- Communications in the People's Republic of China
:"Telecommunications in China" redirects here. For the industry, see
Telecommunications industry in China . This article is about Communications in the People's Republic of China, excludingHong Kong andMacau (seeCommunications in Hong Kong andCommunications in Macau ). For the Republic of China (Taiwan), seeCommunications in the Republic of China ."ThePeople's Republic of China possesses a diversifiedcommunications system that links all parts of the country by Internet, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. None of the telecommunications forms are as prevalent or as advanced as those in modern Western countries, but the system includes some of the most sophisticated technology in the world and constitutes a foundation for further development of a modern network.History
When the People's Republic was founded in 1949, the telecommunications systems and facilities in China were outdated and rudimentary, and many had been damaged or destroyed during the war years. Those that did exist were largely limited to the eastern coastal cities, the
Nanjing -Shanghai region, and a few interior cities. In the 1950s existing facilities were repaired, and, with Soviet assistance, considerable progress was made toward establishing along-distance telephone wire network connecting Beijing to provincial-level capitals.Communications in China were established rapidly in the early 1950s. By 1952 the principal telecommunications network centered on
Beijing , and links to all large cities had finally been established. Work quickly got under way to repair, renovate and expand the system, and from 1956 telecommunications routes were extended more rapidly. To increase the efficiency of thecommunications system , the same lines were used for bothtelegraphic andtelephone service, whileTeletype andtelevision (broadcasting ) services were also added.In addition, conference telephone service was initiated, radio communications were improved, and the production of telecommunications equipment was accelerated. Growth in telecommunications halted with the general economic collapse after the
Great Leap Forward (1958-60) but revived in the 1960s after the telephone network was expanded and improved equipment was introduced, including imports of Western plants and equipment.By 1963 telephone wire had been laid from Beijing to the capitals of all provinces, autonomous regions, and large cities, while in turn, provincial capitals and autonomous regions were connected to the administrative seats of the counties, smaller municipalities and larger
market town s.In the years immediately following 1949, telecommunications — by
telegraph ortelephone — mainly usedwire ; by the 1970s, however,radio telecommunications equipment were increasingly used and began to replace wire lines.Microwave andsatellite transmissions were soon introduced and have now become common. (China launched its first television-broadcast satellite in 1986.) In 1956 the first automatic speedTeletype was installed on theBeijing -Lhasa line. By 1964 such machines had been installed in most of China's major cities. Radio-television service also was installed in major cities, and radio teleprinters became widely used.An important component of the
Fourth Five-Year Plan (1971-75) was a major development program for thetelecommunications system. The program allotted top priority to scarceelectronics andconstruction resources and dramatically improved all aspects of China's telecommunications capabilities.Microwave radio relay lines and buried cable lines were constructed to create a network ofwideband carrier trunk lines, which covered the entire country. China was linked to the international telecommunications network by the installation ofcommunications satellite ground stations and the construction ofcoaxial cables linkingGuangdong Province withHong Kong andMacau . Provincial-level units and municipalities rapidly expanded local telephone and wire broadcasting networks. Expansion and modernization of the telecommunications system continued throughout the late-1970s and early 1980s, giving particular emphasis to the production of radio and television sets and expandedbroadcasting capabilities.Marked improvements occurred by the mid-1980s with an influx of foreign technology and increased domestic production capabilities. International and long-distance telephone links by cable and satellite of high quality multiplied. Telegraph, facsimile, and telex were all in use. International satellite ground stations in Beijing and Shanghai were built and a domestic satellite communication network was operational in 1986. Over 160 radio stations existed by the mid-1980s, and transistorized radio receivers were common. A vast wired broadcasting system included over 2,600 stations carrying radio transmissions into all rural units and many urban areas. The television system grew rapidly in 1980s, with 90 television stations and 80 million sets by 1987.
By 1987 China possessed a diversified telecommunications system that linked all parts of the country by telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. None of the telecommunications forms were as prevalent or as advanced as those in modern
Western countries , but the system included some of the most sophisticated technology in the world and constituted a foundation for further development of a modern network.Overall, China's telecommunications services improved enormously during the 1980s, and, the pace of telecommunications growth and technology upgrading increased even more rapidly after 1990, especially as
fiber-optics systems anddigital technology were installed. After 1997, China's telecommunications services were enhanced further with the acquisition of Hong Kong's highly advanced systems. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, foreign investment in the country's telecommunications sector further encouraged growth. Notable has been the tremendous increase in Internet and cellular phone usage. China became the world leader in the early 21st century, in terms of number of cell phone subscribers. The nation ranks first in the world in numbers of both mobile and fixed-line telephones, and second in the number of internet users (after the United States).Despite these advances, China's has not been able to keep up with demand and has not spread to the relatively poorer regions. A large proportion of the country's population still has little or no access even to basic telephone and Internet service. Although the number of cellular phones has grown enormously, surpassing that for standard (i.e.,
landline ) telephones in 2003, the overall ratio ofphones per capita has nonetheless remained much smaller than it is for thedeveloped countries . [Eric Harwit. [http://www.law.gmu.edu/nctl/stpp/us_china_pubs/6.6_Spreading_Telecomm_to_Developing_Areas_in_China.pdf Spreading Telecommunications to Developing Areas in China: Telephones, the Internet and the Digital Divide] "The China Quarterly" (2004), 180: 1010-1030 Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/S0305741004000724]China is the largest user of largest Voice calling over the Internet or Voice over Internet Protocol (
VoIP ) services with 51 million Tom-Skype users as of November 2007. [ [http://www.interfax.cn/displayarticle.asp?aid=29836&slug=CHINA-IT-INTERNET Interfax-China] ]History of telecommunications services
In 1987 the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (now the
Ministry of Information Industry ) administered China'stelecommunications systems and related research and production facilities. Besidespostal service s, some of which were handled by electronic means, the ministry was involved in a wide spectrum of telephone, wire, telegraph, and international communications (seePostage stamps and postal history of the People's Republic of China ). 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.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), andShenyang (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 1986fiber 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 toHong Kong andMacau .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 ministerKakuei 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 ofbroadcast s,telegram s,telephone call s, 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 providingdirect-dial longdistance telephone, telegraph, and facsimile service. The network had ground stations inBeijing ,Urumqi ,Hohhot ,Lhasa , andGuangzhou , which also were linked to anIntelsat 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 10,000telegraph cables andtelex 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 were transmitted byMorse code .Apart from traditional telegraph and telephone services, China also had facsimile, low-speed data-transmission, and computer-controlled telecommunications services. These included on-line information retrieval terminals in Beijing,
Changsha , andBaotou 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
Chinese character - 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 directed toward
Taiwan andoverseas Chinese listeners.Radio Beijing broadcast to the world in thirty-eightforeign language s,putonghua , and various dialects, includingAmoy , Cantonese, andHakka . 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 (seeCulture of the People's Republic of China ).Recent development
The MII reported in 2004 that China had 295 million subscribers to main telephone lines and 305 million cellular telephone subscribers, the highest numbers in both categories. Both categories showed substantial increases over the previous decade; in 1995 there were only 3.6 million cellular telephone subscribers and around 20 million main-line telephone subscribers. By 2003 there were 42 telephones per 100 population. Internet use also has soared in China from about 60,000 Internet users in 1995 to 22.5 million users in 2000; by 2005 the number had reached 103 million. Although this figure is well below the 159 million users in the United States and although fairly low per capita, it was second in the world and on a par with
Japan ’s 57 million users.China’s 2.7 million kilometers of
optical fiber telecommunication cables by 2003 assisted greatly in themodernization process. China produces an increasing volume of televisions both for domestic use and export, which has helped to spread communications development. In 2001 China produced more than 46 million televisions and claimed 317 million sets in use. At the same time, there were 417 million radios in use in China, a rate of 342 per 1,000 population. However, many more are reached, especially in rural areas, vialoudspeaker broadcasts ofradio programs that bring transmissions to large numbers of radioless households.Regulation
The primary regulator of communications, in particular
telecommunications , in China is theMinistry of Information Industry (MII). It closely regulates all of the industries outlined below with the exception of the radio and television sectors, which belong to the remit of theState Administration of Radio, Film, and Television .ectors
Telephone
:"See:
Telecommunications industry in China "*Telephones - main lines in use: 362 million [27 per 100 persons] (February 2008) [ [http://www.chinadaily.net/china/2008-03/24/content_6561765.htm China's mobile phone users top 515m by August ] ]
*Telephones - mobile cellular subscribers: 565 million [42 per 100 persons] (February 2008) [ [http://www.chinadaily.net/china/2008-03/24/content_6561765.htm China's mobile phone users top 565m by end of February ] ] [ [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IK03Cb01.html Asia Times Online :: China Business News - China's phone makers in speed dial mode ] ]
*Telephone country code: 86 (see "Telephone numbers in China ")China imported its first mobile phone telecommunication facilities in 1987 and it took a decade for the number of subscribers to reach 10 million. Four years later, in 2001, the country had the largest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world.
Domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use. But an unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns. China continues to develop its telecommunications infrastructure, and is partnering with foreign providers to expand its global reach; 3 of China's 6 major telecommunications operators are part of an international consortium which, in December 2006, signed an agreement with
Verizon Business to build the first next-generation optical cable system directly linking theUnited States and China.On December 2005, according to the
Ministry of Information Industry (MII), its combined main lines and mobile lines exceeded 743 million.By the end of August 2006, statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry showed that there were more than 437 million mobile phone users in the Chinese mainland, or 327 mobile phones per 1,000 population. The combined main lines and mobile lines is expected to hit 976 million by 2008. [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-02/09/content_6446261.htm Chinadaily - English ] ]
From January to August 2006, mobile phone users on the mainland sent 273.67 million text messages. [ [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/07/content_5172866.htm Xinhua - English ] ]
On average, China's mobile subscribers increased by 4.78 million each month.
Domestic interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed.
A domestic satellite system with 55 earth stations is in place.
International satellite earth stations include 5
Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) and 1Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions).Several international fiber-optic links include those to
Japan ,South Korea ,Hong Kong ,Russia , andGermany .Fixed and mobile operators in China include
China Mobile ,China Netcom , China TieTong,China Satcom ,China Telecom andChina Unicom .Radio
:"See:
China National Radio ;China Radio International "*Radio broadcast stations: AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998)
*Radios: 428 million [33 per 100 persons] (2000)Television
:"See:
List of Chinese language television channels "*Television companies: 358 (2008)
*Television broadcast stations: 3,240 (of which 209 are operated byChina Central Television , 31 are provincial TV stations and nearly 3,000 are local city stations) (1997)
*Televisions: 493.90 million [38 per 100 persons] (2003)Digital television
Internet
:"See also:
Internet in the People's Republic of China ;China Next Generation Internet ;Chinese Domain Name Consortium ; Online gaming in China"
*Internet country code:.cn
*Internet host s: 10.637 million (2007)
*Internet service provider s (ISP): 3 (2000)
*Internet user s: 210 million [15.9 per 100 persons] (December 2007) [ [http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm#asia] ] ]
*Broadband Internet users: 66,464,000 (Dec 2007)
*Personal computers: 52,990,000 units [4 per 100 persons] (2004)China's number of Internet users or
netizens topped 137 million by the end of 2006, [ [http://www.chinadaily.net/china/2007-01/24/content_790804.htm Internet users to log in at world No.1 ] ] an increase of 23.4% from a year before and 162 million by June 2007, making China the second largest Internet user after theUnited States , according to China'sMinistry of Information Industry (MII). The latest figure (June 2008) have China's internet users exceeding 253 million making it the largest internet user in the world but this figure is yet to be fully confirmed. [ [http://www.chinadaily.net/bizchina/2008-07/25/content_6876082.htm ] ]As of 2004, the largest concentration of Internet users were from
Guangdong ,Zhejiang ,Fujian ,Jiangsu ,Liaoning ,Shandong andHubei provinces.Beijing ,Shanghai andTianjin also had a high concentration of Internet users, with 28% of Beijing's population having access to the Internet.As of
December 31 ,2005 , there were an estimated 37,504,000 broadband lines in China. [ [http://www.point-topic.com/contentDownload/dslanalysis/world%20broadband%20statistics%20q4%202005.pdf Register for free information from Point-Topic ] ] It represented nearly a world share of 18%. Over 70% of thebroadband lines were viaDSL and the rest viacable modem s.According to the
China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC ), by June 2006, China'sbroadband users had reached 77 million or about two-thirds of the total online population, up 45% from a year ago. By June 2007 China's broadband users had reached 122 million. The number of websites had also risen by more than 110,000 to a total of 788,400.As of 2007, ITU data puts China's broadband speed at 1Mbit/s. China is fast becoming the world's largest broadband economy. It is laying quite a lot of fiber which is a less disruptive option in China because of the amount of new building work being done. It has 14 million fiber lines, compared to 9.6 million in Japan, 1.7m in the US and just a few thousand in the UK but it does not generate the same speeds as in other Asian countries because the fiber tends to feed into apartment blocks rather than individual homes.
There exists a wide gap between Internet use in cities and rural areas, as statistics show. The national average internet penetration rate is still just 15.9% (December 2007). At the end of June 2007 there were 37.41 million netizens in the
rural area s, making up only 5.1 percent of the rural population and around 125 million netizens living in theurban area s, making up 21.6 percent of the urban population, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). [ [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-10/06/content_6154594.htm Internet spreading in China's rural areas ] ] The CNNIC survey showed 82.3 per cent of people using the Internet in China were below 35 years old and almost 40 per cent of the netizens were aged 18 to 24.QQ is the most popular form ofinstant messaging on the Internet in China.Trans-Pacific Express
The Trans-Pacific Express is a telecommunications project to connect the
United States with China with afiber-optic cable that is designed to meet increasing internet traffic between the regions, with 60 times more capacity than existing cables. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/23/business/AS-TEC-China-US-Sea-Cable.php Report: China starts work on first direct undersea cable to US] ] It is to be the first undersea or submarine telecommunications cable that directly links the US with China and the first independent trans-Pacific connection. Current cable links between China and the US run throughJapan . [ [http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=15965 Trans-Pacific Express deal signed for US-China cable] 19 December 2006]The project includes US
Verizon Communications , Chinese firmsChina Telecom ,China Netcom andChina Unicom , South Korea'sKorea Telecom and Taiwan'sChunghwa Telecom . The project was initiated in December 2006. Work began in mid-October 2007 inQingdao . It is scheduled to be completed by July 2008 (before theBeijing Olympics ). [ [http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=12854 Trans-Pacific Express cable ready in 2008] 1 June 2006]Earthquake hotspots have been avoided in the planned route of the cable to avoid potential disruption to internet and telephone networks in Asia. The cable will extend more than 18,000 km and will cost about $500m. It will terminate in Nedonna Beach,Oregon with connections toTaiwan andSouth Korea . When complete, the new cable will be able to support the equivalent of 62 million simultaneous phone calls, with the design capacity to support future internet growth and advanced applications such as video ande-commerce . [ [http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=20225 Carriers Plan New Terabit Capacity Trans-Pacific Express Optical Cable] ]ee also
*
Internationalized domain name (IDN.IDN ) for non-ASCII characters
*IPv9 , Chinese developed Internet Protocol
*Chinese telegraph code
*Digital divide in China
*CERNET (China Education and Research Network)
*Media in China and its history
*Electronic information industry in China
*Postal system in ChinaReferences
loc [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cntoc.html]
External links
* [http://www.gov.cn/english/2005-10/02/content_74175.htm Ministry of Information Industry] at gov.cn
* [http://www.stats.gov.cn/english China Statistical Information Net]
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