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China has nothing comparable to the research, industrial and economic resources of the United States. Yet the Chinese are blowing us away in the technology race to the future

In China, 42 high-speed rail lines have opened or are set to open by 2012; the U.S. hopes to build its first high-speed line by 2014. The Chinese bullet train, which has the world's fastest average speed, travels 664 miles from Guangzhouon the coast to Wuhan, deep in the interior. In a little more than three hours. Travelling the same distance from Boston to southern Virginia, the train takes less time than Amtrak's fastest train, the Acela, takes to go from Boston to New York. By comparison, the United States hopes to build its first high-speed rail line by 2014 - linking only the 84 miles between Tampa and Orlando, Fla.