A feasibility study is underway for a new high-speed rail line between Shanghai and Kunming, construction of which is expected to begin in 2009, according to Kunming media reports.

The new rail line, which is scheduled to be completed in 2015 – around the same time that the rail network linking Kunming and Singapore is hoped to be completed – will shorten the travel time between Shanghai and Kunming from 37 hours to less than nine hours.

The Shanghai-Kunming passenger line (沪昆客运专线) will connect Shanghai and Kunming via the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, passing through the major cities of Hangzhou, Nanchang and Changsha. Its target speed is reportedly 350 km/hr – compare to France's TGV and Japan's Shinkansen aka 'Bullet Train' which currently operate at 320 and 300 km/hr, respectively.

The cross-country line is part of a nationwide rail upgrade that has allocated 500 million yuan (US$73.2 million) in funds for Yunnan province alone.

According to China Rail Ministry plans, Yunnan will not only be on the receiving end of improved rail connectivity with central and eastern China over the next six to seven years, it will also improve its regional and internal rail network. Kunming Rail Ministry officials told local media that the following projects have also been approved:

• Lijiang to Shangri-la (Zhongdian): schedule yet to be made public

• Yunnan to Guilin – construction to start next year and finish in 2015

• A rail line around Dianchi Lake: scheduled for completion in 2010

• Guangtong to Dali: schedule yet to be made public

• Kunming to Yuxi: construction to start next year and finish in 2015

More than five decades after its initial discovery, an archeological site in Dali dating back more than 3,000 years ago is suspected of being the world's largest Neolithic dig, according to a China Daily report.

The site, located on the banks of Jian Lake in Jianchuan county, Dali prefecture, was first discovered in 1957 by workers digging a canal, but excavation at the site – which has to date yielded more than 3,000 artifacts – only began in earnest in January of this year.

In addition to pottery, iron implements and bones, the site features more than 2,000 wooden poles dug 4.5 meters into the ground.

"I was shocked when I first saw the site. I have never seen such a big and orderly one. This could be only a small fraction of the actual community that existed at the time," China Daily cited Yan Wenming, history professor at Peking University, as saying.

The Neolithic period began about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East and is considered to be the end of the Stone Age. It is marked by the emergence of rudimentary agriculture and ended with the appearance of metal tools, either bronze or iron, depending on the part of the world in question.

Yan said the site is already bigger than the Neolithic site at Hemudu in Zhejiang province, which is considered to be the cradle of the Yangtze River civilization. Other similar in China have also been found in Hubei and Guangdong provinces.

"Right now there is also such a site being excavated in Switzerland. But that site is smaller than the one in Yunnan. The Yunnan one could be the largest in the world," Yan said.

Twenty-eight excavations have been made at the Jianchuan site, covering a total of 1,360 square meters. Min Rui, a Yunnan Archaeological Institute researcher leading the excavation, said the area may eventually cover 4 square kilometers.

Image: China Daily