. 共享經(jīng)濟(jì)蓬勃發(fā)展

還記得剛才提到的那些二維碼吧，它們的作用還多著呢。在中國，共享經(jīng)濟(jì)非常龐大，幾乎任何東西都可以共享。但目前市場最火的還是共享交通。

只要簡單掃描一下，便可以騎著共享單車前往目的地。出地鐵后15分鐘漫長的步行就此變成了5分鐘輕快的騎行，周末還可以和朋友們一起在城市中“共享騎樂”。中國的共享經(jīng)濟(jì)價(jià)值5500億美元，有超過6億人參與其中，前途一片大好。

9. 中國打車有滴滴

2012年6月，推出中國打車應(yīng)用軟件“滴滴出行”（簡稱“滴滴”）的公司成立，該公司是唯一一家同時(shí)獲得阿里巴巴、騰訊和百度這三大互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭投資的公司，也是全球最具價(jià)值的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。

滴滴的界面和Uber或Lyft相似，用戶只需輸入位置和目的地，幾分鐘后即可出發(fā)。除了常規(guī)的打車服務(wù)外，客戶還可以選擇豪華車、機(jī)場接送、全天租車和包車等服務(wù)。此外，2017年滴滴還新增了英文界面，方便越來越多在中國生活和游覽的人使用。

10. 中國的生活豐富多彩

雖然可以在北京、上海等中國大城市奢華的米其林星級(jí)餐廳用餐，但其實(shí)中國每個(gè)地方都有其根深蒂固的文化。

從北京市中心出發(fā)，駕車一個(gè)多小時(shí)就可踏入中國農(nóng)村，游覽古村落，甚至入住民宿，體驗(yàn)更多的傳統(tǒng)文化。

在中國，你可以看到一輛特斯拉疾馳而過，同時(shí)又能花不到一美元就買到街邊小攤的手工餃子。

盡管這個(gè)幅員遼闊的國家有很多地方都變得現(xiàn)代化，但仍存在著一些尚未開發(fā)的原生態(tài)地區(qū)，那些地方可能是休閑度假的好去處。

（譯者單位：江西科技學(xué)院）