gobackOfficial name : The People's Republic of China
Capital: Beijing
Area: 9 596 960 km²
Population: 1.37 billion (2011)
Nationalities: The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities.
Language :There are also several major linguistic groups within the Chinese language itself. The most spoken varieties are Mandarin (spoken by over 70% of the population), Wu, Yue (Cantonese), Min, Xiang, Gan, and Hakka.
Incumbent President: Hu Jintao
Prime minister: Wen Jiabao
Location and territory：China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or one-fifteenth of the world's land mass.The border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and the coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China seas.
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Topography and Major rivers
With a broad area, China's topography is very complex. The outline descends step by step from the west to the east. Mountains and hilly land take up 65 percent of the total area. There are five main mountain ranges. Seven mountain peaks are higher than 8,000 meters above sea level. The Bohai Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea embrace the east and southeast coast.
China ranges from mostly plateaus and mountains in the west to lower lands in the east. Principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Yellow River (Huang He, north-central), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong (river), and Brahmaputra ), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean.
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Climate
The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (containing Beijing) has summer daytime temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius and winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (containing Shanghai) has a temperate continental climate with very hot summers and cold winters. The southern zone (containing Guangzhou) has a subtropical climate with very hot summers and mild winters.
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Natural resources
coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)
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History
China is one of the oldest and greatest continuous civilizations in the world's history. China was born approximately 4,000 years ago and despite of suffer a lot of social, political and cultural changes, conserves many of their ancient traditions until this time.
The first relic of the Chinese language is marked in a Turtle shell which dates to around 1500 BC from the legendary Shang Dynasty. Chinese civilization began with some city-states those were built and flourished in the fertile valleys of The Yellow River for hundreds of years. Presumably in 221 BC, China became integrated as a big kingdom under the control of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.
Successive dynasties ruled progressively larger parts of what is now China. These dynasties developed a government system that allowed the Emperor to have power over the great territory, but with the advice of counselors who were educated men, employed to serve as regime officials based on their skills rather than their family background.
In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party with its leader Mao Zedong, won the civil war and established China抯 present government. The Communists initiated several social and political reforms.
Since 1970s, Chinese Government have reintroduced aspects of a free-market economy and encouraged foreign investment. These significant changes are transforming to China in the first economical power in the world.
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Population
Total Population 1.37 billion (2011) China population is distributed unevenly with more in the east (more than 300 persons per square kilometer) and fewer in the west (about 40 persons per square kilometer. The national average density of population is 119 per square kilometer (1990 census).
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Nationalities
The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities. They are Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, Va, She, Gaoshan, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Tu, Daur, Mulam, Qiang, Blang, Salar, Maonan, Gelo, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Ozbek, Russian, Ewenki, Benglong, Bonan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Drung, Oroqen, Hezhen, Moinba, Lhoba and Gelo. All nationalities in China are equal according to the law. The State protects their lawful rights and interests and promotes equality, unity and mutual help among them。
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Religions
The "official" orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC) until the overthrow of the last dynasty (1911 AD) centered on the worship of Shangdi ("Supreme God") or "Heaven" as an omnipotent force. This faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.
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Administrative Divisions
China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 Special Administrative Regions - Hong Kong and Macao.
