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China TRANSPORTATION
Transportation is a major factor in China's national economy.
For most of the period since 1949, however, transportation occupied
a relatively low priority in China's national development.
Inadequate transportation systems hindered the movement of coal
from mine to user, the transportation of agricultural and light
industrial products from rural to urban areas, and the delivery of
imports and exports. As a result, the underdeveloped transportation
system constrained the pace of economic development throughout the
country. In the 1980s the updating of transportation systems was
given priority, and improvements were made throughout the
transportation sector
(see
fig. 16.)
In 1986 China's transportation system consisted of longdistance hauling by railroads and inland waterways and mediumdistance and rural transportation by trucks and buses on national
and provincial-level highways. Waterborne transportation dominated
freight traffic in east, central, and southwest China, along the
Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and its tributaries, and in Guangdong
Province and Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous Region, served by the Zhu
Jiang (Pearl River) system. All provinces, autonomous regions, and
special municipalities, with the exception of Xizang Autonomous
Region (Tibet), were linked by railroads. Many double-track lines,
electrified lines, special lines, and bridges were added to the
system. Subways were operating in Beijing and Tianjin, and
construction was being planned in other large cities. National
highways linked provincial-level capitals with Beijing and major
ports. Roads were built between large, medium, and small towns as
well as between towns and railroad connections. The maritime fleet
made hundreds of port calls in virtually all parts of the world,
but the inadequate port and harbor facilities at home still caused
major problems. Civil aviation underwent tremendous development
during the 1980s. Domestic and international air service was
greatly increased. In 1985 the transportation system handled 2.7
billion tons of goods. Of this, the railroads handled 1.3 billion
tons; highways handled 762 million tons; inland waterways handled
434 million tons; ocean shipping handled 65 million tons; and civil
airlines handled 195,000 tons. The 1985 volume of passenger traffic
was 428 billion passenger-kilometers. Of this, railroad traffic
accounted for 241.6 billion passenger-kilometers; road traffic, for
157.3 billion passenger-kilometers; waterway traffic, for 17.4
billion passenger-kilometers; and air traffic, for 11.7 billion
passenger-kilometers.
Ownership and control of the different elements of the
transportation system varied according to their roles and their
importance in the national economy. The railroads were owned by the
state and controlled by the Ministry of Railways. In 1986 a
contract system for the management of railroad lines was introduced
in China. Five-year contracts were signed between the ministry and
individual railroad bureaus that were given responsibility for
their profits and losses. The merchant fleet was operated by the
China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), a state-owned enterprise. The
national airline was run by the General Administration of Civil
Aviation of China (CAAC). Regional airlines were run by provinciallevel and municipal authorities. Highways and inland waterways were
the responsibilities of the Ministry of Communications. Trucking
and inland navigation were handled by government-operated
transportation departments as well as by private enterprises.
Transportation was designated a top priority in the Seventh
Five-Year Plan (1986-90). Under the plan, transportation-related
projects accounted for 39 of 190 priority projects. Because most
were long-term development projects, a large number were carried
over from 1985, and only a few new ones were added. The plan called
for an increase of approximately 30 percent in the volume of
various kinds of cargo transportation by 1990 over 1985 levels. So
each mode of transportation would have to increase its volume by
approximately 5.4 percent annually during the 5-year period. The
plan also called for updating passenger and freight transportation
and improving railroad, waterways, and air transportation. To
achieve these goals, the government planned to increase state and
local investment as well as to use private funds.
The Seventh Five-Year Plan gave top priority to increasing the
capacity of existing rail lines and, in particular, to improving
the coal transportation lines between Shanxi Province and other
provincial-level units and ports and to boosting total
transportation capacity to 230 million tons by 1990. Other targets
were the construction of 3,600 kilometers of new rail lines, the
double-tracking of 3,300 kilometers of existing lines, and the
electrification of 4,000 kilometers of existing lines.
Port construction also was listed as a priority project in the
plan. The combined accommodation capacity of ports was to be
increased by 200 million tons, as compared with 100 million tons
under the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1981-85). Priority also was given
to highway construction. China planned to build new highways and
rebuild existing highways to a total length of 140,000 kilometers.
At the end of the Seventh Five-Year Plan, the total length of
highways was to be increased to 1 million kilometers from the
existing 940,000 kilometers. Air passenger traffic was to be
increased by an average of 14.5 percent annually over the 5-year
period, and air transportation operations were to be decentralized.
Existing airports were to be upgraded and new ones built.
Data as of July 1987
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