In 2004, the added value of the transportation, post and telecommunications sectors reached 777.7 billion yuan, up 14.9 percent over the previous year.

Transportation The freight turnover by all means of transportation reached 6.67 trillion tons-km, up 23.8 percent over the previous year. Of the total, the freight turnover by railways was 1.93 trillion tons-km, up 11.8 percent; that by highways, 759.6 billion tons-km, up 7 percent; that by waterways, 3.9 trillion tons-km, up 35.7 percent; that by civil aviation, 7.2 billion tons-km, up 24 percent; and that by pipelines, 76.8 billion tons-km, up 3.9 percent.

The passenger flow by all means of transportation reached 1.63 trillion persons-km, up 18.2 percent over the previous year, of which, passenger flow by railways was 571.2 billion persons-km, up 19.3 percent; that by highways, 876.5 billion persons-km, up 13.9 percent; that by waterways, 6.5 billion persons-km, up 3.3 percent; and that by civil aviation, 178.2 billion persons-km, up 41.1 percent.

The volume of freight handled by ports throughout the country totaled 4 billion tons, up 21.3 percent over the previous year, of which, freight for foreign trade accounted for 1.15 billion tons, up 18.4 percent. Container shipping handled 61.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs--a standard measure of container capacity).

Total Number of Automobiles The total number of motor vehicles for civil use reached 27.42 million at the end of the year 2004, up 15 percent year on year, of which, that of privately owned vehicles was 13.65 million, up 12 percent. The number of civil cars was 9.2 million, of which, private cars accounted for 6 million.

Plan for National Expressway Network Construction On January 13, 2005, the Ministry of Communications published the National Expressway Network Plan, which had been approved by the State Council. The national expressway network is planned to comprise 34 superhighways crisscrossing the country, with a total length of 85,000 km. According to the plan, 35,000 km will be built by the end of 2005, accounting for over 40 percent of the total length. By the end of 2007, construction on superhighways in the national arterial system is expected to be complete, with the total length of the national expressway network stretching 42,000 km. The end of 2010 should see the completion of 50,000-55,000 km of the network, with eight superhighways linking western provinces fully constructed. China remained in second place in the world in terms of the total length of highways, with the mileage open to traffic totaling 34,000 km at the end of 2004.

Postal and Telecommunication Services The business turnover of postal and telecommunication services in 2004 totaled 979.1 billion yuan, up 34.9 percent over the previous year. Of this total, postal services accounted for 56.6 billion yuan, up 4.4 percent, and telecommunication services made up 922.5 billion yuan, up 37.4 percent. By the end of 2004, the total capacity of office exchanges had reached 420 million gates, with 70.2 million newly installed. The year 2004 saw 49.7 million new fixed-line telephone subscribers to bring the total number of subscribers in this category to 312.44 million at the end of the year. This included 210.85 million urban subscribers and 101.59 million rural subscribers. Mobile phone users had numbered 334.83 million by the end of 2004, with 64.87 million new subscribers. In total, the number of fixed-line telephone subscribers and mobile phone users reached 647.27 million, an increase of 114.57 million as compared with the end of 2003. On the average, there were 51 telephones or mobile phones per 100 persons in China.