Statistical information China 1992

China in the World

China - Introduction 1992

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Background: For most of its 3,500 years of history, China led the world in agriculture, crafts, and science, then fell behind in the 19th century when the Industrial Revolution gave the West clear superiority in military and economic affairs. In the first half of the 20th century, China continued to suffer from major famines, civil unrest, military defeat, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's autonomy, imposed strict controls over all aspects of life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping decentralized economic decision making; output soured. Political controls remain tight at the same time economic controls have been weakening. Present issues are: closing down inefficient state-owned enterprises; modernizing the military; fighting corruption; and providing support to tens of millions of displaced workers.

China - Geography 1992

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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 9,596,960 km²
Land: 9,326,410 km²
Comparative: slightly larger than the US

Land boundaries:

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

Maritime claims
Continental shelf:

claim to shallow areas of East China Sea and Yellow
Sea

Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: boundary with India; bilateral negotiations are under way to resolve disputed sections of the boundary with Russia; boundary with
Tajikistan under dispute:

a short section of the boundary with North Korea 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, as does Taiwan, (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu
Tai)

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

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, world's largest hydropower potential

Land use

Land use: arable land: 10%; permanent crops: NEGL%; meadows and pastures 31%; forest and woodland 14%; other 45%; includes irrigated 5%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography

China - People 1992

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Population: 1,169,619,601 (July 1992), growth rate 1.6% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Chinese (singular and plural; adjective - Chinese

Ethnic groups:

Han Chinese 93.3%; Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan,
Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 6.7%

Languages:

Standard Chinese (Putonghua) or Mandarin (based on the
Beijing dialect); also Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou),
Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and minority languages (see ethnic divisions)

Religions:

officially atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and eclectic; most important elements of religion are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism;
Muslim 2-3%, Christian 1% (est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 22 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: frequent typhoons (about five times per year along southern and eastern coasts), damaging floods, tsunamis, earthquakes; deforestation; soil erosion; industrial pollution; water pollution; air pollution; desertification
Current issues note: world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada)

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 32 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 72 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 2.3 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 73% (male 84%, female 62%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment

China - Government 1992

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Country name
Conventional long form: People's Republic of China; abbreviated PRC

Government type: Communist Party - led 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 Shi**, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong,
Guangxi*, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan,
Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol*, Ningxia*, Qinghai, Shaanxi,
Shandong, Shanghai Shi**, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin Shi**, Xinjiang*,
Xizang*, Yunnan, Zhejiang; note - China considers Taiwan its 23rd province

Dependent areas

Independence:

unification under the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty 221 BC, Qing (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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 18
National People's Congress: last held March 1988 (next to be held March 1993); results - CCP is the only party but there are also independents; seats - (2,976 total) CCP and independents 2,976 (indirectly elected at county or xian level)
President:

last held 8 April 1988 (next to be held March 1993); results - YANG Shangkun was nominally elected by the Seventh National People's
Congress

Communists: 49,000,000 party members (1990 est.)

Executive branch: president, vice president, premier, five vice premiers, State Council

Legislative branch:

unicameral National People's Congress (Quanguo
Renmin Daibiao Dahui)

Judicial branch: Supreme People's Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

AfDB, APEC, AsDB, CCC, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA,
IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU,
LORCS, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UN Security Council, UNTSO, UN
Trusteeship Council, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Diplomatic representation:

Ambassador ZHU Qizhen; Chancery at 2,300
Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008; telephone (202) 328-2,500 through 2,502; there are Chinese Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York, and San Francisco

US:

Ambassador J. Stapleton ROY; Embassy at Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3, Beijing (mailing address is 100,600, PSC 461, Box 50, Beijing or FPO AP 96,521-0002); telephone 86 (1) 532-3,831; FAX 86 (1) 532-3,178; there are US Consulates
General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang

Diplomatic representation

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

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage

China - Economy 1992

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Economy 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 have 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 foreign economic sector to increased trade and joint ventures. The most gratifying result has been a strong spurt 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 and thereby lessening the credibility of the reform process. In 1991 output rose substantially, particularly in the favored coastal areas.
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.

GNP: $NA, per capita $NA; real growth rate 6% (1991)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 26% of GNP; 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 8 million metric tons in 1986

Industries: iron, steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, consumer durables, food processing

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 14.0% (1991; accounts for 45% of GNP

Labor force: 567,400,000; agriculture and forestry 60%, industry and commerce 25%, construction and mining 5%, social services 5%, other 5% (1990 est.)
Organized labor: All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) follows the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; membership over 80 million or about 65% of the urban work force (1985)

Labor force

Unemployment rate: 4.0% in urban areas (1991)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: deficit $9.5 billion (1990)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $71.9 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: textiles, garments, telecommunications and recording equipment, petroleum, minerals
Partners: Hong Kong, Japan, US, USSR, Singapore (1990)

Imports: $63.8 billion (c.i.f., 1991)
Commodoties: specialized industrial machinery, chemicals, manufactured goods, steel, textile yarn, fertilizer
Partners: Hong Kong, Japan, US, Germany, Taiwan (1990)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: yuan (Y) per US$1 - 5.4481 (January 1992), 5.3234 (1991), 4.7832 (1990), 3.7651 (1989), 3.7221 (1988), 3.7221 (1987)

China - Energy 1992

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Electricity access

Electricity production: 138,000,000 kW capacity (1990; 670,000 million kWh produced (1991), 582 kWh per capita (1991)

Electricity consumption

Electricity exports

Electricity imports

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita

China - Communication 1992

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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions

China - Military 1992

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Military expenditures
Percent of gdp:

exchange rate conversion - $12-15 billion, NA of
GNP (1991 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups

China - Transportation 1992

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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

330 total, 330 usable; 260 with permanent-surface runways; fewer than 10
with runways over 3,500 m; 90
with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 200
with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Airports with paved runways

Airports with unpaved runways

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 9,700 km (1990; petroleum products 1,100 km; natural gas 6,200 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,800 km navigable

Merchant marine:

1,454 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 13,887,312
GRT/20,916,127 DWT; includes 25 passenger, 42 short-sea passenger, 18 passenger-cargo, 6 cargo/training, 801 cargo, 10 refrigerated cargo, 77 container, 19 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 1 multifunction/barge carrier, 177 petroleum tanker, 10 chemical tanker, 254 bulk, 3 liquefied gas, 1 vehicle carrier, 9 combination bulk, 1 barge carrier; note - China beneficially owns an additional 194 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 7,077,089
DWT that operate under Panamanian, British, Hong Kong, Maltese, Liberian,
Vanuatu, Cyprus, and Saint Vincent registry

Civil air: 284 major transport aircraft (1988 est.)

Ports and terminals

China - Transnational issues 1992

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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs:

transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden
Triangle