sentences:  Providing 200 telephone lines, and fifteen radio and television channels, the Shiyan Weixing demonstrated the utility of a communications satellite to link the developed coastal regions of Eastern China with the inhospitable and inaccessible regions of Western China.Functioning until 1988, when it was parked in a graveyard orbit, Shiyan Weixing paved the way for the operational Shiyong Weixings, which remained China's primary communications satellite until replaced by the Dong Fang Hong 3.The satellite was cylindrical with a height of , a diameter of and weighed 441 kilograms (972 lb).