Passengers of the Tibetan ethnic group perfom on a train running on the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway, Dec. 28, 2016. China on Wednesday put into operation one of the world's longest high-speed railways, linking the country's prosperous eastern coast to the less-developed southwest. The Shanghai-Kunming line -- 2,252 km in length -- traverses the five provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan and cuts travel time from Shanghai to Kunming from 34 to 11 hours, according to China Railway Corporation. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)