En L’an 2000 – the electric train to China

A very quirky article in the British press regarding a series of nineteenth century French postcards produced between 1899 and 1910 in which French artists were asked to envisage the year 2000 in Paris. You can see many of the cards here. Some are a bit bonkers – underwater croquet, tame whales, firemen with wings instead of ladders to get to high buildings…but others are rather prescient – headphones, computer labs for teaching etc. One may be of rather more interest to China Rhyming regulars as it features a design for a fast electric train, possibly indicating that the train could go all the way to China – and indeed a Chinese man is shown about to board presumably to go all the way home. We’re still  a good way from the much talked about Iron Silk Road from China to Europe but the idea has clearly been around a long time!