Mainland railway and air transport sectors undergo hi-tech revolution

On land and in the skies, the mainland is in the grips of an unprecedented transport revolution that has potentially far-reaching economic ramifications.

From Qiqihar in the far northeast to Dali in Yunnan province, from Urumqi in Xinjiang to Shenzhen, the entire nation will soon be interlinked with a vast network of high-speed trains.

In a hangar on the outskirts of Shanghai, engineers are furiously working to build the mainland's newest and in many respects the first domestically designed-and-built large commercial jet, which state leaders hope may one day be able to compete on an even footing with aviation giants such as Boeing and Airbus.

The seemingly unconnected transport projects are two prongs of a strategy central to the 12th five-year plan to 2015.

The development of both high-speed rail and aerospace engineering is crucial to establishing China's image as a technological innovator rather than simply the world's factory, a monstrous assembly line crudely producing goods designed and perfected elsewhere.

The central government is determined to push the mainland economy up the quality ladder, away from the mass manufacturing of low-end products towards high-value, high-technology products that provide a far greater return on investment - and these high-profile projects are integral to shifting the international perception of China's industries in that direction.

Mark Williams, a senior China economist for Capital Economics, said the central government's aims were rooted in the desire to swiftly improve national living standards, but he questioned the feasibility of the ambitious timeframes.