Binhai Railway Station Tianjin 2018 [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

Trying to purchase a train ticket could be very difficult, indeed often impossible. They could mostly only be obtained by personally going to the ticket hall, which for a foreigner with practically no Chinese and certainly no Cantonese was daunting. Online facilities did not exist so there was no way of knowing in advance if any tickets would be available. At Guangzhou there would be different windows for different trains with the crowds very large and unfortunately no air-conditioning! Amazingly with perseverance and carrying notes written for me by friends in Chinese, I would celebrate when obtaining that prized ticket! Ironically I discovered much later there was a special window at that railway station for people from Hong Kong, Macau and foreigner visitors who at that time mostly had to pay in FEC (Foreign Exchange Certificates) or Hong Kong Dollars.