Hi, I would like to find out how up to date these railway maps are?

It shows the latest update date is in Jan this year. When will you start this travel and what city you wanted to visit? Only Shanghai and HK or also some other cities along the way?

We want to start in Hong Kong and travel up.
It will be in December from the 15th till the 4th January.
Guangzhou
Guilin
Definitely want to go to Zhangjiajie
Maybe Wuhan
Chengdu
Xian
Zhengzhou (my brother is there)
Beijing and Shanghai.
This is just a rough idea of where we would like to go but it might seem too much. We don't have to go to all the cities
We just want to know what would be the best way to get around. Train vs flights?

General speaking, HK-Guangzhou-Guilin route are recommended to use rail service. For these short trips, high speed rail service is more convenient than flight. Guilin-Zhangjiajie-Wuhan, however, seems no direct rail and flight as well. If you do not mind of taking an overnight rail trip, a transfer at Changsha city by rail would be workable. If you do not like overnight rail service, you can also transfer to other city by flight.

Wuhan-Chengdu trip would be better if you use a flight which is much faster. High Speed rail service would be very good for Chengdu-Xian-Zhengzhou trip. For Zhengzhou-Beijing-Shanghai, both rail service and flight are Ok, maybe the price can be mainly considered.

Thank you so much Kimi
We don't mind using an overnight rail service. We would actually like to do that.
So could we take a train from Guilin to Changsha and then transfer from Changsha to Zhangjiajie?
Then would you recommend a flight from Zhangjiajie to Wuhan?
Is Wuhan worth visiting? I have only seen pictures and it looks absolutely stunning, as does every where else I've looked. We are just undecided about visiting there.

From Guilin to Changsha there are high speed rides, but from Changsha to Zhangjiajie only normal speed types are available. The, Zhangjiajie to Wuhan, no direct flight, direct rail service is availble. For the attractions in Wuhan, you could get more information in city guide, then make your decision.

Thank you Tim.

I als want to find out. Is there a train from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou? And a train from Jiuzhaigou to Xian?

It is a pity that there is no rail service in Jiuzhaigou. Flight and bus are only ways to in and out of Jiuzhaigou