Railroads: total about 54,000 km common carrier lines; 53,400 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; 600 km 1.000-meter gauge; all single track except 11,200 km double track on standard-gauge lines; 6,500 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 109,800 km navigable

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

Ports: Dalian, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Xingang, Zhanjiang, Ningbo, Xiamen, Tanggu, Shantou

Merchant marine: 1,421 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 14,010,317 GRT/21,223,170 DWT; includes 24 passenger, 42 short-sea passenger, 19 passenger-cargo, 7 cargo/training, 776 cargo, 11 refrigerated cargo, 70 container, 17 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 2 multifunction barge carrier, 181 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 250 bulk, 2 liquefied gas, 2 vehicle carrier, 9 combination bulk; note--China beneficially owns an additional 183 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 5,921,000 DWT that operate under Maltese and Liberian registry

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 are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed internal system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and most townships; 11,000,000 telephones (December 1989); stations--274 AM, unknown FM, 202 (2,050 relays) TV; more than 215 million radio receivers; 75 million TVs; satellite earth stations--4 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1 INMARSAT, and 55 domestic

NOTE: The information regarding China on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of China Communications 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about China Communications 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.