The paper’s main concern with the hyperloop project is its practicality. It won’t be compatible with China’s existing high-speed rail network, which is already safe and mature. Huanqiu.com, owned by the state-run Global Times, said “we must remain calm”, warning that hyperloop is at a very early stage of development. Most people on Weibo and Zhihu, China’s Q&A site, expressed concerns about the cost to the local government, because it will bear half of the project’s financing.

Apparently that’s closely aligned with what Hyperloop wants. “We’ll have a lot of revenue there with a lot of tourists going to Guizhou, specifically to Tongren -- it’s one of the most touristy areas,” HyperloopTT’s CEO Dirk Ahlborn told CNBC, adding that it will be a commercial alliance and not a test trial.

However, because each capsule carries fewer than 40 people for a short ride of 10 kilometers, some say it should be called a “ Hyperloop amusement project”.

The Science and Technology Daily article also quotes people asking whether this will turn out to be another bust like last year’s much-hyped straddling bus, which was also built in a lower-tier city. That project aimed to ease traffic congestion with an elevated bus that ran above road traffic. Some people commented that it looked like the bus was eating cars. It was hailed as “the future of public transportation” when first revealed, but was eventually found to be a scam.