Transportation in ancient China was on poor condition. People traveled mainly on foot. It took several months for a candidate who expected to take the imperial examination to be a government official to go from home to the capital on foot. People also rode horses when traveling from town to town. For short-distance trips, man-carried sedans and carriages or oxcart were also used. Needless to say, all these means of transportation are in very low speed.
Now we have trains, planes, ships, buses and bikes in China. With an aggressive effort since 1949, by the Chinese government to improve their country, a comprehensive transportation system was created. It consisted of railways, highways, airplanes. Tibet, one of most inaccessbile region in the world even can be reached via train since the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in first, July, 2005.
Transportation is of particular importance in China, as it covers such vast territory and is home to such a large population. In 1876, the first railway was built in China, and in 1906 the first highway was constructed. In 1929, the government began work on civil aviation. The following decades saw tremendous developments within the transportation industry.
In 1999, the total length of the national transportation line in China was about 3,073,200 kilometers (1,909,598 miles). In 2004, the number of passengers transported reached 17.67453 billion. As the transportation industry continues to expand in both quality and scale, it significantly contributes to the advancement of society as well as the national economy.
China currently has a comprehensive system of modern transportation which includes civil aviation, railway, road traffic and water transportation. As transportation in China becomes more accessible and more reliable, it is also becoming more technologically advanced. Modern modes of transportation such as express highways, electrified railroads, metros, light rails, and maglev railways are becoming increasingly common, especially in large cities.
