China Almanac
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National name: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
President: Jiang Zemin (1993)
Premier: Zhu Rongji (1998)
Area: 3,705,386 sq mi (9,596,960 sq km)1
Population (2001 est.): 1,273,111,290 (average rate of natural increase: 0.9%); birth rate: 16.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 28.1/1000; density per sq mi: 344.
Capital (2000 est.): Beijing, 8,450,000 (metro. area)
Largest cities (1990 est.): Shanghai (2000 est.), 11,800,000 (metro. area); Hong Kong (Xianggang) (2000 est.), 6,750,000 (metro. area); Tianjin (Tientsin) (2000 est.), 5,350,000 (metro. area); Shenyang (Mukden), 4,669,737; Wuhan, 4,040,113; Guangzhou, 3,935,193; Chungking (Chongquing) 3,127,178; Haerbin, 2,990,921; Chengdu, 2,954,872; Xian, 2,872,539
Monetary unit: Yuan, Hong Kong Dollar
Languages: Chinese, Mandarin, also local dialects
Ethnicity/race: Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%. China has 56 ethnic groups
Religions: Officially atheist but traditional religion contains elements of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism
Literacy rate: 84% (1995)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1999 est.): $4.8 trillion; per capita $3,800. Real growth rate: 7%. Inflation: –1.3%. Unemployment: urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas. Arable land: 10%. Agriculture: rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish. Labor force: 700 million (1998 est.); agriculture, 50%; industry, 24%; services, 26% (1998). Industries: iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys, food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics, telecommunications. 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: $194.9 billion (f.o.b., 1999): machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods; mineral fuels, chemicals. Imports: $165.8 billion (c.i.f., 1999): machinery and equipment, plastics, chemicals, iron and steel, mineral fuels. Major trading partners: U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Netherlands, UK, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 110 million (1999 est.); mobile cellular: 23.4 million (1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998). Radios: 417 million (1997). 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). Televisions: 400 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (1999).
Transportation: Railways: total: 65,650 (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 expressways); unpaved: 938,700 km (1998 est.). Waterways: 110,000 km navigable (1999). Ports and harbors: Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Huangpu, Lianyungang, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Tianjin, Xiamen, Xingang, Yantai, Zhanjiang. Airports: 206 (1996 est.).
International disputes: 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; portions of the boundary with Tajikistan are indefinite; 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; agreement on land border with Vietnam was signed in December 1999, but details of alignment have not yet been made public.
Geography
China is slightly larger in area than the U.S. The greater part of the country is mountainous. Its principal ranges are the Tien Shan, the Kunlun chain, and the Trans-Himalaya. In the southwest is Tibet, which China annexed in 1950. The Gobi Desert lies to the north. China proper consists of three great river systems: the Yellow River (Huang He), 2,109 mi (5,464 km) long; the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), the third-longest river in the world at 2,432 mi (6,300 km); and the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang), 848 mi (2,197 km) long.
