China train crash prompts anger at reckless growth

The crash is especially sensitive for communist leaders because it hurt members of China’s urban middle class, who are among the chief beneficiaries of the booming economy and an important base of support for the Communist Party’s continued monopoly on power.

The bullet train, based on German and Japanese systems, is one facet of far-reaching government technology ambitions that call for developing a civilian jetliner, a Chinese mobile phone standard and advances in areas from nuclear power to genetics.

Even before the crash, high-speed rail was a target for critics who said it was too expensive and unsuited to China, where GDP per person was $4,200 last year and many families live on less than that. They say the country’s poor majority need cheaper tickets, not record-setting speeds of 300 kph (190 mph) and above.

Plans call for the high-speed rail network to grow to 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) this year and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020. It is part of a building boom that has blanketed China with new highways, airports and other public works.

That has pushed investment as a share of China’s economy close to 50 percent, three to four times the level of the United States, Japan or other major economies. Analysts warn that is dangerously high and could leave China with a glut of unneeded assets and state-owned banks burdened with bad loans.

Yet the public backlash might give Beijing political ammunition against ambitious and big spending local leaders as it tries to reorient China’s economy away from reliance on exports and investment in favor of promoting cleaner, self-sustaining growth.

There are no signs the criticism is abating. China’s middle classes are informed, Internet-savvy and unlikely to swallow their anger despite a government order for state media to tone down negative coverage of the accident.

A search on Sina.com’s microblog site for the words “bullet train’’ and “crash’’ on Monday turned up more than 688,000 postings.