Unfortunately, the cargo transportation was completely paralyzed due to the "Cultural Revolution" since 1966 and not resumed until 1973. Shen took up the job of dispatching trains since 1973 and was responsible for overseeing three railway lines to Beijing, Pingxiang in south Guangxi and Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province. After that, he worked in various departments until he retired in 2003. In total, Shen spent 35 years working with the Nanning railways.

Shen illustrated the importance of the railways by giving an example. "In 1989, we started to construct the Nanning-Kunming Railway. In the railroad route, the way from Guizhou Province to Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, went through a poor mountainous area, where people lived a primitive life. If they wanted to get rich, they had to build roads for transportation. Thanks to the completion of the Nanning-Kunming Railway, minerals, coal and wood could finally be transported outside the poor mountains. Since then, people have become richer and started dressing nicer." The Nanning-Kunming Railway was put into use in 1997.

Moreover, Shen said the work environment has changed a lot. In regions where the temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius, workplaces are all air-conditioned, with air-conditioners also installed in waiting rooms.

As for personal life changes, Mr. Shen told the following story:

"In the 1970s, we could only buy daily necessities if we had a certificate. I bought a bike in 1974 and a Mitsubishi black-and-white TV set in 1975, which took me two years to pay off. But around 1980, a sea change took place in my life, as both life and my work environment improved. From 1986 in particular, my salary increased significantly. We started to receive bonuses and allowances, and I could earn 200 to 300 yuan (about $117 to $176) a month. By the 1990s, everyone in my family was employed, which made our lives much easier. In 1991, we moved into a 60-square-meter two-bedroom apartment, whereas before, we four adults were crowded into a one-bedroom apartment less than 40 square meters. By 2000, I could travel anywhere. I retired in 2003 and moved into a 100-square-meter house with a monthly pension of more than 3,000 yuan (about $430). At present, my life is very regular. I go out for a walk with my wife at 6:30 a.m. and play volleyball with other senior citizens. After that, we go to the supermarket to buy vegetables and make lunch. We take a nap and then take a walk after dinner. It has become our routine now."

"I hope my wife and I are healthy and can live in the way we like," he told Beijing Review with a big smile.

Guo Xian'an, 71, and Zhu Shoukang, 62, middle school teachers

The precursor of the No.3 Middle School in Nanning was a lecture hall built in 1897 at the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The school was selected as a key middle school in 1953, and has since cultivated many social elites.

Guo Xian'an (MIAO XIAOYANG)

Guo Xian'an was born in Xiangtan, central China's Hunan Province and enrolled in Guilin Normal University after she finished senior high school. She was dispatched to the No.3 Middle School in 1960.

In the past, transportation was extremely inconvenient and Guo could only go to school on foot. She said her students had undergone lots of hardships. Back then, the vacant field between classroom buildings was used to plant vegetables, and each class had one piece of land where students worked each Saturday. They also raised chickens and pigs for use in the school cafeteria.

Classes were suspended during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976). In 1977, when China resumed the nationwide college entrance examination, eight students from No.3 Middle School were accepted by Peking University and Tsinghua University, the country's top two universities.

Guo said the students in the 1980s were very ardent learners, since many of them hadn't had the opportunity to learn during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976). "They knew what and why they wanted to learn," said Guo.

Zhu Shoukang began teaching at the same school in 1992. He said the students in the 1990s were not much different compared with those in the 1980s, but things changed when the Internet appeared and many students became addicted to online games. Upon realizing the enormous impact the Internet might have on children, the government established rules that banned teenagers from Internet bars.

Fang Jieling, who has been the school's president since 2001, pointed out another phenomenon. "The number of children from single-parent families is increasing, and their parents' divorce has a big impact on their conduct and personality," Fang said.

Fang said that in the past seven years the school has sponsored 30 students from poor families but with great potential. Each student receives a 4,000-yuan ($586) stipend each year from the school's alumni foundation. Moreover, the school continues to subsidize these students during their first year of university. Most of the time, the students from poor families are very sensitive and seldom mention their financial situation. School officials have to seek them out. They keep an eye on how much money each student spends on meals, and administrators will contact eligible children and grant them the stipend on the condition that only the student's head teacher knows in an effort to protect the student's privacy.

Over the past 60 years, the younger generation of Chinese people has gone through a sea change. They have moved from studying on a self-sufficient campus to studying in an Internet-connected world and from living in a poverty-stricken nation to living in a society rich in all kinds of resources.

The future Nanning: Harmony is paramount

Though some people might say Nanning's development speed isn't fast enough compared with other Chinese cities, Nanning has certain advantages. For instance, it has no big-city problems like environmental pollution. Nanning should take advantage of being the host city of the China-ASEAN Expo and strive to develop into an internationally recognized city.

The author is a Japanese living in Beijing