Train photos sizzle on social media

High-speed trains wind through a sea of blooms when traveling in Beijing's Yanqing suburb. [Photo by Pan Zhiwang/China Daily]

A photographer's hot shots of a train bursting through blossoms are sizzling on social media and have compelled crowds to get on board to take the trip themselves. Yang Feiyue reports.

Photos of a high-speed train blasting through blazes of apricot flowers at Beijing's Juyongguan Pass have ignited a firestorm online.

Beijing Times photographer Pan Zhiwang snapped a few shots of a high-speed train that netizens say resemble a dragon winding through a sea of blooms when traveling in Beijing's Yanqing suburb during the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday.

Netizens affectionately nicknamed it "a train approaching spring".

Pan explains he knew there would be flowers because he reported on the district's 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid.

"Pink apricot blossoms filled the lowlands," Pan says.

He and his wife parked at the foot of the mountain and then hiked. Luck struck when the train happened to rush through the blooms.

The photographer was amazed when his photos rapidly received more than 50,000 responses after he uploaded them to his micro-blog and WeChat messaging accounts.

Pan traveled there to avoid holiday crowds. He later caused them.