In Beijing the situation may be slightly better as all the major stations are not terminal stations (after 2015).
>>> I should had used stations instead of terminals in my original post, sorry for not native English.
I also don't think transiting between stations is particularly difficult, as in most situations there are massive transport lines (S-Bahn and U-Bahn, RER, metro...) connecting them.
for long distance travellers the mode switch is a massive hindrance. transferring from one train to another at the same station is a lot easier than having to leave the train station to enter local transport, and then transfer back to a train. that's two transfers in an unfamiliar city. it's just not practical.
in beijing getting from a long distance train on one station to one on another could easily take an hour, whereas a direct transfer if both trains are at the same station would take minutes. but that's an academic example because the chinese long distance rail system is not designed for transfers anyways. you would almost always get a direct train between major cities, unless you are going extremly far, like guangzhou to harbin. i don't remember ever having to transfer trains when traveling in china.
I also don't think transiting between stations is particularly difficult, as in most situations there are massive transport lines (S-Bahn and U-Bahn, RER, metro...) connecting them.