Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China

The Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China (MOT; Chinese: 中华人民共和国交通运输部) is an agency responsible for railway, road, air and water transportation regulations of the Mainland China. Before March 2013, it was not in charge of the conventional railway transportation, which was administrated by the Ministry of Railways. It is a constituent department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Ministry of Transport of the
People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国交通运输部
Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Jiāotōng Yùnshūbù
Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Sign of the Traffic Law Enforcement of the PRC

Ministry of Transport HQ
Agency overview
Formed1912
Present form established March 2008
Preceding agencies
Jurisdiction Mainland China
HeadquartersBeijing
Agency executive
Parent agencyState Council
Websitehttp://www.mot.gov.cn/

History

The MOT's origins date back to 1912 when the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of China was established.

In early March 1995, The 2008 National People's Congress announced the creation of the super ministry for road, air and water transport. The Ministry of Communications, Civil Aviation Administration and the State Postal Bureau are merged into the new Ministry of Transportation of the People's Republic of China. This excluded rail transport which was administered solely by the Ministry of Railways until March 2013.[1]

The Ministry of Transport has several agencies reporting to it. They are the:

Former English name

The predecessor to the current ministry was the Ministry of Communications (MOC). In other countries, the Ministry of Communications is responsible for telecommunications and broadcasting. However, the Chinese Ministry of Communications had no such responsibilities. Instead, the MOC supervised road and water transport, while other ministries oversaw telecommunications and broadcasting. The discrepancy was caused by changes in the English language that took place after the Ministry was first created.

One definition of the English word communication is the linking of two points by a means of transport.[2][3] Roads, railways, and waterways were all considered to be forms of communication.[4] When the Qing Dynasty established the Ministry of Posts and Communications in 1906, the English word communication still carried this meaning.[5] After the People's Republic of China was established, other ministries were created to oversee railways, airlines, postal services, and telecommunications. The remaining transportation functions remained with the Ministry of Communications.

However, the English language moved in the opposite direction. By 1907, communication had begun to acquire a different meaning: a system of transmitting information over a distance.[3] This eventually became the primary meaning of the word communication, while transport and transportation became the preferred terms for the linking of two points. As a result, the Chinese Ministry of Communications ended up with a different set of responsibilities from the Ministry of Communications in other countries. The Republic of China did not have this problem because it kept telecommunications and postal services in its Ministry after 1949, renaming it the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (Taiwan).

List of Ministers
№NameTook officeLeft office
1Zhang BojunSeptember 1954January 1958
2Wang ShoudaoJanuary 1958July 1964
3Sun Daguang (孙大光)July 1964January 1975
4Ye FeiJanuary 1975February 1979
5Zeng Sheng (曾生)February 1979March 1981
6Peng Deqing (彭德清)March 1981May 1982
7Li Qing (李清)May 1982July 1984
8Qian Yongchang (钱永昌)July 1984March 1991
9Huang ZhendongMarch 1991October 2002
10Zhang ChunxianOctober 2002December 2005
11Li ShenglinDecember 2005July 2012
12Yang ChuantangAugust 2012September 2016
13Li XiaopengSeptember 2016Incumbent

See also

References
  1. "Beijing opens green super-ministry | The Australian". Archived from the original on 27 August 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  2. "Communication (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. "Communication, n.". The Oxford English Dictionary.
  4. Trotter, R.A., Captain J. K. (1881). "The Military Prize Essay, 1881. Military Operations in the United Kingdom Considered, Particularly as Influenced by the Enclosed Nature of the Country". The Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XXV (CIX): 3. Means of Communication. These may be divided into rail communications, road communications, and water communications.
  5. "Leading in Relief to Fire Sufferers". Railway World. Philadelphia and New York. L (17): 1. 27 April 1906. At first rail communication on the north of San Francisco over the Southern Pacific was cut off above Santa Rosa, which is sixty miles above the Western metropolis. On the south trains could not run above Fresno.
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