Talking points

The 2,298-kilometre Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, the world's longest high-speed line, opens on Boxing Day. Trains on the line run at an average speed of 300km/h, cutting the travelling time from 24 hours to about eight. A second-class ticket on the line, which passes through major cities, including Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha, costs 865 yuan (HK$1,062), and first class costs 1,388 yuan.

Funk, jazz and blues musician Eliana Burki brings one of the world's longest instruments to Hong Kong. Used by shepherds in the 15th century to communicate across the Alps, the four-metre-long alphorn is usually used to play folk tunes today, but the 29-year-old Swiss musician lends the rich timbre of the horn to blues and even Latino rhythms. Burki plays at New Town Plaza, Sha Tin, tonight.