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 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
Map
references:
Asia
Area:
total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 22,143.34 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 4,673 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
Maritime
claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental
margin
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate:
extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic 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 8,848 m
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: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 43%
forests and woodland: 14%
other: 33% (1993 est.)
Irrigated
land: 498,720 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural
hazards: frequent typhoons (about five per year along
southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis;
earthquakes; droughts
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,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Nuclear Test Ban
Geography-note:
world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and
US)
People
Population:
1,246,871,951 (July 1999 est.)
Age
structure:
0-14 years: 26% (male 169,206,275; female 149,115,216)
15-64 years: 68% (male 435,047,915; female 408,663,265)
65 years and over: 6% (male 39,824,361; female 45,014,919)
(1999 est.)
Population
growth rate: 0.77% (1999 est.)
Birth
rate: 15.1 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death
rate: 6.98 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net
migration rate: -0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999
est.)
Sex
ratio:
at birth: 1.15 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.88 male(s)/female
total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant
mortality rate: 43.31 deaths/1,000 live births (1999
est.)
Life
expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.92 years
male: 68.57 years
female: 71.48 years (1999 est.)
Total
fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic
groups: Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan,
Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities
8.1%
Religions:
Daoism (Taoism), Buddhism, Muslim 2%-3%, Christian 1% (est.)
note: officially atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and
eclectic
Languages:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing
dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou),
Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects,
minority languages (see Ethnic divisions entry)
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 81.5%
male: 89.9%
female: 72.7% (1995 est.)
Government
Country
name:
conventional long form: People's Republic of China
conventional short form: China
local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
local short form: Zhong Guo
abbreviation: PRC
Data
code: CH
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
entry for the special administrative region of Hong Kong
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: National Day, 1 October (1949)
Constitution:
most recent promulgation 4 December 1982
Legal
system: a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely
criminal law; rudimentary civil code in effect since 1 January
1987; new legal codes in effect since 1 January 1980; continuing
efforts are being made to improve civil, administrative,
criminal, and commercial law
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive
branch:
chief of state: President JIANG Zemin (since 27 March 1993)
and Vice President HU Jintao (since 16 March 1998)
head of government: Premier ZHU Rongji (since 18 March 1998);
Vice Premiers QIAN Qichen (since 29 March 1993), LI Lanqing
(29 March 1993), WU Bangguo (since 17 March 1995), and WEN
Jiabao (since 18 March 1998)
cabinet: State Council appointed by the National People's
Congress (NPC)
elections: president and vice president elected by the National
People's Congress for five-year terms; elections last held
16-18 March 1998 (next to be held NA March 2003); premier
nominated by the president, confirmed by the National People's
Congress
election results: JIANG Zemin reelected president by the
Ninth National People's Congress with a total of 2,882 votes
(36 delegates voted against him, 29 abstained, and 32 did
not vote); HU Jintao elected vice president by the Ninth
National People's Congress with a total of 2,841 votes (67
delegates voted against him, 39 abstained, and 32 did not
vote)
Legislative
branch: unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo
Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,979 seats; members elected by municipal,
regional, and provincial people's congresses to serve five-year
terms)
elections: last held NA December-NA February 1998 (next
to be held late 2002-NA March 2003)
election results: percent of vote-NA; seats-NA
Judicial
branch: Supreme People's Court, judges appointed by
the National People's Congress
Political
parties: Chinese Communist Party or CCP [JIANG Zemin,
General Secretary of the Central Committee];
eight registered small parties controlled by CCP
International
organization participation: AfDB, APEC, AsDB, BIS, CCC,
CDB (non-regional), ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF,
IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer),
MINURSO, NAM (observer), OPCW, PCA, UN, UN Security Council,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNOMSIL, UNTSO,
UNU, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)
Flag
description: red with a large yellow five-pointed star
and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in
a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper
hoist-side corner
Economy
GDP:
purchasing power parity-$4.42 trillion (1998 est.)
GDP-real
growth rate: 7.8% (1998 est.) (official figures may
substantially overstate growth)
GDP-per
capita: purchasing power parity-$3,600 (1998 est.)
GDP-composition
by sector:
agriculture: 19%
industry: 49%
services: 32% (1997 est.)
Population
below poverty line: NA%
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.9% (1995)
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): -0.8% (1998 est.)
Labor
force: 696 million (1997 est.)
Labor
force-by occupation: agriculture 50%, industry 24%,
services 26% (1997)
Unemployment
rate: officially 3% in urban areas; substantial unemployment
and underemployment in rural areas (1998 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries:
iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles
and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear,
toys, food processing, autos, consumer electronics, telecommunications
Industrial
production growth rate: 8.8% (1998 est.)
Electricity-production:
1.16 trillion kWh (1998)
Electricity-production
by source:
fossil fuel: 93%
hydro: 6%
nuclear: 1%
other: 0% (1996 est.)
Electricity-consumption:
994.921 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity-exports:
6.025 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity-imports:
755 million kWh (1996)
Agriculture-products:
rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley,
cotton, oilseed; pork; fish
Exports:
$183.8 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports-commodities:
electrical machinery and equipment, machinery and mechanical
appliances, woven apparel, knit apparel, footwear, toys
and sporting goods (1998)
Exports-partners:
Hong Kong 21%, US 21%, Japan 14%, Germany, South Korea,
Netherlands, UK, Singapore, Taiwan (1997)
Imports:
$140.17 billion (c.i.f., 1998)
Imports-commodities:
electrical machinery and equipment, machinery and mechanical
appliances, plastics, iron and steel, scientific and photograph
equipment, paper and paper board (1998)
Imports-partners:
Japan 20%, US 12%, Taiwan 12%, South Korea 11%, Germany,
Hong Kong, Singapore, Russia (1997)
Debt-external:
$159 billion (1998 est.)
Economic
aid-recipient: $6.222 billion (1995)
Currency:
1 yuan (¥) = 10 jiao
Exchange
rates: yuan (¥) per US$1-8.28 (February 1999), 8.2779
(December 1998), 8.2790 (1998), 8.2898 (1997), 8.3142 (1996),
8.3514 (1995), 8.6187 (1994)
note: beginning 1 January 1994, the People's Bank of China
quotes the midpoint rate against the US dollar based on
the previous day's prevailing rate in the interbank foreign
exchange market
Fiscal
year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones:
105 million (1998 est.)
Telephone
system: domestic and international services are increasingly
available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic
system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and
all townships
domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular
telephone systems have been installed; a domestic satellite
system with 55 earth stations is in place
international: satellite earth stations-5 Intelsat (4 Pacific
Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean
Region) and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions);
several international fiber-optic links to Japan, South
Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and Germany
Radio
broadcast stations: AM 569, FM NA, shortwave 173
Radios:
216.5 million (1992 est.)
Television
broadcast stations: 209 (China Central Television, government-owned;
in addition there are 31 provincial TV stations and nearly
3,000 city TV stations) (1997)
Televisions:
300 million
Transportation
Railways:
total: 64,900 km (including 5,400 km of provincial "local"
rails)
standard gauge: 61,300 km 1.435-m gauge (12,000 km electrified;
20,000 km double track)
narrow gauge: 3,600 km 0.750-m gauge local industrial lines
(1998 est.)
note: a new total of 68,000 km has been estimated for early
1999
Highways:
total: 1.21 million km
paved: 271,300 km (with at least 24,474 km of motorways)
unpaved: 938,700 km (1998 est.)
Waterways:
109,800 km navigable (1997)
Pipelines:
crude oil 9,070 km; petroleum products 560 km; natural gas
9,383 km (1998)
Ports
and harbors: Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Huangpu,
Lianyungang, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao,
Shanghai, Shantou, Tianjin, Xiamen, Xingang, Yantai, Zhanjiang
Merchant
marine:
total: 1,759 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,828,349
GRT/24,801,291 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 2, bulk
330, cargo 855, chemical tanker 21, combination bulk 10,
combination ore/oil 1, container 121, liquefied gas tanker
20, multifunction large-load carrier 6, oil tanker 245,
passenger 8, passenger-cargo 47, refrigerated cargo 25,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 24, short-sea passenger 43, vehicle
carrier 1 (1998 est.)
Airports:
206 (1996 est.)
Airports-with
paved runways:
total: 192
over 3,047 m: 18
2,438 to 3,047 m: 65
1,524 to 2,437 m: 90
914 to 1,523 m: 13
under 914 m: 6 (1996 est.)
Airports-with
unpaved runways:
total: 14
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 5
under 914 m: 1 (1996 est.)
Transnational Issues
Disputes-international:
boundary with India in dispute; dispute over at least two
small sections of the boundary with Russia remain to be
settled, despite 1997 boundary agreement; most of the boundary
with Tajikistan in dispute; 33-km section of boundary with
North Korea in the Paektu-san (mountain) area is indefinite;
involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with
Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei;
maritime boundary dispute with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin;
Paracel Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam
and Taiwan; claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku
Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as does Taiwan; sections of land border
with Vietnam are indefinite
Illicit
drugs: major transshipment point for heroin produced
in the Golden Triangle; growing domestic drug abuse problem
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