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China Telecommunications Services
In 1987 the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
administered China's telecommunications systems and related
research and production facilities. Besides postal services, some
of which were handled by electronic means, the ministry was
involved in a wide spectrum of telephone, wire, telegraph, and
international communications
(see Postal Services
, this ch.). The
Ministry of Radio and Television was established as a separate
entity in 1982 to administer and upgrade the status of television
and radio broadcasting. Subordinate to this ministry were the
Central People's Broadcasting Station, Radio Beijing, and China
Central Television. Additionally, the various broadcasting
training, talent-search, research, publishing, and manufacturing
organizations were brought under the control of the Ministry of
Radio and Television. In 1986 responsibility for the movie industry
was transferred from the Ministry of Culture to the new Ministry of
Radio, Cinema, and Television
(see Contemporary Performing Arts
, ch. 4). The Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Department
coordinates the work of both telecommunications-related ministries.
As of 1987 the quality of telecommunications services in China
had improved markedly over earlier years. A considerable influx of
foreign technology and increased domestic production capabilities
had a major impact in the post-Mao period.
The primary form of telecommunications in the 1980s was local
and long-distance telephone service administered by six regional
bureaus: Beijing (north region), Shanghai (east region), Xi'an
(northwest region), Chengdu (southwest region), Wuhan (centralsouth region), and Shenyang (northeast region). These regional
headquarters served as switching centers for provincial-level
subsystems. By 1986 China had nearly 3 million telephone exchange
lines, including 34,000 long-distance exchange lines with direct,
automatic service to 24 cities. By late 1986 fiber optic
communications technology was being employed to relieve the strain
on existing telephone circuits. International service was routed
through overseas exchanges located in Beijing and Shanghai.
Guangdong Province had coaxial cable and microwave lines linking it
to Hong Kong and Macao.
The large, continuously upgraded satellite ground stations,
originally installed in 1972 to provide live coverage of the visits
to China by U.S. president Richard M. Nixon and Japanese prime
minister Kakuei Tanaka, still served as the base for China's
international satellite communications network in the mid-1980s. By
1977 China had joined Intelsat and, using ground stations in
Beijing and Shanghai, had linked up with satellites over the Indian
and Pacific oceans.
In April 1984 China launched an experimental communications
satellite for trial transmission of broadcasts, telegrams,
telephone calls, and facsimile, probably to remote areas of the
country. In February 1986 China launched its first fully
operational telecommunications and broadcast satellite. The quality
and communications capacity of the second satellite reportedly was
much greater than the first. In mid-1987 both satellites were still
functioning. With these satellites in place China's domestic
satellite communication network went into operation, facilitating
television and radio transmissions and providing direct-dial longdistance telephone, telegraph, and facsimile service. The network
had ground stations in Beijing, Urumqi, Hohhot, Lhasa, and
Guangzhou, which also were linked to an Intelsat satellite over the
Indian Ocean.
Telegraph development received lower priority than the
telephone network largely because of the difficulties involved in
transmitting the written Chinese language. Computer technology
gradually alleviated these problems and facilitated further growth
in this area. By 1983 China had nearly 10,000 telegraph cables and
telex lines transmitting over 170 million messages annually. Most
telegrams were transmitted by cables or by shortwave radio. Cutmicrowave transmission also was used. Teletype transmission was
used for messages at the international level, but some 40 percent
of county and municipal telegrams still were transmitted by Morse
code.
Apart from traditional telegraph and telephone services, China
also had facsimile, low-speed data-transmission, and computercontrolled telecommunications services. These included on-line
information retrieval terminals in Beijing, Changsha, and Baotou
that enabled international telecommunications networks to retrieve
news and scientific, technical, economic, and cultural information
from international sources.
High-speed newspaper-page-facsimile equipment and Chinesecharacter - code translation equipment were used on a large scale.
Sixty-four-channel program-controlled automatic message
retransmission equipment and low- or medium-speed data transmission
and exchange equipment also received extensive use. International
telex service was available in coastal cities and special economic
zones.
The Central People's Broadcasting Station controlled China's
national radio network. Programming was administered by the
provincial-level units. The station produced general news and
cultural and educational programs. It also provided programs for
minority groups in the Korean, Manchurian, Zang (Tibetan), Uygur,
and Kazak languages, as well as programs directed toward Taiwan and
overseas Chinese (see Glossary)
listeners. Radio Beijing broadcast
to the world in thirty-eight foreign languages,
putonghua (see Glossary),
and various dialects, including Amoy, Cantonese,
and Hakka. It also provided English-language news programs aimed at
foreign residents in Beijing. Medium-wave, shortwave, and FM
stations reached 80 percent of the country--over 160 radio stations
and 500 relay and transmission stations--with some 240 radio
programs.
The nationwide network of wire lines and loudspeakers
transmitted radio programs into virtually all rural communities and
many urban areas. By 1984 there were over 2,600 wired broadcasting
stations, extending radio transmissions to rural areas outside the
range of regular broadcasting stations.
In 1987 China Central Television (CCTV), the state network,
managed China's television programs. In 1985 consumers purchased 15
million new sets, including approximately 4 million color sets.
Production fell far short of demand. Because Chinese viewers often
gathered in large groups to watch publicly owned sets, authorities
estimated that two-thirds of the nation had access to television.
In 1987 there were about 70 million television sets, an average of
29 sets per 100 families. CCTV had four channels that supplied
programs to the over ninety television stations throughout the
country. Construction began on a major new CCTV studio in Beijing
in 1985. CCTV produced its own programs, a large portion of which
were educational, and the Television University in Beijing produced
three educational programs weekly. The English-language lesson was
the most popular program and had an estimated 5 to 6 million
viewers. Other programs included daily news, entertainment,
teleplays, and special programs. Foreign programs included films
and cartoons. Chinese viewers were particularly interested in
watching international news, sports, and drama
(see Contemporary Performing Arts
, ch. 4;
The Media
, ch. 10).
* * *
Descriptions of the evolving domestic and foreign trade systems
are found in a variety of periodicals, including China
Daily, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek,
China Trade Report, China Business Review, and
Beijing Review. Jean C. Oi's "Peasant Grain Marketing and
State Procurement: China's Grain Contracting System" provides a
good description of grain procurement and marketing. Useful
articles on foreign trade are "China's International Trade: Policy
and Organizational Change and Their Place in the `Economic
Readjustment'" by Y.Y. Kueh and Christopher Howe and "Understanding
Chinese Trade" by John Frankenstein. Valuable analyses of China's
economic reforms and their impact on domestic and foreign trade
appear in both volumes of the 1986 United States Congress Joint
Economic Committee's China's Economy Looks Toward the Year
2000 and in China's Economy and Foreign Trade, 1981-85
by Nai-Ruenn Chen and Jeffrey Lee. Transportation and
telecommunications developments are described in the periodicals
China Transport and China Business Review. (For
further information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1987
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