Wang Fuchun's black-and-white photographs reveal the lives of passengers on trains. [Photo by Wang Fuchun/provided to China Daily]

That optimism is rooted in Wang's childhood.

After losing both of his parents at a very young age, Wang was raised by his brother, who was working in the railway system, and his sister-in-law.

Although poor and with five children of their own to raise, they insisted on sponsoring Wang through a railway driver's school.

After five years' service in the military, Wang became a railway worker. Soon after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), he started photographing the railways and trains.

With the privilege of free train travel as a railway employee, Wang traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and preserved tens of thousands of negative films through the 1990s. He might have traveled more than 100 times a year.

Wang's long-lasting attachment and deep affection for China's railways form the constant and primary motive for his 39 years' persistence.