Facts about China Population | 1,330,044,544 (July 2008 | Capital | Beijing | Time zone | UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
note: despite its size, all of C | Location |
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
|
General info about China
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.
Disease threats degree of risk: intermediate
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and
Languages spoken Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) What about drugs? major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle region of Southeast Asia; growing domestic drug abuse problem; source country for chemical precursors, despite new regulations on its large chemical industry Ethnic division Han Chinese 91.5%, Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uyghur, Tujia, Yi, Mongol, Tibetan, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, and other nationalities 8.5% (2000 census) HIV/AIDS prevalence rate 0.1% (2003 est.) Climate extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north Resources coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) Economy China's economy during the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy. Reforms started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, the foundation of a diversified banking system, the development of stock markets, the rapid growth of the non-state sector, and the opening to foreign trade and investment. China has generally implemented reforms in a gradualist or piecemeal fashion, including the sale of minority shares in four of China's largest state banks to foreign investors and refinements in foreign exchange and bond markets in 2005. After keeping its currency tightly linked to the US dollar for years, China in July 2005 revalued its currency by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. Cumulative appreciation of the renminbi against the US dollar since the end of the dollar peg was more than 20% by late 2008. The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2008 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still lower middle-income. Annual inflows of foreign direct investment in 2007 rose to nearly $84 billion. By the end of 2007, nearly 7,000 domestic Chinese enterprises had made an aggregate $118 billion in direct investments in 173 countries and regions around the world. The Chinese government faces numerous economic development challenges, including: (a) sustaining adequate job growth for tens of millions of migrants, new entrants to the work force, and workers laid off from state-owned enterprises; (b) reducing corruption and other economic crimes; and (c) containing environmental damage and social strife related to the economy's rapid transformation. Economic development has been more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and approximately 200 million rural laborers and their dependents have relocated to urban areas to find work. One demographic consequence of the "one child" policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the north - is another long-term problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development. In 2007 China intensified government efforts to improve environmental conditions, tying the evaluation of local officials to environmental targets, publishing a national climate change policy, and establishing a high level leading group on climate change, headed by Premier WEN Jiabao. The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil. In late 2008, as China commemorated the 30th anniversary of its historic economic reforms, the global economic downturn began to slow foreign demand for Chinese exports for the first time in several years. The government vowed to continue reforming the economy and emphasized the need to increase domestic consumption in order to make China less dependent on foreign exports for GDP growth in the future. Environment 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 Cities in Chinaacheng aksu alihe altay anbu anda angangxi anjiang anju ankang anlu anqing anqiu anshan anshun anyang babu badaojiang baicheng baijiantan baiquan baishishan baiyin bamiantong baoding baoji baoning baoqing baoshan baoying bayan beian beibei beidao beihai beipiao bengbu benxi bianzhuang bijie binzhou boli bose boshan botou bozhou buhe caidian cangzhou caohai caohe chaihe changchun changde changji changli changping changqing changsha changtu changying changzhou chaohu chaoyang chaozhou chengde chengdu chenghai chengmai chengzihe chenzhou chifeng chizhou chongqing choucheng chuncheng chuzhou cuiluan daan dafeng dali dalian daliang dalianwan dalinghe dancheng dandong dangtu danjiangkou danshui daokou dashiqiao dashitou datong dawukou daxian daye dayong dehui dengfeng dengzhou deqing deyang dezhou didao dinghai dingtao dingzhou dongdu dongfeng dongguan donghai dongkan dongli dongling dongning dongsheng dongtai dongying dongzhen ducheng dunhua duyun encheng enshi erdaojiang erenhot ezhou fangshan feicheng fengcheng fengkou fengrun fengxian fengzhen fenyi foshan fujin fuli fuling fulitun fushan fushun fuxin fuyang fuyu fuzhou gannan ganzhou gaogou gaomi gaoyou gaozhou gejiu genhe gongzhuling guangshui guangyuan guangzhou gucheng guicheng guilin guiren guiyang guozhen gushi guye haian haicheng haikou hailar hailin hailun haimen haizhou hami hanchuan handan hangu hangzhou hanting hanyang hanzhong harbin hebi hecun hede hefei hegang heihe heishan helong hengshan hengshui hengyang heshan heyang heze hohhot hongan honggang honghu hongjiang houma huadian huaibei huaicheng huaidian huaihua huainan huaiyin huaiyuan huanan huangchuan huangcun huangmei huangnihe huangpi huangpu huangyan huangzhai huangzhou huanren huazhou huicheng huilong huinan huizhou hulan hulan ergi humen hunchun huoqiu hushitai hutang huzhou jiamusi jian jiangdu jiangkou jiangmen jiangyan jiangyin jiangyou jianhu jiaocheng jiaohe jiaojiang jiaonan jiaozhou jiaozuo jiaxing jiayuguan jiazi jidong jiehu jieshi jieshou jiexiu jijiang jilin jimo jinan jinchang jincheng jinchengjiang jingdezhen jingmen jingzhou jinhua jining jinji jinsha jinxi jinxiang jinzhou jishou jishu jishui jiujiang jiupu jiuquan jiutai jixi juxian juye kaifeng kaihua kaili kaitong kaiyuan karamay kashi keshan korla kouqian kuandian kuche kunming kunyang kuytun laibin laiwu laiyang laizhou langfang langxiang lanxi lanzhou laohekou lasa leiyang lengshuijiang lengshuitan leshan liancheng liangxiang lianran lianyuan lianzhou liaocheng liaoyang liaozhong licheng lichuan liling linchuan linfen lingao lingdong lingyuan linhai linjiang linkou linping linqing linqiong linqu linshu linshui linxi linxia lishan lishu liuhe liusha liuzhou liyang longfeng longjiang longjing longkou longyan loudi luan luancheng lubu lujiang luocheng luohe luorong luoyang luqiao lushunkou luzhou maanshan maba mabai macheng manzhouli maoming mata meihekou meilu meizhou mengcheng mengyin mentougou mianyang minggang mingguang mingshui mingyue mishan miyang mudanjiang mudu mujiayingzi nancha nanchang nanchong nanding nandu nanfeng nangong nanjing nanlong nanma nanning nanpiao nantai nantong nanyang nanzhang nanzhou nehe neijiang nenjiang nianzishan ningan ningbo ninghai ningxiang ningyang nongan panshi panzhihua peking pengcheng pingdingshan pingdu pingliang pingshan pingxiang pingyi pingyin pingzhuang pulandian pumiao puqi putian puyang qianan qianguo qianjiang qidong qingan qingdao qinggang qingquan qingyuan qinhuangdao qinnan qinzhou qiongshan qiqihar qitaihe qixia qiyang quanzhou qufu qujing quzhou ranghulu renqiu rizhao rongcheng ruian sanbu sanchazi sanmenxia sanming shache shahe shancheng shanghai shangqiu shangrao shangzhi shanhetun shanting shantou shaoguan shaowu shaoxing shaoyang shaping shashi shenjiamen shenxian shenyang shenzhen shihezi shilong shima shishou shitanjing shiyan shizilu shizuishan shouguang shuangcheng shuangyang shuangyashan shuiji shuizhai shulan shunyi simao sishui songjianghe songling suicheng suifenhe suihua suileng suining suixi suizhou sujiatun suozhen suzhou tahe taian taicheng taihe taikang tailai taixing taiyuan taizhou tancheng tanggu tangjiazhuang tangping tangshan tangzhai taonan taozhuang tengzhou tianjin tianmen tianpeng tieli tieling tongchuan tongliao tongling tongren tongshan tongzhou tongzi tumen tunxi urumqi wangkui wangou wangqing wanning wanxian weifang weihai weihe weinan wencheng wenling wenshang wenzhou wuan wuchang wucheng wuda wuhan wuhu wulanhaote wuning wuwei wuxi wuxue wuzhou xiamen xian xiangdong xiangfan xiangxiang xianning xianshuigu xiantao xianyang xiaogan xiaolan xiaolingwei xiaoshan xiaoshi xiaoweizhai xiaoyi xiashi xiazhen xichang xifeng xihe xihua ximei xinan xingcheng xinglongshan xingtai xingyi xining xinmin xinpu xinqing xintai xinxiang xinyang xinye xinyu xinzhi xinzhou xiongshi xiongyue xiongzhou xiuyan xixiang xuanhua xuanwu xuanzhou xuchang xucheng xunchang xuzhou yaan yakeshi yanan yancheng yangcun yanggu yangjiang yangliuqing yangshan yangshe yangzhou yanji yanliang yantai yantongshan yanzhou yashan yatou yebaishou yian yibin yichang yicheng yichun yidu yigou yilan yima yinchuan yingcheng yingkou yingshang yingzhong yining yishui yiyang yizheng yongan yongchang yongfeng yongzhou youhao yuancheng yuanping yuci yudong yueyang yulin yumen yuncheng yunhe yunjinghong yunyang yushan yushu yuxia yuyao yuzhou zalantun zaoyang zaozhuang zhangdian zhangjiakou zhangye zhangzhou zhanjiang zhaocheng zhaodong zhaoqing zhaotong zhaoyang zhaoyuan zhaozhou zhengjiatun zhenhai zhenjiang zhenlai zhicheng zhifang zhongshu zhongxing zhoucheng zhoucun zhoukou zhuanghe zhucheng zhuhai zhuji zhumadian zhuozhou zhuzhou zigong ziyang zouxian zunyi
|
Beer in China (0.33l) | Beijing | ~ 0.6 EUR | BEIJING | ~ 0.6 EUR | Beijing | ~ 0.6 EUR | Changchun | ~ 0.1 EUR | Chengdu | ~ 0.8 EUR | Chongqing | ~ 0.1 EUR | Foshan | ~ 1.3 EUR | Guangzhou | ~ 1.7 EUR | Hainan | ~ 0.2 EUR | Jinan | ~ 1 EUR | Nanning | ~ 0.2 EUR | Shanghai | ~ 2.5 EUR | Shanghai | ~ 2.5 EUR | Shenzhen | ~ 1 EUR | Suzhou | ~ 1.1 EUR | Suzhou | ~ 1.1 EUR | Tianjin | ~ 2.3 EUR | Wuhu | ~ 0.1 EUR | Yangshou | ~ 0.5 EUR | Yantai | ~ 0.3 EUR |
|
Explore countries around the world |