A post on China's SNS Xiaohongshu (RED) titled 'Taking the high-speed rail now is truly terrible' garnered nearly 600 comments, leading to a significant response.

The female poster, a resident of Jiangsu Province, uploaded photos taken inside a Chinese high-speed train, complaining about the high-speed rail: 'People don't queue at the ticket gate, they don't queue when boarding the train, they just cut in wherever they please.' 'Even if someone is smoking on the platform, announcements merely ask them to refrain. There's no one (staff) to actually stop them. The 'silent car' is a mere formality, and people openly play sounds from their smartphones.'

This post sparked a significant reaction, with users commenting: 'The civility of the people is declining year by year along with the economic downturn.' 'That's right. It's been particularly noticeable in the last 2-3 years.' 'I really hate people who play sounds from their smartphones.' 'When I return from Japan, I get frustrated (by the difference in people's morals).' 'When high-speed rail first appeared, everyone felt it was somehow grand and behaved quietly, but now that it's become common, everyone has no reservations.' 'It was upgraded from the old green-skin trains (ordinary trains) to high-speed rail, but the quality of the passengers hasn't changed.' 'Current high-speed rail, apart from speed and price, is increasingly resembling green-skin trains (crying).'

Furthermore, complaints about odor were particularly common, with a flurry of comments such as: 'And now the high-speed rail stinks.' 'The interior of the train is incredibly smelly.' 'The hygiene is terrible. When I rode it on the weekend, there was an indescribable sour smell.' 'Morals come later. The worst thing is the smell, like a rotten wet mop. The smell of sweat, the smell of feet, and the smell of food are all mixed together; it's just plain stinky.' Other comments included: 'After riding, my sneezing and nasal congestion got terrible. I thought it was dust on the seats, and when I wore a mask, it worked wonders!' and 'When it comes to ruining something, (Chinese people) are experts among experts.'

In addition, one user pointed out a structural problem: 'There are too many people, so the quality of passengers varies greatly. (The railway authorities) allocate little money to the front lines, leading to staff shortages and slapdash work. Since frontline staff lack support, they are forced to turn a blind eye to many incidents (passengers' bad manners).' (Translation/Editing by Kitada)