The added value of the transportation, post and telecommunications sectors reached 653.1 billion yuan in 2003, up 7 percent over the previous year.

In 2003, the total volume of cargo transported was 5,715.2 billion tons-km, up 13.1 percent over the previous year. Ports throughout the country handled 3.3 billion tons of cargo, up 17.9 percent. Total volume of passenger transportation was 1,379.5 billion persons-km, a decline of 2.3 percent due to the outbreak of the SARS epidemic.

Total number of automobiles: According to the Traffic Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, by the end of 2003, there had been 12,427,672 registered privately owned automobiles. Of them, 4,890,387 were cars, an increase of 1,462,441, or 42.7 percent, over 2002.

Container handling capacity at ports: Ports nationwide handled 48 million container TEUs in 2003, an increase of 11 million container TEUs over the previous year, which surpassed the United States for the first time and ranked first in the world. The volume of containers handled by both Shanghai and Shenzhen ports exceeded 10 million container TEUs, ranking third and fourth in the world, respectively. The cargo volume handled at major ports was 2.6 billion tons in 2003, with the cargoes for foreign trade constituting 900 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 16.9 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively. The cargo volume handled at Shanghai Port exceeded 300 million tons, ranking second in the world. There were eight ports capable of handling more than 100 million tons of cargoes annually. They are Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Dalian and Shenzhen.

Road construction: In 2003, the mileage of roads open to traffic increased 46,000 km, 4,600 km of it being expressways. The total mileage of roads open to traffic reached 1.81 million km, nearly 30,000 km being expressways. During the year, a total of 102,000 km rural roads were upgraded. Except for Tibet and Xinjiang, all counties in the western region became accessible by asphalt roads. In the central region, another 1,000-plus townships became accessible by asphalt roads and in the eastern region, another 23,491 villages became accessible by asphalt roads. In Sichuan Province, asphalt roads totaling 4,326 km were built connecting counties inhabited by ethnic minorities. The Tibetan, Yi and Qiang people hailed the road construction as "the second liberation of areas inhabited by ethnic minorities."

Bridge construction: Quite a number of world-class bridges are under construction. They include Yangluo Bridge over the Yangtze River, a suspension bridge with a main span of 1,280 meters; Nanjing No.3 Bridge over the Yangtze River, a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 648 meters; Runyang Highway Bridge over the Yangtze River, a combination of a suspension bridge with a main span of 1,490 meters and a 406-meter cable-stayed bridge; the Sea-Spanning Bridge in Shenzhen Bay, a single-tower cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 180 meters; Sutong Highway Bridge over the Yangtze River, a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 1,088 meters, ranking first in the world; and the 36-km-long Sea-Spanning Bridge in Hangzhou Bay, the longest sea-spanning bridge under construction in the world.

The business turnover of postal and telecom services in 2003 totaled 728.2 billion yuan, up 27.8 percent over the previous year. Of this total, postal services accounted for 54.3 billion yuan, up 9.7 percent, and telecom services made up 673.9 billion yuan, up 29.6 percent. By the end of 2003, total capacity of office exchanges reached 350 million gates, 67.44 million being newly installed. The year 2003 saw 49.08 million new fixed telephone service subscribers to bring the total number of telephone subscribers to 263.31 million at the end of the year, including 171.29 million urban subscribers and 92.01 million rural subscribers. Mobile telephone users numbered 268.69 million by the end of 2003, with 62.69 million new mobile telephone service subscribers. In October 2003, the number of mobile phone subscribers began to surpass that of fixed phone subscribers. The total number of fixed-line and mobile phone subscribers reached 532 million at the end of the year, an increase of 111.77 million as compared with the end of 2002. There were 42 telephones per 100 persons in the country.

The communications capacity enlarged. In 2003, the length of optical cables increased 458,000 km to reach 2.71 million km, of which the length of long-distance optical cables increased 59,000 km to reach 547,000 km. The capacity of long-distance telephone exchanges increased 886,000 terminals to reach 8.62 million terminals. The capacity of office switchboards increased 67.44 million gates to reach 354.01 million gates. The capacity of mobile switchboards increased 62.32 million subscribers to reach 336.32 million subscribers.