Lai See | The Luziyao pickled fish express is about to depart

The mainland's state-controlled railways are becoming increasingly commercial these days and are now selling naming rights for their high-speed trains. An interesting range of entities have opted to fork out the not inconsiderable annual fee of up to 12 million yuan (HK$15 million), AFP reports, citing the . China Unicom, Bank of China, and a food company, Luziyao - whose products include nuts and pickled fish - have trains named after them. A city outside Beijing extolled its natural beauty by naming a train "Grand Rivers and Mountains Zhangjiakou".

The move to offer naming rights was prompted by the need to generate revenue, since the railway operators are now responsible for their own profits and losses.

Cathay Pacific wasn't the only Hong Kong airline to emerge from the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards with a "World Best" accolade. Hong Kong Airlines was acclaimed as the World's Most Improved Airline.

We are tempted to say it may not have been hard to achieve that distinction since it started from, shall we say, a somewhat low base. Indeed two years ago it was shocking, with a litany of complaints being directed to about poor service, such as putting the wrong departure time on tickets, forcing disgruntled passengers to go to the small claims court, and arbitrarily cancelling flights.