Ticket in hand, I arrived at Beijing West, a giant hulk of a railway station. In the morning chill, a crowd had gathered in front of the airport-style security gates for the luggage X-ray and passport inspection.

My guide, not being a ticket holder, could accompany me no further. “There will be 19 stops to Guilin,” he said, breath billowing white vapour around his head. “The longest will be nine minutes; the average just one or two. So please, do not get off.” Then, with a soft handshake, he was off.

The 1,956km journey from the capital to Guilin, the southwestern city whose karst mountains have made it one of China’s most popular tourist destinations, used to take 26 hours. But thanks to a new high-speed rail link, one of seven inaugurated at the end of December, it is now possible in just over 10.