The transportation and posts and telecommunications sectors grew steadily. Their added value completed in 2001 totaled 522.2 billion yuan, an increase of 6.5 percent over 2000.

In 2001, the total volume of cargo transported by various means was 4,630.4 billion ton-km, a rise of 4.8 percent over 2000. Of this total, the cargo transported by railways was 1,457.5 billion ton-km, up 6.7 percent; by highways, 618 billion ton-km, up 0.8 percent; by waterways, 2,486 billion ton-km, up 4.7 percent; and by air, 4.4 billion ton-km, up 3.8 percent.

The volume of passenger transportation was 1,300 billion person-km, an increase of 6 percent. Of this total, that carried by railways was 476.7 billion person-km, up 5.2 percent; by highways, 704.7 billion person-km, up 5.8 percent; by waterways, 9.5 billion person-km, down 5.6 percent; and by civil aviation, 109.1 billion person-km, up 12.5 percent.

Ports nationwide handled 2.4 billion tons of cargo, up 8.8 percent, including 600 million tons of merchandise for foreign trade, an increase of 13.6 percent.