Chinese History and Statistics -- Page 24

Transportation

The backbone of China's transportation system is its rail network, which has more than doubled in length since 1949. About 70% of the railroads constructed since 1949 are in the western and northwestern parts of the country. The principal railways include the Beijing-Guangzhou line via Wuhan, the Tianjin-Shanghai line via Nanjing, and the Beijing to Shenyang line. The major east-west trunk extends from Urumqi through Lanzhou and from Zhengzhou to Lien-yun-kang.

The length of highways has increased more than eleven-fold since 1949. Many new trunk roads have been constructed to open up outlying Western regions. The major new highways are the Sichuan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet, and Qinghai-Tibet. The Karakoram Highway, across the Himalayas from Kashi to Islamabad, Pakistan, opened in 1986.

In 1989, China's domestic air routes, radiating mainly from Beijing and Shanghai, totaled 332,500 km (206,606 mi.). International flights serve Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, and other cities. The principal seaports are Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Zhanjiang.