The well-known “new great inventions” of modern China have made our daily lives more convenient.

High-speed trains

China created its first high-speed railway line in 2008. Since then, the number of passenger trips has grown by over 30 percent every year. By 2016, more than 5 billion trips had been taken on the trains. By 2020, one-fifth of the country’s 150, 000-km railway network will be used by the trains. This network will link more than 80 percent of the major cities across China.

Mobile payment

Mobile payment is turning China into a “cashless society”. Instead of paying by cash, customers now pay for their goods and some kinds of bills simply by typing a short password into the Alipay or Wechat app on their mobile phones.

Shared bikes

China has surprised the world with how quickly shared bikes are widely used. Nowadays, bike users can simply pick up or park the bikes on the street through GPS and smartphone apps. China’s two leading bike-sharing companies, Mobike and Ofo, have been opening their overseas markets in Singapore, the UK and the USA.

Online shopping

With around 751 million Internet users, China has been the world’s largest and fastest-growing online shopping market. Because of lower costs and fewer licensing requirements, it’s easier for sellers to open an online shop in China. In 2016, more than 20 million jobs in rural areas were created, with over 8.1 million running their own online shops.

The most popular food in America was invented because a cook got angry. George Crum was a cook at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. One day in 1853, a customer (顾客) who had ordered fried (油炸的) potatoes sent them back to the kitchen. He wanted the cook to slice (切) them thinner and fry them longer. George Crum had a bad temper (脾气), and he thought the potatoes were fine the way he made them. To teach the customer a lesson, he sliced potatoes very thin and fried them until they were crispy (脆的). But instead of being angry, the customer loved the new fried potatoes. He asked for more. Other people who tried them like them too, and customers kept asking for them. Far many years, people called them Saratoga chips after the town where they were first made.

Even now, after more than 150 years, potato chips are very popular. At least one of every ten potatoes grown in the United States is made into potato chips. So if you like potato chips, be glad George Crum had a bad temper!

Xiaofan, a smart boy from Shenzhen, used to have difficulty in getting up on time, and his alarm clock was of no use at all. It made him upset. One day, he had a good idea.

Xiaofan went to a shop and bought a tape. Back home, he started to record what he wanted. After that, he took out a tool box and connected his tape player with the new tape to his alarm clock. A special alarm clock was born. At a certain time in the morning, the tape player would play soft music with a low and sweet voice of a young girl, “Wake up, please.” Five minutes later, the tape player would play again, and it might be loud music. At the same time, he could hear a recording of his parent, “Wake up at once, or you’ll be late!”

Several days later, Xiaofan got used to the sound of the recordings. After the recordings, he was still sleepy, and even fell asleep again. That was terrible! So he went to the library and borrowed plenty of books home to deal with his problem of getting up late.

He made it! With the help of what he had learned from the books, he put a mechanical (机械学) arm at the end of the bed. Now if Xiaofan still doesn’t get up at last, the arm in the bed will “beat” him, and even make him out of the bed.

The special bed with a mechanical arm helps Xiaofan a lot, but it is not sold in stores.