Chinese Communication Systems
January 25, 2009
By 1987, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications became the agency tasked to administer China’s telecommunications systems and related research and production facilities. On top of postal services, some of which were handled by electronic means, the ministry was involved in the delivery of a wide spectrum of services ranging from telephone, wire, telegraph, and international communications.
In 1982, the Ministry of Radio and Television was carved out of the Ministry as a separate entity, and mandated to administer and upgrade the status of television and radio broadcasting. Subordinate to this ministry were the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, China Central Television and Radio Beijing. Organizations that were in charge with broadcasting training, talent-search, research, publishing, and manufacturing organizations were also brought under the umbrella of the Ministry of Radio and Television. Renamed Ministry of Radio, Cinema, and Television, it also took over in 1986 the responsibility for the movie industry, from the Ministry of Culture.
By 1987 the quality of communications services in mainland China had seen considerable improvements than in earlier years. Also, foreign technology entered in droves in the country while domestic production capacity jumped.
Primarily, the form of telecommunications in the 1980s was local and long-distance telephone service administered by six regional bureaus: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, Wuhan , and Shenyang. These regional offices also functioned 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. As the end of 1986 was approaching, fiber optic communications technology gradually replaced existing telephone circuits.
Shanghai and Beijing served as overseas exchanges for international services. While Guangdong Province also served as an important gateway with its coaxial cable and microwave lines linking it to Hong Kong and Macau.
The large 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 minister Kakuei Tanaka was upgraded continuously and served as the base for China’s international satellite communications network until the mid-1980s. By 1977 China had joined Intelsat and, using ground stations in Shanghai and Beijing the nation connected to satellites over the Indian and Pacific oceans.
According to BBG Communications, in April 1984, an experimental communications satellite for trial transmission of broadcasts, telegrams, telephone calls, and facsimile, to remote areas of the country was launched. Following this, China launched in February 1986 its first fully operational telecommunications and broadcast satellite. The quality and communications capacity of the second satellite was praised as much better than the first. In the mid-1987 both satellites were still functioning. Taking advantage of these satellite systems in place, China’s domestic satellite communication network went into operation, facilitating television and radio transmissions and providing direct-dial long distance telephone, telegraph, and facsimile service. The network boasts of ground stations in Beijing, Urumqi, Hohhot, Lhasa, and Guangzhou, which were all tapped to an Intelsat satellite over the Indian Ocean.
While the telephone network surged, telegraph development was of second priority mainly due to the difficulties involved in transmitting the written Chinese language. But this technical difficulty of how to put in print the Chinese language correctly, was helped by computer technology. By 1983 China had nearly 10,000 telegraph cables and telex lines transmitting over 170 million messages annually. Most telegrams were transmitted by cables or by shortwave radio.
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