By then, more than a half of capital cities across the country will receive EMS letters from another capital city within two days, said the bureau.

China sped up its general mail service last year.

An official from the bureau said that with the opening up of China's services market, China will witness more fierce competition in this field in the future, and the EMS will be at the core of competition.

To be competitive in the market, the bureau plans to open three more mail airlines, from Chengdu to Shanghai, Qingdao to Shanghai, and from Xiamen to Shanghai, beginning March 28. China now has two postal airlines, from Beijing to Shanghai and from Guangzhou to Shanghai.

In the future, other airlines, such as Wuhan to Shanghai, Shenyang to Shanghai and Xi'an to Shanghai will be opened, with Shanghai as the mail exchange center.

Besides, the bureau will take measures to cut short the transportation of EMS mails within postal offices and adopt advanced information technologies to deal with this kind of mail.

(Xinhua 03/22/2001)