How to recognize the profound impacts on the high-speed railway on the development of China and the world is always a matter of opinion. Throughout the development process of the China’s high-speed railway, what gives high-speed railway such vitality, is intriguing and thought-provoking. Meanwhile, the sustainability of high-speed rail is also a puzzle.

Professor DING Huiping's latest monograph Big Times, High Speed and Great Economic Strategy: The Sustainable Development of China's High-speed Railway Economy, has been published by China Financial and Economic Publishing House recently. After observation and reflection on the system basis, economic logic and market environment on which China's high-speed railways depend on survival and development for about 10 years, the author puts forward the view that "High-speed railways are both public welfare and commercials, and have the characteristics of the mixed economy." Based on the perspective of price and time selection, this paper puts forward the theory of "Traffic Demands Chromatogram”. It explains the market positioning of high-speed railway and the connotation of inclusive value to meet the rapid scale traffic demand. The book explores theoretically and practically how to balance the economic and social benefits of high-speed railway, which is a challenging world problem. It also explores how to find a balance between the positive external effects of high-speed railway and its economic sustainability, which remains to be solved in reality. It explores for different national environments, different political and economic systems. It answers the following questions about objective economic law: Why is there market space to support the development of high-speed railway and why there is soil for its survival? While it brings significant benefits for the society, why does it have its own operating losses and economic distress?

The book embodies the author's representative achievements on the exploration of high-speed rail economy in the past ten years. It is the first published work on the sustainable development of China's high-speed rail economy, and the field is also the focus on  attention all over the world. The book aims to popularize the economic knowledge of high-speed rail, explain the mission of high-speed rail and the value of universal benefits, and is a very readable intellectual book. Based on the principle of seeking truth on fact, I hope to share this book with the vast number of readers.

 About the author:

DING Huiping is a professor and doctoral supervisor at School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University and a Professor Emeritus in School of Business Administration, Duquesne University, USA, who won the first prize of China Railway Science and Technology and the second prize of National Excellent Teaching Materials. He is the prominent teacher of Beijing Jiaotong University, and director of Enterprise Competitiveness Research Center, Beijing Jiaotong University.