Sorry PokerPilot. The major Chinese airlines binned there Russian equipment years ago. It's all Boeing, Airbus or MD. On the offshore side all the sites I know of operate Eurocopter, Sikorsky, Bell or the licence produced Dauphin. The PLA Air Division use 332s as the VIP transport in Beijing and the government are just about to take delivery of two 225s. The military have a stack of Mils because they never throw anything away. A few years ago, admittedly, I saw a ramp covered with 1940s Mig 17s and IL 28s.
As far as internet is concerned I've only known two sites I can't get onto. BBC and Wikopedia. However there are other sites that will enable you to access these. All hotels of 4* or above have free ethernet connections in the room and with 375,000,000 active mobile phone accounts communication is no problem. My 2mb unlimited ADSL costs me US18 a month. It tends to slow up during the day because of saturation but otherwise it's fine.
The Chinese government is very concerned about keeping the flow of raw materials for their industrial expansion. Earlier this year they bought up the entire production of an major iron ore mine in Australia for five years at above the going rate. They invest in oil and politics to keep the flow going but they leave all the detail to people who now how to run it. That includes tranportation etc.
I'm afraid somebody else is going to sit on your seat in the bar. You will be too busy flying
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 3rd Dec 2007 at 06:55.