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China Highway Travel Tips

Traveling across China by road as opposed to by plane or rail is a unique way of seeing China. The long distance bus system holds several advantages as a means of travel over the trains or flying. Firstly, it actually does go everywhere. Secondly, bus tickets are both cheaper and easier to purchase than rail or air tickets as buses are plentiful and not in as high demand amongst Chinese travelers. Lastly, all major cities and most large towns have long distance bus stations and the tickets are sold at the station itself and booking in advance is not required allowing more flexibility in your itinerary. The buses do not offer different classes of seat within a single vehicle.
China's national highway system has been designed in a radiating and netted form, and the highways have been numbered in three different ways. By the end of 2005, the total mileage of all highways in China had already reached 1.9305 million kilometers (1,199,557 miles), carrying a passenger volume of 16.92 billion people a year. With a total of 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles), the overall length of the expressways in China is the second longest in the world. With the increased demands of China's tremendous development the highway system is playing an ever more vital role in China's transportation. Many highways, including roads and expressways, are now in the process of design for construction in the near or far future.

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