BRIEF INTRODUCTION

I. Data in this chapter cover mainly the basic conditions of the development of transportation, post and telecommunications in China.

Data of transport cover mainly the length of the routes of five means of transportation, the ownership of the transport equipment, the technological quality, the freight traffic and passenger traffic accomplished by various means of transportation, the composition of the fixed assets and main financial conditions in the railway transport, the length of major ports and the situation of births, and cargo handled at principal sea ports.

Data of post and telecommunications cover mainly the situation of post and telecommunications offices and postal routes, the telephone lines, telegraph lines and the ownership of the telecommunication facilities, the principal postal and telecommunications services rendered, main financial indicators of postal and telecommunications enterprises, and the level of the development of the postal and telecommunications services, etc.

II. Data in this chapter are prepared and edited by the Department of Industrial and Transport Statistics, NBS. Data on transport come from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Communications, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Ministry of Public Security, China National Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation Group, China Petrochemical Corporation Group and statistical bureaus of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. Data on posts and telecommunications come from the Ministry of Information Industry.

III. The statistical coverage and statistical units of the various data:

(1) Data on railways cover the operation and management of the national and local railways, not including the railways for military purpose, industrial lines and special railways. The data on the operation and management of the national railways come from the railway sub-bureaus and the transport enterprises subordinate to them. The data on the operation and management of local railways come from the provincial administrative departments of the local railways, and are collected by the China Association of Local Railways.

(2) Data on highways, waterways and ports: The length of highways and waterways refer to the length open to traffic or navigation at the end of the year, not including the highways and waterways under construction but not officially put into use. The data mentioned above are provided by the Ministry of Communications. The data on the ownership of the highway vehicles are provided by the divisions of vehicle management under the provincial departments of public security, subordinate to the Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, to the provincial statistical bureaus. The data on the ownership of ships are provided by the divisions of navigation or ports management under the provincial departments of communications, subordinate to the Ministry of Communications, to the provincial statistical bureaus. The provincial statistical bureaus examined, processed and tabulated the data. The data on the passenger traffic and freight traffic by highways and waterways are collected and prepared separately by the Ministry of Communications and the National Bureau of Statistics in accordance with the “Provisions on the Statistical Work of the Whole Trades of Highway and Waterway Transport”, jointly issued by the Ministry of Communications and the National Bureau of Statistics in 1992. The statistical data of the whole trades of highway and waterway transport are collected by the method of complete enumeration and the method of sample survey. Statistical coverage: All the units and individuals (including joint-households) registered in the People’s Republic of China and engaged in highway or waterway freight or passenger transport business or those engaged in non-business freight or passenger transport within the boundary of the People’s Republic of China, whatever their subordinate relationships and ownership are, are included in the coverage of transport statistics. The Ministry of Communications is responsible for collecting the statistical data on the handling capacity of the seaports and inland river ports and the volume of freight handled.

(3) Data on the pipeline transport: The statistics of pipeline transport cover the length, transport capacity and the volume transported of the petroleum (crude oil) pipelines, petroleum products (refined oil) pipelines, natural gas pipelines and other gas pipelines. The coverage of statistics of pipeline transport includes the pipelines leading directly from the enterprises of oil fields or gas fields to the users such as refineries, chemical plants, power stations, etc. and to the loading stations and ports or piers, the petroleum products pipelines leading from the refineries to the users (including the oil depots of the commercial oil companies) and the pipelines leading from the enterprises engaged in pipeline transport with independent accounting system to the users and causeways and ports or piers. The data sources of the pipeline transport statistics are mainly the enterprises engaged in the pipeline transport subordinate to the China National Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation Group and China Petrochemical Corporation Group. The two corporations collect and examine the statistical data from the units subordinate to them respectively.

(4) Data on the civil aviation transport: The statistical units of the civil aviation transport include the enterprises engaged in the civil aviation transport flights and flights for general purpose, including the enterprises directly under the Civil Aviation Administration of China or not under the CAAC, but excluding the foreign companies. The statistical data cover the air lines and transport volume of the domestic transport, the transport between China mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the international transport engaged by the air companies as well as the composition of aircraft; the statistical data also cover the data on the operation and performance of the civil aviation. The data are collected from the domestic air companies and civil aviation airports by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

(5) Data on post and telecommunications: The business volume of post and telecommunications is classified by business area into the domestic volume, the volume between China mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and the international volume. The business volume of post and telecommunications is also classified by administration into the volume accomplished by the enterprises subordinate to the central government and the volume accomplished by the enterprises subordinate to the local governments. All the data are the data of the public network administered by the department of post and telecommunications, excluding the data of the public network and the special network administered by the departments other than post and telecommunications. The data come from the post and telecommunications offices and enterprises of telecommunications subordinate to the provincial departments of posts and telecommunications. The Ministry of Information Industry is responsible for collecting such data.