Subways In China

Workers of the Revolution: It's time to ride the People's Subway!

The dixia tielu (known by the locals as the dittie), means the underground iron road. A similar definition, hiro den, or "iron road", exists in Japan. The term qinggui denotes light rail, while the term kuaigui refers to a higher speed rail, i.e. an interurban, but not a subway.

Official policy states that only one transit system is allowed per city. Cities which try to build more than one are forced to kill the project. Things are rapidly changing in the home of the People's Subway, as cities build hundreds of kilometers of fresh new subways, light rails, monorails, and monosubways. Presently there are 11 Chinese cities with subways, but look out: there are 20 more applicants clamoring to build their own collective, happy system. As for the imperialist tramways , many still exist today.

For general, non-subway-specific information, be sure to check out Railways of China.

Metros are also planned for Changzhou Metro • Datong Metro • Dongguan Metro • Fuzhou Metro • Guiyang Metro • Hefei Subway • Jiaxing Metro • Jinan Metro • Lanzhou Metro • Nanning Metro • Quanzhou Metro • Shijiazhuang Metro • Taiyuan Metro • Ürümqi Metro • Xiamen Metro • Xuzhou Metro • Macau LRT*

Brief China Radio International feature about trams in China.
Urban railways of China
Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Group
Subways Future - a site dedicated to systems in China, Korea and Japan