Local Services in China

The main transportation mode in China is rail. As of 2006, the total track length of China is 76,000 making it the 3rd largest rail system in the world. The Beijing Subway has 142 km subway track under 5 lines and an additional 98 km scheduled for 2010. Other transit systems that have underground or light rail system in major cities are the Guangzhou Metro, Shanghai Metro, Tianjin Metro, Shenzhen Metro, Nanjing Metro, Chongqing Metro, Changchun Light Railway and Wuhan Metro.

In 2007, the total number of airports in China is 467. International airports like the Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport have the busiest traffics throughout the year. Other major airports in China situated in key cities include Xi’an, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shenyang, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Kunming.

There are around 3,200 broadcast stations operating in China – almost 3,000 are local metropolitan stations, 200 are run by China Central Television and 31 provincial channels. By 1998, AM radio stations reach almost 400 and FM stations around 300. Digital Television is also popular in China with various government agencies working together to promote it further. Consequently, the 2008 Beijing Olympics will air all video contents using DMB-T/H standard.

The Ministry of Information Industry is the state’s central regulating body in the telecommunications industry. The China Telecom and China Netcom are two exclusive fix-lines operators companies in China. Mobile carriers China Mobile and China Unicom are two major wireless network providers together with China Satcom and China Tietong serving a small margin of the mobile market.

By the end of 2007, there are roughly 220 million Internet users in China with 160 million broadband users, 60 million wireless users and 24 million dial-up connections. The ChinaNet is the largest commercial Internet provider in China with 25 million broadband subscribers as of 2006.