Brief Introduction

I. Main Content

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 possession 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 berths, and cargo handled at principal sea ports.

Data of post and telecommunication cover mainly the situation of post and telecommunication offices and postal routes, the telephone lines, telegraph lines and the possession of the telecommunication facilities, the complete business volume of post and telecommunication services, and the development of the post and telecommunication services, etc.

 II. Coverage and Statistical Units

1. Data on railway transportation: including the operation and management of the national, local and joint-venture railways, not including the railways for military purpose, industrial lines and special railways. The data on the operation and management of the national railways and joint-venture railways come from the railway 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.

2. Data on highways, waterways and ports:  (1) 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 or not officially put into used ones. (2) The data on the possession of civil motor vehicles and number of drivers 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, not including those for military use. (3) The data on possession of 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, including vehicles for business use and non-business use. It is part of the civil motor vehicles. (4) The data on the possession of ships are provided by the divisions of navigation or ports management under the provincial departments of communications, subordinate to the Ministry of Communications, not including fishermen, ships for constructions in water and ships for military use. (5) 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. (6) The data on highway and waterway transportation are collected through comprehensive reporting system and non-comprehensive reporting system. The statistical coverage is all the enterprises and institutional 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. (7) The data on production capacity and handling capacity of the seaports and inland river ports are from the administrative record of local seaport management offices, with those registered enterprises and production units engaged in this field.

3. Data on the pipeline transport: The data on pipeline transport cover the length, transport capacity and the volume transported of the petroleum (crude oil) pipelines, petroleum products 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 civil aviation transport includes the enterprises engaged in the civil aviation transport flights, flights for general purpose and airports for civil aviation, excluding foreign companies’ flights within Chinese territory. The statistical data cover the air lines, length, 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, and condition of flights for general purpose.

5. Data on post and telecommunications: Data in this category include telecommunications and post services rendered to the public by telecommunications and postal enterprises, but exclude services provided through dedicated networks. The business volume of post and telecommunications is classified by nature into telecommunication service and postal service, and by customers into the domestic service, international service, and service between the mainland and Hong Kong, Macao (business volume of the service to Taiwan is covered in that for Hong Kong and Macao).

III. Sources of Data

Data in this chapter are arranged and compiled by Survey Centre for Service Industry, NBS. Data on transportation are from Ministry of Railway, Ministry of Communication, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Ministry of Public Security, China 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 post and telecommunication services come from Ministry of Information Industry and National Postal Office.