Country name:

China

Conventional long form: People's Republic of China
Conventional short form: China
Local short form: Zhong Guo
Abbreviation: PRC
Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo

Government type:

Communist state

Capital:

Beijing

Administrative divisions:

23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions* (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities** (shi, singular and plural); Anhui, Beijing**, Chongqing**, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi*, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol*, Ningxia*, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai**, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin**, Xinjiang*, Xizang* (Tibet), Yunnan, Zhejiang; note - China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau

Independence:

221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty 221 BC; Qing or Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February 1912; People's Republic established 1 October 1949)

National holiday:

Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949)

Constitution:

Most recent promulgation 4 December 1982

Population:

1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 24.3% (male 163,821,081; female 148,855,387)
15-64 years: 68.4% (male 452,354,428; female 426,055,713)
65 years and over: 7.3% (male 43,834,528; female 49,382,568) (2002 est.)

Location:

Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Geographic coordinates:

35 00 N, 105 00 E

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Area:

Total: 9,596,960 sq km
Land: 9,326,410 sq km
Water: 270,550 sq km

Area - comparative:

Slightly smaller than the US

Land boundaries:

Total: 22,147.34 km
Border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,677 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km

Coastline:

14,500 km

Climate:

Extremely diverse; tropical in south to sub-arctic in north

Terrain:

Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Elevation extremes:

Lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
Highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)

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)

Land use:

Arable land: 13.31%
Permanent crops: 1.2%
Other: 85.49% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land:

525,800 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:

Frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Environment - current issues:

Air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade in endangered species

Environment - international agreements:

Party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
Signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note:

World's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US); Mount Everest on the border with Nepal, is the world's tallest peak; soybean, one of the oldest of cultivated crops, is believed to have originated in China