A bullet train bearing a slogan to promote children's shoes produced in Wenling, a county-level city in Taizhou, began operating on March 9.

The high-speed train D3104 departed from Putian in Fujian province and passed by cities including Fuzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Hangzhou before ending at Shanghai.

According to Li Rong, deputy head of the Wenling Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, the route was selected to raise Wenling's awareness as a children's shoes' manufacturing hub among the cities it passes by.

Launching advertisements on bullet trains is part of Wenling's efforts to strengthen brand building.

In addition to the train body, the promotional slogans and a cartoon pattern featuring a lion cub sitting on a children's shoe rocket can be found all over the train, including windows, aisle light boxes, seat scarves, luggage racks and tray tables.

The annual output value of the children's shoes industry in Wenling currently stands at 10 billion yuan ($1.44 billion), accounting for one eighth of the nation's total.

Every year, Wenling sells nearly 400 million pairs of children's shoes – enough to fill 80 football fields when placed into containers – to companies all around the world.