On September 29th, 2017,  the world's first quantum cryptography communication backbone—Beijing-Shanghai Backbone was formally put into use.

It took 42 months to complete the construction of the project. By the end of 2016, the whole line had been completed and the space-ground integrated link was established. After over half a year of application tests and long-term stability tests, the project passed the technical check and acceptance through the whole network at the end of August, 2017.

The Beijing-Shanghai Backbone has achieved the quantum communication backbone network which spans more than 2,000 km, linking Beijing and Shanghai and going through Jinan and Hefei cities. By connecting Xinglong ground station, one of the ground stations of“Micius” satellite, with ground relay access point in Beijing, it has truly established space-ground integrated wide-area quantum communication link. It has also realized the first-ever intercontinental quantum communication through the communication between “Micius” satellite and the ground station in Austria.

The formal launch of Beijing-Shanghai Backbone shows that China has developed the framework of the space-ground integrated wide-area quantum communication network, representing a solid step towards the realization of global quantum cryptography communication network in the future.