China Travel Guide - Communications

Country code: 86. Public telephones are available in post offices, hotels and shops displaying a telephone unit sign and at roadside kiosks. Domestic calls are cheaper to make between 2100 and 0700; it is also easier to get a connection during this time. It is often easier to make international phone calls from China than it is to make calls internally. There is a three-minute minimum charge for international calls.

Roaming agreements exist with most major international mobile phone companies. Coverage is good in towns and cities throughout the country, with sporadic coverage in rural areas. Almost one-third of the country has coverage.

Internet is available in many areas of China; there are Internet cafes in Beijing and many other main towns and cities. Beijing routinely blocks access to sites run by the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong, rights groups and some foreign news organisations. Postings by bloggers are now being actively curbed.

Service to Europe takes from between two days and one week. Tourist hotels usually have their own post offices. All postal communications to China should be addressed ‘People's Republic of China'. 

Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1900.

China's media are tightly controlled by the country's leadership. The industry has been opened up in the areas of distribution and advertising but not in editorial content. Access to foreign news providers is limited and re-broadcasting and the use of satellite receivers is restricted; shortwave radio broadcasts are jammed and websites are blocked. In general, the press report on corruption and inefficiency among officials, but the media avoid criticism of the Communist Party's monopoly on power. Hong Kong so far has retained its editorially free media. Each city has its own newspaper, usually published by the local government, as well as a local Communist Party daily. 

Agreements are in place which allow selected channels (including stations run by AOL Time Warner, News Corp and the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV) to transmit via cable in Guangdong province. In exchange, Chinese Central TV's English-language network is made available to satellite TV viewers in the USA and UK. Beijing says it will only allow relays of foreign broadcasts which do not threaten 'national security' or 'political stability'. All foreign-made TV programmes will be subject to approval before broadcast.

• National newspapers include The People's Daily and The Worker's Daily, with many provinces having their own local dailies as well.
• News agencies include the state-run Xinhua and Zhongguo Xinwen She (aimed mainly at overseas Chinese nationals).
• The main English-language daily is the China Daily.
• There is also the weekly news magazine Beijing Review, with editions in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

• Chinese Central TV (CCTV) is a state-run national broadcaster, with networks that include English-language CCTV-9.

• China National Radio is state run.
• China Radio International is a state-run external broadcaster with programmes in more than 40 languages.