Zhang Xinyu (R), a descendant of Zhang Qian, writes homework onboard a train during a test run on the Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway, Nov. 25, 2017. Zhang Qian, a royal emissary in China's Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.), traveled westward on a mission of peace and opened an overland route linking the East and the West, a daring undertaking which came to be known as Zhang Qian's journey to the Western regions. The Xicheng high-speed railway linking Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, is estimated to be put into operation within this year. With a designed speed of 250 km per hour, it will slash the travel time between the two cities from the previous 16 hours. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)