Railroads: total about 52,500 km common carrier lines; 600 km 1.000-meter gauge; rest 1.435-meter standard gauge; all single track except 9,400 km double track on standard-gauge lines; 4,400 km electrified; 10,000 km industrial lines (gauges range from 0.762 to 1.067 meters)

Highways: about 980,000 km all types roads; 162,000 km paved roads, 617,200 km gravel/improved earth roads, 200,800 km unimproved natural earth roads and tracks

Inland waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,500 km navigable

Pipelines: crude, 6,500 km; refined products, 1,100 km; natural gas, 4,200 km

Ports: Dalian, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Xingang, Zhanjiang

Merchant marine: 1,333 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 12,950,719 GRT/19,509,375 DWT; includes 25 passenger, 43 short-sea passenger, 16 passenger-cargo, 6 cargo/training, 746 cargo, 11 refrigerated cargo, 54 container, 17 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 multifunction heavy-lift carrier, 170 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 231 bulk, 2 vehicle carrier; note--China beneficially owns an additional 159 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 4,829,535 DWT that operate under the registry of Panama, UK, Hong Kong, Liberia, and Malta

Airports: 330 total, 330 usable; 260 with permanent-surface runways; fewer than 10 with runways over 3,500 m; 90 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 200 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: domestic and international services exist primarily for official purposes; unevenly distributed internal system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and most townships; 7,500,00 telephones (August 1988); stations--274 AM, unknown FM, 407 TV; more than 215 million radio receivers; 10.8 million monochrome and 6 million color TV receiver sets; satellite earth stations-- 4 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, and 3 domestic

NOTE: The information regarding China on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of China Communications 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about China Communications 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.