An agreement was signed on Nov. 22 to built a quantum communications line connecting Wuhan and Hefei, the respective capitals of Hubei and Anhui provinces. According to the agreement, signed in Wuhan, construction of the line will officially start in 2017.

As a fundamental project, the communications line will be an important part of China's quantum communications network, according to Zhao Yong, president of QuantumCtek, one of the parties that signed the agreement.

Chen Yu’ao, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and chief engineer of the Beijing-Shanghai quantum communications line, explained that if the Wuhan-Hefei line is connected with the line linking Beijing and Shanghai, information security in big cities in central and eastern China will be significantly improved.

With the development of information science, traditional encryption technology no longer sufficiently protects information. But quantum communications lines boast ultra-high security. It is impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack information transmitted through them. Chen explained that information is transmitted through individual photons, none of which can be cloned or separated.

China began construction on the world’s first quantum communications line, linking Beijing and Shanghai, in 2013. The 2,000-kilometer line will be complete by the end of 2016.