Our country is one of the cradles of mankind.In ancient times, our ancestors evolved from the ancient apes, learned to make tools, and then started the purposeful activities of transportation and information transmission in hunting and making a living.The most primitive modes of transportation are hand-carrying, overhead, shoulder-carrying, and back-carrying; the most primitive methods of information transmission are calling and gesturing.At that time, due to the development of social productivity, there was a division of labor in animal husbandry and agriculture, and product exchange began, resulting in a small amount of transportation in a local area.Later, the division of labor between handicraft industry and agriculture appeared, currency was produced, the volume of commodity exchange increased rapidly, and the scope and quantity of transportation also continued to expand and increase accordingly.The social division of labor became more and more detailed, and the transportation industry specialized in transporting passengers and goods and the postal and telecommunications industry specialized in delivering information gradually formed.

After transportation became a relatively independent professional industry, the content and methods of the ancient transportation industry and post and telecommunications industry were constantly developed and enriched with the development of social productivity and the progress of science and technology.In the long river of human history, the transportation industry has gone from human dragging in ancient times to today's air transportation, and the post and telecommunications industry has gone through thousands of years from ancient beacon fire alarms to today's satellite communications.Specifically, the development process of my country's ancient transportation industry, from ancient times to the end of the Qing Dynasty, can be roughly divided into the following five stages.

In the pre-Qin period, the ancient traffic in my country began to take shape.As early as the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago, the transportation in ancient my country had developed.According to oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, unearthed objects, and ancient books, the Shang Dynasty not only had means of transportation such as "chariots and horses", "chariots on foot" and "boats and boats", but also began to establish a "day (ri day) transmission" system to carry out effective Organizational communication activities.In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wars were frequent, and many roads for chariots were built.The land transportation of the countries in the Central Plains is criss-crossed, and "rizhi", that is, post stations, have been set up along the way.Water transportation not only utilizes natural channels such as the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, and Yellow River, but also has successively dug artificial canals such as the Xu River, Han Hangou, Heshui, and Honggou.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, water and land transportation formed a national network.The formation of a nationwide transportation network began in the Qin Dynasty.After Qin Shihuang unified China, he promulgated the decree of "cars on the same track" to renovate and connect the messy traffic routes in the past, and build expressways all over the country, so that vehicles can travel everywhere.At the same time, post roads were set up, decrees on post posts were promulgated, and a postal transmission system for delivering official documents and military information was established.The Han Dynasty opened up the "Silk Road" that leads to the West through the Western Regions.On the basis of the original roads of the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty continued to expand and develop a transportation network centered on Kyoto and radiating in all directions.During the Qin and Han dynasties, the water transportation industry developed greatly. The Lingqu dug by the Qin Dynasty connected the Yangtze River and the Pearl River systems.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, my country's water and land transportation entered a new historical stage.During the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal project running from north to south was completed. This is the earliest, largest and longest canal in the world.During the Tang Dynasty, maritime trade developed gradually, opened up new sea routes, and strengthened the communication and connection between the East and the West.Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, developed into an important hub and center of domestic and international transportation, and became one of the largest cities in the world.In the Tang Dynasty, post stations were widely set up on various water and land main roads, with one station every 30 miles, forming a system of post roads all over the country with Chang'an, the capital, as the center.All roads lead to Chang'an.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the ancient traffic entered its heyday.In the Song Dynasty, the compass was applied to sea-going ships, which greatly improved navigation technology.The Song Dynasty already used sailing ships as an important means of maritime transportation, sailing from Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and even the Persian Gulf.The coastal shipping industry in the Yuan Dynasty was the most developed.In the Yuan Dynasty, in addition to continuing to dig canals to make the entire Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal open to navigation, it also opened up a water transport route mainly by sea, transporting 3.6 million shi of grain annually from the sea at most.The territory of the Yuan Dynasty was larger than that of the previous dynasties; the distribution of post roads was also wider than that of the previous dynasties.On the water and land passages across the country, Zhanchi (post stations) are set up all over the country, forming a dense post-road transportation network centered on Dadu (now Beijing) and leading to the whole country and overseas.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ancient traffic in my country declined day by day.The shipbuilding industry in the Ming Dynasty was the largest, and there was a peak of shipbuilding.The most important event in the history of transportation during this period was Zheng He, the great navigator of the Ming Dynasty, who made seven voyages across the ocean from 1405 to 1433 A.D., pushing ancient Chinese navigation activities to the peak.But the good times didn't last long. Soon after, the Ming and Qing dynasties implemented sea bans one after another, and the navigation industry never recovered. After the Opium War in 1840, imperialism invaded one after another, modern means of transportation trains, ships and automobiles emerged one after another, and railways, routes and roads were continuously opened up, so that the ancient water transport industry with sailboats as the main tool in our country was replaced by animal-drawn carts and rickshaws. The ancient land transportation industry as the main tool and the ancient postal communication industry with the post post as the main method are declining and gradually abandoned.