Yunnan Transportation

Yunnan Transport and Communications
Yunnan has witnessed a fast development in transport and communications since the founding of the People’s of China, especially in the last 20 years of reform and opening to the outside world, and formed a fairy good transport and communication network composed of highways, railways, aviation and water transport, which links up all parts of the province and provides a good condition for developing tourism in Yunnan.

(1)    Highways

(2)    Railways

(3)    Aviation

(4)    Water Transport

Water Transport

There are 6 river systems in Yunnan Province, which ranks first in temis of water systems in China and is very rich in water resources. Exploitable water ways are over 8,000km, but being short of technolo¬gy, the navigable mileage is only 1,324km. The focal point of river • navigation development is on the Jinsha River (the upper Yangtze) and the Lancang River (the upper Mekong). There are Shuifu Port and Suijiang Port on die Jinsha River, and Shuifu Port is at present the No. 1 river port in Yunnan. From Shuifu Port down the Jinsha River, : the boat can reach Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shanghai, etc. , ; which is the longest inland waterway in China (2,884km) .The Lan-( cang River with its lower reaches called Mekong is the only internation¬al river linking 6 countries in Asia. Its total water course is 4,880 km ; with 2,130 km in China and 1,200 km in Yunnan, and me China—Myanmar border river is 31 km, with a very good perspective for river navigation. Now there are two big good river ports, Simao Port and Jinghong Port on the Lancang River, and they are also the state - level trading ports in Yunnan Province.

In addition, the Dianchi Lake, the Erhai Lake, the Fuxian Lake, etc. are also important water ways in Yunnan.

Aviation
To visit Yunnan, travels must know about the transportation of it. As the transportation hub of Yunnan, Wujiaba International Airport of Kunming has opened 48 national lines and 6 international lines at present. There are flights to most of China's major cities including the famous tourist cities Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Shanghai. Domestic lines from Kunming to the scenic spots within the province are quite developed, now there are lines from Kunming to Simao, Xishuangbanna, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Dali, Mangshi, Lijiang and Zhongdian. International flights to Bangkok, Rangoon, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong are also available. In addition, eleven domestic air routes and two international routes from Jinghong have been opened.

There are now 10 airports in Yunnan Province, namely Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Simao, Dali, Lijiang, Baoshan, Mangshi, Zhaotong, Zhongdian and Lincang(TBA) airports. Kunming Airport is one of the 5 largest airports in China, and a first - class international airport at which Boeing 747 and A310 airplanes can land and take off. The oth¬ers are second-class airports for Boeing 737 - 300 or those of the same size.

Now, there is an aviation network with Kunming as its base radi¬ating to the whole country, and 6 international lines to Rangoon, Bangkok, Chiangmai, Ventiane, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, iand regional airlines to Hong Kong and Macao. In addition, there are 4 very busy international airlines which pass over Kunming from Europe, Africa, South Asia and West Asia to Hong Kong, Taibei, Seoul, etc. , K nearly a thousand flights over Kunming a month. There are now 50 domestic air routes, of which 8 are provincial ones to Jinghong, Dali, Li-( jiang, Mangshi, Simao, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Zhongdian and Lincang ; (TEA), and the outbound domestic air lines lead to more than 40 large " and middle cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wurumuqi, Harbin, Shengyang, etc. Kunming Airport now can receive nearly 4.5 ; million passengers a year.

Now Yunnan Airlines possesses 21 Boeing 737 and 767 airplanes.

Railways
The Yunnan region is connected with other part of China by railways. With Kunming as the center, there are Guikun line in the east (from Guiyang of Guizhou province in the east to Kunming in the west, covering 640km and 340km of which is within Yunnan); Chengkun line in the north (from Chengdu of Sichuan province in the north to Kunming in the south, covering 1,100km and 280km of which within Yunnan); Nankun line in the south (from Nanning of Guangxi province in the southeast to Kunming in the northwest, covering 900km and 243km within Yunnan). You will enjoy the charming scenery by train if you are not in hurry.

Yunnan is the only province in China where the standard gauge railway (gauge: 1.435m), meter gauge railway (gauge: 1m) and inch gauge railway (gauge: 0.6m) coexist; thus, Yunnan enjoys the repu¬tation of the Railway Museum. Now, there is an exhibition hall of Yunnan narrow gauge railway history in Kaiyuan City.

Of the Yunnan railways, Kunming - Hekou Railway is a meter gauge railway, a section of Yunnan - Vietnam Railway, and the first railway in Yunnan. It is 464km long, and was built during die period of 1900 - 1910 and open to traffic in 1910. Jijie - Gejiu Sub - line, 33km long, is the only inch railway in China. The standard gauge rail¬ways have been built after the 1960s, of which, Guiyang - Kunming Railway has a section of 341 km in Yunnan and was open to traffic on March 11,1966. Chengdu - Kunming Railway has a total length of 1,100 km, and its Yunnan section is 282 km, and was open to traffic on July 1st, 1970. Nanning - Kunming Railway has a total length of 898 km, and its Yunnan section is 306km and was open to traffic in December 1st, 1997. In addition, Kunming - Yuxi Railway and Guangtong- Dali Railway have also been put into operation, and Nei-jiang-Kunming Railway has been under construction.

Now on the 4 trunk lines of Guiyang - Kunming, Chengdu - Kun¬ming, Nanning - Kunming and Kunming - Hekou railways, passenger trains and cargo trains run between Beijing, Shanghai, Xi an, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beihai as well as Hanoi in Vietnam. The an¬nual passenger transport reaches 12,568,000 persons and cargo trans¬port 11,190, 000t.

Highways

Now, Yunnan has formed a fairly good communication network with Kunming as its center, the national and provincial highways as the trunk lines linking up sub - trunk lines, cities and the countryside, ra¬diating to all parts of the province, connecting to Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Tibet as well as the neighboring countries such as Viet¬nam, Laos, Myanmar etc. By the end of 1995, the mileage of Yunnan highways has reached 65,800 km, second only to Sichuan Province in China, among which there are 7 national highway lines, 6,081km; 61 provincial lines, 8,971km; county - level highway lines, 30,950km and country roads, 19,757 km, and now highways lead to every town¬ship .

The highway bunk lines from Kunming, the provincial capital, to the whole province or other provinces and the border are as follows: Kunming- Wanding Highway (from Kunming to Wanding, namely the Yunnan - Burma Road, 870km), Yunnan - Tibet Highway ( Kunming to Yanjing in Tibet, 992km via Dali, Lijiang, and Diqing) , Kunming - Hekou Highway (Kunming to Hekou via the Stone Forest, Kaiyuan and Mengzi, 471km) , Kunming - Daluo Highway ( Kunming to Daluo viaYuxi, Mojiang, Simao and Jinghong, 865km), Yunnan - Guizhou Highway( Kunming to Guiyang via Qujing, 653km), Kunming- Baise Highway (Kunming to Baise in Guangxi via Stone Forest, Kaiyuan, Yanshan, Wenshan and Funing) , and Kunming - Suijiang Highway (Kunming to Suijiang via Dongchuan and Zhaolong, 690km).

Of the trunk lines, Kunming - Songming section is the first ex-press way in Yunnan; Chuxiong - Dali is also an expressway; Aiming -Xiaoshiba, a first - class state highway; Kunming- Stone Forest, a second class road; Kunming - Yuxi, a second class road; Kunming —Chuxiong, a second class road and Kunming- Qujing, a second class  road. Now,all the 200 trunk lines around Kunming are at a high class level, and the expressways from Kunming to Yuxi, Yuxi to Yuanjiang and Dali to Baoshan are under construction.

The increase in the highway mileage in Yunnan and the improve¬ment of die roads have led to a greater transportation load. In 1995, the volume of goods transportation reached 350,000,000t, and passen¬gers 210,000,000 in the whole province.

7 National Roads (National Road 108, 213, 214, 320, 321, 323 and 326) and 61 provincial roads radiate from Kunming to major cities in Yunnan and other provinces or even abroad.

National Road 108
From Panzhihua of Sichuan into Yunnan, cross Yongren, Yuanmou and Wuding to Kunming, it covering 278km.

National Road 213
From Yibin of Sichuan to Yunnan, cross Zhaotong, Kunming, Yuxi and Simao to Xishuangbnna, it covering 1,581km. Now this road has been built to Simao and will soon to Jinghong. It will pass Laos and finally get to Bangkok of Thailand, which will become a most convenient passage to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

National Road 214
National Road 214 crosses Yunnan from the south to the north, via Xishuangbanna, linchang, Dali, Lijiang, Diqing to Tibet, covering 1,418km. And expressway has been built from Dali to Lijiang.

National Road 320
National Road 320 cross Yunnan from the east to the west, via Qujing, Kunming, Chuxiong, Dali, Baoshan, Luxi to Ruili on the China-Myanmar border, covering 1.030km. And the part of Qujing-Kunking-Dali is expressway.

National Road 323
From Baise of Guangxi into Yunnan, cross Yanshan, Kaiyuan, Jianshui, Yuanjiang, Puer to Linchang, it covering 928km.