Far East Countries
China
Official name: People's Republic of China
National name: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
President: Hu Jintao (2003)
Prime Minister: Wen Jiabao (2003)
Current government officials
Land area: 3,600,927 sq mi (9,326,411 sq km); total area: 3,705,407 sq mi (9,596,960 sq km)1
Population (2008 est.): 1,330,044,605 (growth rate: 0.6%); birth rate: 13.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 21.1.1/1000; life expectancy: 73.1; density per sq mi: 142
Capital (2003 est.): Beijing, 10,849,000 (metro. area), 8,689,000 (city proper)
Largest cities: Shanghai, 12,665,000 (metro. area), 10,996,500 (city proper); Tianjin (Tientsin), 9,346,000 (metro. area), 4,333,900 (city proper); Wuhan, 3,959,700; Shenyang (Mukden), 3,574,100; Guangzhou, 3,473,800; Haerbin, 2,904,900; Xian, 2,642,100; Chungking (Chongquing) 2,370,100; Chengdu, 2,011,000; Hong Kong (Xianggang), 1,361,200
Monetary unit: Yuan/Renminbi
Languages: Standard Chinese (Mandarin/Putonghua), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
Ethnicity/race: Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%
National Holiday: Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, October 1
Religions: Officially atheist; Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%–4%, Muslim 1%–2% (2002 est.)
Literacy rate: 90.9% (2006 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $6.991 trillion; per capita $5,300. Real growth rate: 11.4% (official data). Inflation: 4.8%. Unemployment: 4% official registered unemployment in urban areas; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas. Arable land: 15%. Agriculture: rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish. Labor force: 798 million (2006); agriculture 45%, industry 24%, services 31% (2006 est.). Industries: mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites. Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest). Exports: $974 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): machinery and equipment, plastics, optical and medical equipment, iron and steel. Imports: $777.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): machinery and equipment, oil and mineral fuels, plastics, optical and medical equipment, organic chemicals, iron and steel. Major trading partners: U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 350.43 million (2005); mobile cellular: 437.48 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 3,240 (of which 209 are operated by China Central Television, 31 are provincial TV stations and nearly 3,000 are local city stations) (1997). Internet hosts: 232,780 (2006). Internet users: 123 million (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 71,898 (2002). Highways: total: 1,870,661 km; paved: 1,515,797 km (with at least 34,288 km of expressways) ; unpaved: 354,864 km (2004). Waterways: 123,964 km (2003). Ports and harbors: Dalian, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai. Airports: 486 (2006 est.).
International disputes: in 2005, China and India initiate drafting principles to resolve all aspects of their extensive boundary and territorial disputes together with a security and foreign policy dialogue to consolidate discussions related to the boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, and other matters; recent talks and confidence-building measures have begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; about 90,000 ethnic Tibetan exiles reside primarily in India as well as Nepal and Bhutan; China asserts sovereignty over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions in the Spratlys but is not the legally binding "code of conduct" sought by some parties; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; China and Taiwan have become more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen rivers are in an uncontested dispute with North Korea and a section of boundary around Mount Paektu is considered indefinite; China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans; in 2004, China and Russia divided up the islands in the Amur, Ussuri, and Argun Rivers, ending a century-old border dispute; demarcation of the China-Vietnam boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundary delimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004, implementation has been delayed; environmentalists in Burma and Thailand remain concerned about China's construction of hydroelectric dams upstream on the Nujiang/Salween River in Yunnan Province.
1. Including Manchuria and Tibet.
Major sources and definitions
Provinces and Regions of China
Hong Kong
Macao