水　运

　　中国水运的发展历史十分悠久，远在商代就有了帆船。隋朝大运河的开通，为南北水上运输提供了极大的便利。明朝郑和七次下西洋，远及非洲东部沿海。

　　China's water transport has a long history. Early in the Shang Dynasty (1600 -1046 BC) there were sailing boats. The great canal in the Sui Dynasty (581 -618 AD) provided great convenience for south-north water transport. In the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644 AD), Zheng He (1371 -1433 AD) navigated across seas seven times and reached the eastern coast of Africa in one of his voyages.

　　中国河流众多，海岸线漫长，水运条件优越。长江是中国最重要的内河航运大动脉。其干流从四川宜宾到入海口，全长2,813千米，全年可以通航，重庆、武汉、南京是长江沿岸重要的港口城市。珠江、松花江、黑龙江、淮河以及京杭运河也有一定的通航价值。

　　中国海运条件优越，拥有许多港口，如上海、大连、秦皇岛、天津、青岛、宁波、厦门、广州等。远洋船舶可达世界150多个国家和地区。

　　China has numerous rivers and a long coastline and advantageous water transport conditions. The Yangtze River is the most important inland shipping artery. Its main stream, from Yibin in Sichuan Province to the sea, has a total length of 2,813 km and is open to navigation all year round. Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing are important ports along the river. The Pearl River, the Songhua River, the Heilongjiang River, the Huaihe River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal are also of certain navigation value.

　　China has favorable conditions for marine transportation with many harbors, such as Shanghai, Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen, Guangzhou and so on. There are shipping routes from these ports to more than 150 countries and regions all over the world.