SHANGHAI, July 18, 2014

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China has started selling naming rights for its bullet trains to commercial sponsors, state media reported Wednesday, as it increasingly commercialises its state-controlled railway sector.

Passengers on a train in southern China recently found it had been named for "China Unicom", one of the country's three telecom service providers, the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said.

The Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, and a food company, Luziyao -- whose products include nuts and pickled fish -- had also named trains after themselves, the newspaper said.

A city outside Beijing extolled its natural beauty by naming a train "Grand Rivers and Mountains Zhangjiakou," it said.

A one-year sponsorship of a bullet train could cost 12 million yuan ($2 million), the Oriental Morning Post said, citing unnamed sources.

The move was driven by the fact that train operators were now accountable for their own profits and losses, sources told the Shanghai paper. Social media users have leaped on the marketing possibilities.AFP