You're going long distance I think it's better you can take a sleeper train. It's going to be busy so you'll have to buy your ticket in advance. Sitting trains are going to be overcrowded now and you'll be lucky to get breathing space never mind a seat.

You can get a sleeper train to Wuhan, then the high speed train from wuhan to guangzhou. Then another comfortable high speed train from guangzhou to hong kong. So the first part is really your only worry. Take about 24 hours.

In China trains are always crowded, so you need to make sure that you are ready before start. Even the train stations are really crowded and noisy! However, if you choose a sleeper, that would be better anyway.

I think train from Beijing to Kong Kong will take about 23 hours and ticket should cost around 500 RMB for a hard sleeper.

just take a plane

dont bother taking a train,. its a big mess. take a flight

If you can bear the mess on the train,then i recommend you take the sleeper.You can also take the VIP just expect lot of farts from the big stomach chinese..But apart from that,The trains in china are really bad..Better take flight/sleeper to changsha,then speed train to Guangzhou and and another speed train to shenzhen,dont take the luohu border,always more than busy,you can take Futia or Huanguan ke an border.Goodluck and enjoy your Holidays.

Today they are not so good.

Train collision in China kills 32, injures 191

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/train-collision-in-china-1038575.html

just take the plain

Where can we get the plain?

I LOVE taking the train in China, Europe, USA... I highly reccommend the train. It is such a wonderful experience. Just make sure you budget time for waiting in the queue for buying the tickets.. Soft sleeper/hard sleeper.. both have pro's and con's. I've taken the train from Chengdu to Inner Mongolia. 38 hours of hell.. but I have some really great stories out of that trip! Beijing-Guangzhou.. 24 hours.. would have missed out on some great moments if I'd taken the plane instead. Harbin-Chengdu 36 hours of relaxing time to read and catch up with the person I travelled with. Good times!

Don't let people tell you taking the train is a waste or that it's a mess..These people can probably not handle a squat toilet either and hold it in until they get back to their westernized apartment. It's a China experience you don't want to miss!

I also love the train. Yes as a middle aged Australian there are some aspects that are a bit inconvenient such as the squat toilets but overall I have had some great experieces on trains. The major attractions to me are the fact that I get to see parts of the countryside that i would miss on the plane and get to interact with some of the local people although for much of this things have to be generally translated by my Chinese born partner. I recall on a train trip from Wuyi Shan to Fuzou having a local man break out his wonderful tea lit and sharing with me. From Xiamen to Wuyi on an overnight hard sleeper sharing food beer and wonderful times with the other 2 couples in our 6 berth area. Also love the modern bullet trains. Yes you will have to put up with crowds etc at times but it is all part of the great experience of absorbing and trying to get an understanding from another culture. I aim to see a lot more of the Chinese rail system in the future with Beijing-Shanghai and the train to Lhasa on my list of must do's.

I heard you need to watch your luggage on the train. Poutine if you got a hard sleeper then you could have your own private dance party room, Because the train is moving and shaking the dancer will look like they have been drinking,, so if you are drinking i don't know what the hell the dancer will look like, but should be fun,, high 5 spin around on fast moving shaking jierateing train.

And the train has the rhythm (< yes spelled right looks weird),,the steady ta ta ta a of the train tracks, you can just feel the beat with the shaking and jierating of the train, I wish I could join you ,,but I get motion sickness.

There is a direct Beijing - Hong Kong train.  It operates every other day.  It arrives at Kowloon Station in Hong Kong and departs from Beijing West Station in the capital.

Chinese trains are great -- really they are -- just not "hard seat" unless you are really broke or there is only "hard seat" available on your run.  The "D" and "E" trains are superfast, even though they have been slowed down a bit a now.

The sleepers are either hard sleeper, which is open to the corridor, six to a compartment, and soft sleeper, which is four to a compartment and quite nice.  Soft sleeper is almost as expensive as flying but most of the time it's a far more relaxing journey than taking the plane.

On the newer trains, if the hard sleeper cars the newer cars, they are often just, just as nice as the soft sleeper cars and in some cases, better maintained.

Dining cars on the long distance trains are really quite nice and food can be prepared on a made-to-order basis.