Several Chinese cities had urban electric tramways
in the early 20th century, most of which were dismantled in the 1950s–1970s. The only surviving tramways are in
Dalian (Dairen) and
Changchun (see
trams in Dalian and
trams in Changchun).
Nanjing (Nanking) had from 1907 to 1958. The
first subway in China was built in
Beijing in 1969 (but it was only handed over to civilian control in 1981, and trial operations ended later that same year; before which, credentials were required). The
Tianjin Metro followed in 1984. The
MTR Corporation Limited from across the border in
Hong Kong has investment, consulting and management stakes in the rapid transit systems of several mainland Chinese cities (having completed
their first section of subway and entered into revenue operation in 1979 in New Kowloon, at the time when the territory was
under British rule). The rapid growth of the
Chinese economy since the 1980s has created a huge surge in demand for urban transport. This prompted cities across China to draft proposals for subway networks, with
Shanghai and
Guangzhou opening their first subway sections in the 1990s, inspiring more cities to propose their own networks. In 1995, the Central Government, alarmed by the high costs and financial debt of these ambitious subway plans, issued a "notice on the suspension of approval of urban underground rapid rail transit projects," barring new subway systems outside Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Shanghai from being built. At the time
Nanjing,
Wuhan,
Chongqing,
Dalian and
Shenzhen had advanced proposals waiting to be approved.
Wuhan,
Chongqing,
Dalian managed to circumvent the moratorium on subway construction by constructing and opening lower-cost elevated lines,
light metros, and
monorails in the early 2000s.
Changchun was the first city to construct a real
light rail system in China, which began operating in 2002. Its first transit line,
Line 3, is a light rail line that is not fully grade-separated, still having four level crossings as of 2023. It's also the only rapid transit system in China that combines light rail and rapid transit lines, which can be directly transferred between each other. Rapid urbanization in China led to severe congestion and pollution in urban areas, prompting the suspension to be lifted. Initially,
light metro lines using small profile and shorter rolling stock were constructed to reduce costs. It was assumed that, as ridership grows, the line will operate trains with a low headway to increase capacity. This design paradigm was known in China as "small rolling stock, high density" operation. However, after a few years operating, many of these lines such as Guangzhou Metro
Line 3,
Line 6, Shanghai Metro
Line 6, and
Line 8 were severely overcapacity. Guangzhou Metro
Line 3 was able to reconfigure from 3-car to 6-car trains to slightly alleviate overcapacity. This led many cities, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu, to adopt higher-capacity designs on newer lines. Since the mid-2000s, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has rapidly accelerated, with most of the world's new subway mileage in the past decade opening in China. From 2009 to 2015, China built 87 mass transit rail lines, totaling , in 25 cities at the cost of
¥988.6 billion. In 2016, the Chinese government lowered the minimum population criteria for a city to start planning a metro system from 3 million to 1.5 million residents. As part of its
13th Five Year Plan, the Chinese government published a transport whitepaper titled "Development of China's Transport". The plan envisions a more sustainable transport system, with priority given to high-capacity public transit, particularly
urban rail transit and
bus rapid transit. All cities with over 3 million residents will start or continue to develop urban rail networks.
Regional rail networks will be constructed internally to connect and integrate urban agglomerations such as the
Jingjinji,
Yangtze River Delta, and
Pearl River Delta areas. In 2017, some 43 smaller third-tier cities in China have received approval to develop subway lines.
Commencement dates of lines and extensions ;Legend: – Lines / extensions in operation. – Lines / extensions under testing. ==Rapid transit==