Brief Introduction

I. Main Contents

Data in this chapter present the development of transportation, post and telecommunications in China.

Data on transport cover mainly the length of the routes of five means of transportation, the possession of transport equipment, the condition of technological quality, 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 on post and telecommunications cover mainly the situation of post and telecommunication offices and postal routes; telephone lines, telegraph lines and the possession of telecommunication facilities; business volume of post and telecommunication services achieved; and the level of development of post and telecommunication services.

II. Scope of Statistics

1. Data on railway transportation: including the operation and management of the national, local and joint-venture railways but not including railways for military purpose, lines built by industrial and mining enterprises and special railways. Data on the operation and management of the national railways and joint-venture railways come from the railway bureaus and transport enterprises subordinate to them. Data on the operation and management of local railways come from the provincial administrative departments managing 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, but not including the highways and waterways under construction or not officially having been put into use. (2) Data on the possession of civil motor vehicles and the 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, but not including vehicles for military use. (3) Data on possession of highway vehicles are provided by the divisions of vehicle management under provincial departments of public security, which are subordinate to the Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security, including vehicles for business use and non-business use. These vehicles are part of the totality of civil motor vehicles. (4) Data on possession of ships are provided by the divisions of navigation or ports management under provincial departments of communications, which are subordinate to the Ministry of Communications. However, fishing boats, boats for constructions in water and boats for military use are not included. (5) Data on 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) Data on highway and waterway transportation are collected through both comprehensive reporting system and non-comprehensive reporting system. The statistical scope encompasses all the enterprises, 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) Data on production capacity and handling capacity of the seaports and inland river ports are compiled from administrative records of local seaport management offices on registered enterprises and production units engaged in this field.

3. Data on pipeline transport: The data on pipeline transport cover the length, transport capacity and the volume transported of petroleum (crude oil) pipelines, petroleum products pipelines, natural gas pipelines and other gas pipelines. In practical terms, included are pipelines leading directly from enterprises of oil fields or gas fields to users such as refineries, chemical plants, power stations, etc. and to loading stations and ports or piers; petroleum products pipelines leading from the refineries to 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 users and causeways and ports or piers. 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 submitted to them from the units subordinate to them respectively.

4. Data on civil aviation transport: The targets of statistical collection are enterprises registered for engagement in civil aviation transport flights and flights for general purposes and civil airports,, Excluded are foreign companies which operate flights within Chinese territory. The scope of statistics encompasses number of lines, mileage flown, transport volume, composition of the fleets and operational situation of the airlines in respect of domestic transport, transport between China mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and international transport. The statistical data also cover performance of general purpose flights, take-off and landing plane-times and volume of passenger and freight handled by civil airports.

5. Data on post and telecommunications: Data in this category include postal and telecommunication services rendered to the public by postal and telecommunication enterprises, but exclude services provided through dedicated networks. The business volume of post and telecommunications is classified by type of business into postal and telecommunication services, and by customers into 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 processed and compiled by the 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, the divisions of vehicle management under the provincial departments of public security, which are subordinate to the Traffic Management Bureau, Ministry of Public Security Data on post and telecommunication services come from the Ministry of Information Industry and the National Postal Office.