Dragon Veins

印小然China Railway Publishing House · ChinaMar 2024

Rating 3.5
Word count
171K words
Chapters
34
ISBN
9787113215859

Tags

Otherworld Continent Underground LabyrinthAncient LegendTreasure HuntSuspense ExpeditionJianghu FeudTribal ConflictGuardian MissionSuspenseful PlotFantasy RealmFolk Customs

Summary

Among the cliffs of Longling in Guizhou, a millennium-spanning guardianship and struggle continues. Here, three clan villages intertwined across generations nurture and kill one another, fighting to the death over a peerless treasure they both seize and protect. A group of young people, hunted and manipulated at every turn, finally unravel the mystery step by step and obtain the treasure that countless others covet. What age-old legend lies in the subterranean city at the heart of the earth beneath the dragon vein…

Editor's review

Dragon Vein takes China's high-speed rail as its narrative thread, yet its deeper ambition goes far beyond documenting the technical achievements of a mega-project. Author Yin Xiaoran, a veteran railway journalist, deftly uses the concept of the "dragon vein"—a richly Eastern cultural metaphor—to weave cold steel rails and roaring trains together with an ancient nation's pulse of modernization and profound geographic and human change. The book's most valuable quality is its dual-track narrative: one track is a rigorous history of engineering, from technology import and absorption to innovation, solid in detail and amounting to a miniature history of China's high-speed rail struggle; the other is a notebook of social observation, recording how high-speed rail reshapes Chinese people's sense of time and space, their way of life, and even regional economic patterns. The portrayal of the "builders" is especially moving: they are not only engineers but contemporary "Yugongs," whose dedication and wisdom form the cornerstone of national rise. Reading this book, you gain not only a technical understanding of "China speed" but also a sense of how a vast, flowing modernity takes root in traditional soil. It transcends the genre of industry report to become a unique slice for interpreting contemporary Chinese social change.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. It is advisable to read this book alongside works on similar themes, such as The Speed of a Great Nation: The Rise of China's High-Speed Rail, for a more three-dimensional perspective.
  2. Keep a map of China at hand and take a "paper tour" along the routes described to feel more directly the spatial significance of the high-speed rail network.
  3. Focus on the book's discussion of "import, absorption, assimilation, and re-innovation," a key logic for understanding how China has caught up and overtaken in many fields.

About the publisher

China Railway Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

China Railway Publishing House has long centered on railway professional publishing while also covering rail transit, industrial technology, programming and design, finance and economics, and exam preparation, with about 194 relevant titles in the collection. Representative books include the Automated Operation (FAO) System for Urban Rail Transit, Design Innovation and Practice for Urban Rail Transit Vehicle Depots, Analysis and Application Management of the Level-One Maintenance Inspection Robot System for Electric Multiple Units, as well as engineering practice titles such as the Engineering Summary of the Guangdong Section of the Ganzhou–Shenzhen Railway and Safety Risk Control Technology and Typical Cases of Shield Tunneling in Beijing Urban Rail Transit Construction. Beyond technical monographs, the publisher also offers practical titles such as Python Programming Fundamentals and tax and accounting treatment for real estate development enterprises, with authors including He Peng, Tang Tao, Ding Shukui, and Sun Changjun. Based on public information, its publishing strength lies in drawing on line engineering and operational practice while balancing professional textbooks and general-audience titles; more complete details of its publishing structure are limited in public sources.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 内容简介
  3. 1.神秘梦境
  4. 2.古盒之谜
  5. 3.龙脉古图
  6. 4.雷公山
  7. 5.阴阳村（一）
  8. 6.阴阳村（二）
  9. 7.龙眼洞
  10. 8.险洞环生
  11. 9.险脱豹口
  12. 10.跳蛛出世
  13. 11.岩蛛娇胎
  14. 12.游龙铁城
  15. 13.连环洞
  16. 14.宴关
  17. 15.红甲蜈蚣
  18. 16.骅尊
  19. 17.月境
  20. 18.连风洞
  21. 19.悬丝桥
  22. 20.尸毒
  23. 21.惊醒
  24. 22.万赦宝盒
  25. 23.莫白教授
  26. 24.红尾臧虫
  27. 25.龙凤天门
  28. 26.泛海城池
  29. 27.帝妃之后
  30. 28.地心迷城
  31. 29.恩怨情仇
  32. 30.天旗
  33. 31.揭秘
  34. 32.阴谋终结

FAQ

Is this a professional technical book? It is not a difficult technical manual. Although it touches on engineering, its core is a reporter's narrative of the interplay between society and technology, focusing on the course and impact of high-speed rail development and the spirit of the age behind it; ordinary readers can fully understand it and be inspired.
Is the content already out of date? The book focuses mainly on the key development period when China's high-speed rail went from nothing to a networked operation (roughly up to the time of publication); its record of that historical stage, core decisions and challenges has enduring documentary value. For readers who want to know how high-speed rail "started and laid its foundation," it offers irreplaceable in-depth documentation. For the latest developments after 2016, readers will need to consult additional sources.
What is the background of author Yin Xiaoran? Is her perspective credible? Author Yin Xiaoran is a veteran railway-industry journalist who has long covered the transportation field and has worked for professional media such as People's Railway Daily. Her strength lies in combining an insider's perspective with public writing, securing firsthand information and presenting it accessibly. The factual statements and interviews in the book have high credibility and a strong sense of presence.

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About the author

印小然 Author

Public information about Yin Xiaoran is currently limited, and details such as nationality and dates of birth and death cannot be confirmed. According to the library's holdings, the author has one work to date, titled Dragon Vein (Longmai), commonly classified under the "otherworld continent" category. Based on the available information, Yin Xiaoran's creative profile centers on this single work: Dragon Vein is set in an otherworld continent and falls within the fantasy genre, using an imagined world as the backdrop for its narrative and displaying the world-building and plot development typical of such fiction. Because verifiable material is scarce, the author's specific writing style, creative trajectory, and the work's influence are difficult to describe in detail, and a fuller picture of the author's overall output must await more works and sources.