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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
Map references: Asia
Area:
total area: 9,596,960 sq km
land area: 9,326,410 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than the US
Land boundaries: total 22,143.34 km, 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
Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, 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%
meadows and pastures: 31%
forest and woodland: 14%
other: 45%
Irrigated land: 478,220 sq km (1991 - Chinese data)
Population: 1,203,097,268 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 26% (female 151,266,866; male 167,234,782)
15-64 years: 67% (female 391,917,572; male 419,103,994)
65 years and over: 7% (female 39,591,692; male 33,982,362) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.04% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 17.78 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 7.36 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 52.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 68.08 years
male: 67.09 years
female: 69.18 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.84 children born/woman (1995 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic divisions: 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 (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic divisions entry)
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population: 78%
male: 87%
female: 68%
Labor force: 583.6 million (1991)
by occupation: agriculture and forestry 60%, industry and commerce 25%, construction
and mining 5%, social services 5%, other 5% (1990 est.)
Names:
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
Digraph: CH
Type: Communist state
Capital: Beijing
Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions* (zizhiqu,
singular and plural), and 3 municipalities** (shi, singular and plural);
Anhui, Beijing**, 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
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 promulgated 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
Overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been trying to move the economy from the sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more productive and flexible economy with market elements, but still within the framework of monolithic Communist control. To this end the authorities switched to a system of household responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a strong surge in production, particularly in agriculture in the early 1980s. Industry also has posted major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment and modern production methods have helped spur production of both domestic and export goods. Aggregate output has more than doubled since 1978. On the darker side, the leadership has often experienced in its hybrid system the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy, lassitude, corruption) and of capitalism (windfall gains and stepped-up inflation). Beijing thus has periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. In 1992-94 annual growth of GDP accelerated, particularly in the coastal areas - to more than 10% annually according to official claims. In late 1993 China's leadership approved additional long-term reforms aimed at giving more play to market-oriented institutions and at strengthening the center's control over the financial system. In 1994 strong growth continued in the widening market-oriented areas of the economy. At the same time, the government struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces, businesses, and individuals; (b) keep inflation within bounds; (c)reduce extortion and other economic crimes; and (d) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises, most of which had not participated in the vigorous expansion of the economy. From 60 to 100 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many barely subsisting through part-time low-pay jobs. Popular resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres have weakened China's population control program, which is essential to the nation's long-term economic viability. One of the most dangerous long-term threats to continued rapid economic growth is the deterioration in the environment, notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table especially in the north.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $2.9788 trillion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992 by use of official Chinese growth statistics for 1993-94; because of the difficulties with official statistics in this time of rapid change, the result may overstate China's GDP by as much as 25%)
National product real growth rate: 11.8% (1994 est.)
National product per capita: $2,500 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25.5% (December 1994 over December 1993)
Unemployment rate: 2.7% in urban areas (1994); substantial underemployment
Budget: deficit $13.7 billion (1994)
Exports: $121 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: textiles, garments, footwear, toys, machinery and equipment, weapon
systems
partners: Hong Kong, Japan, US, Germany, South Korea, Russia (1993)
Imports: $115.7 billion (c.i.f., 1994)
commodities: rolled steel, motor vehicles, textile machinery, oil products, aircraft
partners: Japan, Taiwan, US, Hong Kong, Germany, South Korea (1993)
External debt: $100 billion (1994 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 17.5% (1994 est.)
Electricity:
capacity: 162,000,000 kW
production: 746 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 593 kWh (1993)
Industries: iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, consumer durables, food processing, autos, consumer electronics, telecommunications
Agriculture: accounts for almost 30% of GDP; among the world's largest producers of rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, and pork; commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds; produces variety of livestock products; basically self-sufficient in food; fish catch of 13.35 million metric tons (including fresh water and pond raised) (1991)
Currency: 1 yuan (Y) = 10 jiao
Fiscal year: calendar year
Railroads:
total: 65,780 km
standard gauge: 55,180 km 1.435-m gauge (7,174 km electrified; more than 11,000 km
double track)
narrow gauge: 600 km 1.000-m gauge; 10,000 km 0.762-m to 1.067-m gauge dedicated
industrial lines
Highways:
total: 1.029 million km
paved:170,000 km
unpaved: gravel/improved earth 648,000 km; unimproved earth 211,000 km (1990)
Inland waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,800 km navigable
Pipelines: crude oil 9,700 km; petroleum products 1,100 km; natural gas 6,200 km (1990)
Ports: Aihui, Changsha, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Huangpu, Nanning, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Tanggu, Xiamen, Xingang, Zhanjiang
Merchant marine:
total: 1,628 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,013,532 GRT/24,027,766
DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 3, bulk 298, cargo 849, chemical tanker 14, combination
bulk 10, container 98, liquefied gas tanker 4, multifunction large load carrier
1, oil tanker 212, passenger 24, passenger-cargo 25, refrigerated cargo 21,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 24, short-sea passenger 44, vehicle carrier 1
note: China beneficially owns an additional 250 ships (1,000 GRT or over)
totaling approximately 8,831,462 DWT that operate under Panamanian, Hong
Kong, Maltese, Liberian, Vanuatu, Cypriot, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Bahamian, and Singaporean registry
Airports:
total: 204
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 17
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 69
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 89
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 9
with paved runways under 914 m: 7
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 7
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 3