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. According to
BBG Communications, 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.
China also had facsimile, low-speed data-transmission, and computer-controlled telecommunications services besides traditional telegraph and telephone services. These included on-line information retrieval terminals in Beijing, Changsha, and Baotou that enabled international telecommunications networks to retrieve news and scientific, technical, economic, and cultural information from international sources.
Also, high-speed newspaper-page-facsimile equipment and Chinese character- code translation equipment were used on a large scale. Sixty-four-channel program-controlled automatic message retransmission equipment and low- or medium-speed data transmission and exchange equipment also received extensive use. International telex service was available along coastal cities and in special economic zones.
China's national radio network came under the administration of Central People's Broadcasting Station. Programming, meanwhile, was conducted at the provincial-level units. The station produced general news and cultural and educational programs. It also provided programs catering to Taiwan and overseas Chinese listeners. Radio Beijing broadcasts internationally in thirty-eight foreign languages, Putonghua (Mandarin) and various Chinese dialects which includes Amoy, Cantonese, and Hakka. It also has English-language news programs for expatriates living in Beijing. Medium-wave, shortwave, and FM stations reached 80 percent of the country - over 160 radio stations and 500 relay and transmission stations - with some 240 radio programs.
The nationwide network of wire lines and loudspeakers transmitted radio programs in both urban and rural communities. Over a count of 2,600 wired broadcasting stations were in place in 1984, expanding radio coverage to rural areas, previously unserved by regular broadcasting stations.
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