A Cup of Fresh Durian Coffee: The New Shu Road Comes to Life

BEIJING, Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from China.org.cn on the the New Shu Road:

Have you ever seen durian coffee brewed right inside a fresh durian?

This one-of-a-kind durian coffee has recently taken young people by storm at the Chengdu International Railway Port.

You may be even more surprised to learn these durians were still hanging on the trees just five days ago. Five days later, they "rode" more than 2,000 kilometers via the China-Laos-Thailand all-rail-cold-chain freight service, traveling straight from major growing areas in eastern Thailand to the imported durian distribution center inside the Chengdu-Eurasia National (Commodity) Pavilion in the Chengdu International Railway Port.

Thanks to this regular cold-chain rail route that delivers goods efficiently with minimal damage, and in seamless container journeys, tropical Southeast Asian fruits that once commanded steep prices — such as Vietnamese longans and Lao mangosteens — now reach Chinese consumers at lower prices and in better condition.

If you look at the transport route map of Chengdu International Railway Port, every shipping line runs like a blood vessel, pumping steady vitality into countries and cities along the way.

Since the first Chengdu-Europe Express Rail pulled out of Chengdu bound for Lodz, Poland, back in 2013, the Chengdu-Eurasia international logistics corridor centered on Chengdu has expanded steadily over more than a decade. More than 100 cities at home and abroad, including Moscow, Lodz, Vientiane, Hanoi and Izmir, have joined the network one after another. A land-sea intermodal shipping network focused on overland rail now connects Europe, Asia and North America, together with a backbone network of air cargo routes, has gradually taken shape.

Today's sophisticated transport network stands in stark contrast to the region's isolation in ancient times. To reach the Shu lands (the Sichuan Basin around present-day Chengdu), travelers had to cross the formidable Qinling and Daba mountain ranges. The great Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai once sighed, "The road to Shu is harder than climbing to the sky." The Italian explorer Marco Polo also wrote in his travelogue that traversing the Shu Road took twenty days, with winding paths snaking through mountains, gorges and dense forests.

That is why inland western Chinese cities like Chengdu needed an efficient, stable international logistics corridor to break the shackles holding back development. No matter how hard the ancient Shu Road once was, a new thoroughfare had to be built.

After years of infrastructure construction and strategic planning of international logistics corridors, the New Shu Road is fully open and efficient. Today, setting out from Chengdu, you can "roam" the Eurasian continent in just 20 days: Around 12 days by China-Europe Railway Express to Lodz and Moscow; Around 14 days to Nuremberg and Tilburg; Roughly 3 days to Laos and 5 days to Thailand via the all-rail freight line covering China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia; And a mere 10 days to travel all across ASEAN via the ASEAN land-sea intermodal transport route.

The smooth New Shu Road has turned into a global "conveyor belt" for the flow of goods. New energy products and specialty agricultural products "Made in Chengdu" and "Made in China" are constantly shipped overseas. Meanwhile, French red wine, German automobiles and other commodities pass through Chengdu to reach inland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, as well as Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. In the first half of this year, Chengdu's total import and export volume of goods hit 440.67 billion yuan.

Transportation is no longer a constraint on local development — instead, it has become a force that nourishes and propels regional growth. Chengdu once relied heavily on traditional heavy industry, but the China-Europe Railway Express has rapidly opened it up to the outside world and driven industrial upgrading. This positive impact has spilled over to many more regions along the routes. For example, Malaszewicze, a small Polish border town, has grown into a key EU logistics hub thanks to the railway service.

In ancient times, the Shu Road was hard, because mountains and passes stood in the way. Today, the new Shu Road stretches far and wide, connecting China with the rest of the world.

The ever-improving New Shu Road brings impetus for high-standard opening-up to China's western hinterland, offering richer opportunities for all countries, cities and enterprises along the routes, and delivering tangible benefits to people everywhere — just like that fresh cup of durian coffee.

China Mosaic

http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm

SOURCE China.org.cn