The world's third
largest country, ranking after Russia and Canada, China has a
land area of about 9.6 million square kilometers, making up 6.5 percent of
earth's land mass. Approximately 98 percent of China's land area is
located between 20 and 50 north latitude. In climate, the greater part of
the country belongs to the temperate zone (i.e., the cold-temperate,
temperate, and warm-temperate zones) and the subtropical zone, which
respectively account for 45.6 and 26.1 percent of China's land area.
China is located in Central and East Asia.
It is bound by Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan to the north, North Korea,
the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east, the South China Sea,
the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal to the
south as well as India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
to the west. Over 66% of China is upland hill, mountains and plateaux
while the highest mountains and plateaux are found to the west. To the
north and east of the Tibetan Plateau the land decreases to the desert or
semidesert areas of Sinkiang and Inner Mongolia. To the northeast the
broad fertile Manchurian Plains are separated from North Korea by the
densely forested uplands of Changpai Shan. East of the Tibetan Plateau and
south of Inner Mongolia is the Sichuan Basin which is drained by the
Yangtze River that flows east across the southern plains to the East China
Sea. The southern plains along the east coast of China have rich, fertile
soils and are protected from the north winds. Both Hong Kong and Macau are
enclosed on the southeast coast. Major Cities (pop. est.); Shanghai
7,496,500, Beijing 5,769,600, Tientsen 4,574,700, Shen-yang 3,603,700,
Wu-han 3,284,200, Canton 2,914,300, Harbin 2,443,400 (1990). Land Use;
forested 14%, pastures 43%, agricultural-cultivated 10%, other 33% (1992).
 For
centuries China has stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of
the world in the arts and sciences. But in the first half of the 20th
century, China was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats,
and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under
MAO Zedong established a dictatorship
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 gradually introduced market-oriented
reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Output quadrupled in
the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP.
Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to
weaken
China is a
multi-religious country. Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism
and Protestantism, with the first three being more wide spread.Various
religions exert different influence on different ethnic groups. Islam is
followed by the Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tatar, Dongxiang, Salar and
Bonan nationalities; Buddhism and Lamaism are followed by the Tibetan,
Mongolian, Dai and Yugur nationalities; Christianity is followed by the
Miao, Yao and Yi nationalities; Shamanism is followed by the Oroqen,
Ewenki and Daur nationalities; the majority Han nationality believes in
Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism.The official and national language is
Putonghua or Mandarin which is based on the Beijing dialect with other
principal dialects including Cantonese or Yue, Shanghainese or Wu, Fuzhou,
Hokkien and Hakka as well as minority languages such as Tibetan and
Mongolian.
Administratively, China is divided into three
basic levels: provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities
directly under the Central Government), counties (cities, banners, special
districts, industrial-agricultural district, forest district), and
townships (towns). There are twenty-three provinces, five autonomous
regions, and three municipalities directly under the Central Government.
The administrative units under a province or an autonomous region include
prefectures, autonomous prefectures, leagues, cities, counties, autonomous
counties, banners, and autonomous banners. Under a county or an autonomous
county are townships, nationality townships, and towns. The municipalities
directly under the Central Government and large cities are divided into
districts and counties, while the autonomous prefectures are divided into
counties, autonomous counties, and cities. The autonomous regions,
autonomous prefectures, and autonomous counties are all nationality areas.
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