The flag carrier is Air China (CA) (website: www.airchina.com.cn or www.air-china.co.uk).

¥90. Paid in Chinese currency only. Children under 12 and transit passengers (proceeding within 24 hours) are exempt.

Beijing Capital International (PEK/BJS) airport is 28km (18 miles) northeast of the city. To/from the airport: Buses and taxis area available (journey time - 40 minutes). An Airport Express subway line from the airport to central Beijing will open in 2008.

Guangzhou Baiyun International (CAN) airport is 12km (7 miles) north of Guangzhou (journey time - 25 minutes).

Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) airport is 13km (8 miles) southwest of the city (journey time - 25 to 40 minutes). It is mainly served by domestic flights.

Shanghai Pudong (PVG) airport, in the eastern financial district, is 30km (19 miles) from the city centre. To/from the airport: Buses and taxis are available (journey time - 50 minutes). Pudong is a major international airport with the Maglev magnetic levitation train and an underground link (due for expansion to connect Pudong with Hongqiao by 2009). The Maglev takes passengers to Longyang Road, where it is possible to connect to the Shanghai Metro.

Facilities: All the above airports include duty-free shops, banks/bureaux de change, ATMs, post offices, business facilities, Internet, bars and restaurants.

Main ports: Fuzhou (Foochow), Guangzhou (Canton), Hong Kong/Kowloon, Qingdao (Tsingtao) and Shanghai.

Several major cruise lines offer cruises to China. There are regular ferry services linking Chinese ports with Kobe in Japan and the west coast of Korea (Dem Rep). There are regular ferries between Shanghai and Osaka in Japan. Regular ferry services operate between Weihai, Qingdao, Tianjin and Shanghai in China to Incheon in Korea (Dem Rep). There are regular fast ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau and a number of towns and cities in Guangdong province including Shenzhen and Zhuhai operated by Chu Kong Passenger Transport Co (tel: +852 2858 3876, in Hong Kong; website: www.cksp.com.hk) and TurboJET (tel: +852 2859 3333, in Hong Kong; website: www.turbojet.com.hk).

International services run from Beijing to Moscow (Russian Federation), on both the Trans-Mongolian Railway (via Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia) and the Trans-Manchurian Railway (via Zabaikalsk in northern China). The Trans-Siberian Express operates two weekly services, a train to Russia servicing Moscow and Beijing via Harbin and a China train via Ulaanbaatar. A service operates between Nanning, in Guangxi province, and Hanoi, Vietnam. A second cross-border service runs from Kunming via Lao Cai to Hanoi. There are also services from Beijing to Pyongyang (Korea, Dem Rep). Owing to demand, it may be necessary to book up to two months in advance. 
 
A regular train service runs from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (Canton). There are several trains daily. Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (tel: +852 2929 3399, in Hong Kong; website: www.kcrc.com) has express trains servicing Kowloon to Guangzhou and an indirect Kowloon to Lowu service. The services between Shanghai-Kowloon/Hong Kong (journey time - 25 hours) and Beijing-Kowloon/Hong Kong (journey time - 24 hours) both run on alternate days. There are twice-weekly trains from Almaty in Kazakhstan to Urumqi. There are three types of fare: hard sleeper, soft sleeper and deluxe soft sleeper.

Further information on rail services is available from the Chinese Ministry of Railways (website: www.chinamor.cn.net).

Note: Travellers on the Trans-Mongolian or Trans-Manchurian Railways are strongly advised to search their compartments and lock the doors before departure, owing to an increase in smuggling via this route

The principal road routes into China follow the historical trade routes through Myanmar, India, the former Soviet republics and Mongolia. It is also possible to travel from Pakistan to Xinjiang on the Karakoran highway. Motorways exist between Guangzhou and Shenzhen and Guangzhou and Zhuhai. These roads link the cities of Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Shunda to Hong Kong and Macau. Motorway links to major cities in neighbouring countries are few.

Most long-distance internal travel is by air. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) oversees air travel in China and operated as the country’s sole civil airline until it divided into a number of regional airlines in the late 1980s, since consolidated into the three major state-owned groups of Air China (website: www.airchina.com.cn or www.air-china.co.uk), China Southern (website: www.airchina.com.cn/en) and China Eastern Airlines (website: www.ce-air.com or www.chinaeastern.co.uk). They operate the bulk of domestic flights in China, China Southern being the largest airline in fleet size and passengers carried. Since the beginning of 2005, several private airlines have also begun to spring up, including some budget carriers.

China’s airlines operate about 1,000 domestic routes, serving nearly 150 cities. Tickets will normally be purchased by guides and the price will be included in any tour costs. Independent travellers can also book through the local Chinese International Travel Service (CITS), which charges a small commission, or alternatively buy tickets in booking offices or at some hotel travel desks. It is advisable to purchase internal air tickets well in advance if travelling during April, May, September or October. There are many connections to Hong Kong from Beijing and Guangzhou as well as other cities. Flights are always overbooked so seats must be confirmed before travel. Inevitable delays in services must be taken into account. Airport announcements are generally in English as well as Chinese these days.

Note: Safety records have improved greatly in recent years, and Chinese airlines now almost exclusively operate aircraft from Western companies such as Boeing and Airbus with average fleet ages of six to eight years. 

All major rivers are served by river ferries, especially the Yangtze. Coastal ferries operate between Dalian, Tianjin (Tientsin), Qingdao (Tsingtao) and Shanghai. There are regular ferry services between mainland China and Hong Kong, conditions on which vary.

Railways provide the principal means of transport for goods and people throughout China. The routes are generally cheap, safe and well maintained. Routes operate between major cities; services include Beijing to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Harbin, Chengdu and Urumqi. There are three types of train, of which Express is the best. There are four types of fare: hard seat, soft seat (only on short-distance trains such as the Hong Kong to Guangzhou line), hard sleeper and soft sleeper. Children under 1m (3ft) tall travel free and those under 1.3m (4ft) pay a quarter of the fare. Generally rail travel is comfortable but time-consuming due to vast distances between destinations.

The first passenger train on the 1,142km (710-mile) Qinghai to Tibet railway from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa in Tibet completed its two-day journey in July 2006. It is the most elevated rail route in the world, reaching an altitude of up to 5,072m (16,640 feet). Services now operate to Lhasa from Beijing and Xi’an, Chengdu and Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.

Traffic drives on the right. It is possible to reach 80% of settlements by road. Roads are not always of the highest quality and driving standards are erratic. Distances should not be underestimated and vehicles should be in prime mechanical condition as away from the cities China is still very much an agricultural nation without the mechanical expertise or services found in the West. From Beijing to Shanghai is 1,461km (908 miles), and from Beijing to Nanjing is 1,139km (718 miles). A superhighway links Beijing and Tianjin, and a 138 km (86 miles) four-lane toll highway links Hangzhou and the port of Ningbo in the Zhejiang province. 

Bus: Reasonable services are operated between the main cities. Buses are normally crowded, but reach parts of the country that trains do not. There are some more expensive luxury buses. The main long-distance bus station in Beijing is Liuliqiao (tel: (010) 8383 1717). In Shanghai, the new Zhongxing Road long-distance bus station is at the northern end of the main train station (tel: (021) 6605 1111).

Car hire: Available, but a three-month residency permit and examination are required to gain a local licence which makes self-drive car hire impossible in practice for visitors. Cars with a driver can be hired on a daily or weekly basis.

There are metro systems in Beijing, Shanghai and several other cities including Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing. Hong Kong has its Mass Transit System, and tramways and trolleybuses operate in a number of other cities. New lines are under construction in Beijing and Shanghai. A new system is under construction in Chengdu and there are plans for others in Xi’an, Harbin, Qingdao and other cities. Guides who accompany every visitor or group will ensure that internal travel within the cities is as trouble-free as possible. Most cities have public transit systems, usually bus. 

Taxi: Taxis are available in large cities from most hotels and shopping districts, and are permitted to stop at the passenger’s signal. It is best to check if the taxi is metered. If not, then it is important to agree a fare beforehand, especially at railway stations where it is best to bargain before getting into the taxi. Drivers are not normally tipped. Visitors should have their destination written down in Chinese characters before starting any journey as most drivers do not speak English. Hotels often provide cards with the hotel address and that of several key attractions or points in the city. Taxis can be hired by the day. 

Most people travel by bicycle or public transport. In most cities, bicycles or other types of rickshaws are available for short rides.

The following chart gives approximate travel times (in hours and minutes) from Beijing to other major cities/towns in China.

	Air	Rail
Shanghai	1.50	12.00
Chengdu	2.25	26.00
Kunming	3.00	40.00
Guangzhou	3.00	23.00