Map of China | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: 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 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.


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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

Geographic coordinates: 35 00 N 105 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Comparative: slightly smaller than the US

Land boundaries

Coastline: 14,500 km

Maritime claims

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 petroleum natural gas mercury tin tungsten antimony manganese molybdenum vanadium magnetite aluminum lead zinc uranium hydropower potential (world's largest)

Land use

Irrigated land: 498,720 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts

Geography
Note: world's fourth-largest country (after Russia Canada and US)


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Population: 1,261,832,482 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: 0.9% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: 10% (1999 est.)

Nationality

Ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.9% Zhuang Uygur Hui Yi Tibetan Miao Manchu Mongol Buyi Korean and other nationalities 8.1%

Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua based on the Beijing dialect) Yue (Cantonese) Wu (Shanghaiese) Minbei (Fuzhou) Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese) Xiang Gan Hakka dialects minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry)

Religions: Daoist (Taoist) Buddhist Muslim 2%-3% Christian 1% (est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.9% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 16.12 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 6.73 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.4 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: 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

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 28.92 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.82 children born/woman (2000 est.)

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

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: Communist state

Capital: Beijing

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng singular and plural) 5 autonomous regions* (zizhiqu singular and plural) and 4 municipalities** (shi singular and plural); Anhui Beijing** Chongqing** 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

Dependent areas

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 promulgation 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: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,979 seats; members elected by municipal regional and provincial people's congresses to serve five-year terms)

Judicial branch: Supreme People's Court judges appointed by the National People's Congress

Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party or CCP [JIANG Zemin General Secretary of the Central Committee]; eight registered small parties controlled by CCP

International organization participation: AfDB APEC AsDB BIS CCC CDB (non-regional) ESCAP FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC ISO ITU LAIA (observer) MINURSO NAM (observer) OPCW PCA UN UN Security Council UNAMSIL UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIKOM UNITAR UNTSO UNU UPU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO (applicant) ZC

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


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Economy overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been moving the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economy but still within a rigid political framework of Communist Party 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 economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 1999 with its 1.25 billion people but a GDP of just $3,800 per capita China became the second largest economy in the world after the US. Agricultural output doubled in the 1980s and industry also posted major gains especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan where foreign investment helped spur output of both domestic and export goods. 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 late 1993 China's leadership approved additional long-term reforms aimed at giving still more play to market-oriented institutions and at strengthening the center's control over the financial system; state enterprises would continue to dominate many key industries in what was now termed 'a socialist market economy'. In 1995-99 inflation dropped sharply reflecting tighter monetary policies and stronger measures to control food prices. At the same time the government struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces businesses and individuals; (b) reduce corruption and other economic crimes; and (c) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises most of which had not participated in the vigorous expansion of the economy and many of which had been losing the ability to pay full wages and pensions. From 50 to 100 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities many subsisting through part-time low-paying 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 maintaining growth in living standards. Another long-term threat 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. China continues to lose arable land: because of erosion and economic development. The next few years will witness increasing tensions between a highly centralized political system and an increasingly decentralized economic system.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 7% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,800 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: rice wheat potatoes sorghum peanuts tea millet barley cotton oilseed; pork; fish

Industries: iron and steel coal machine building armaments textiles and apparel petroleum cement chemical fertilizers footwear toys food processing automobiles consumer electronics telecommunications

Industrial production growth rate: 8.8% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 700 million (1998 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 50%
By occupation industry: 24%
By occupation services: 26% (1998)

Unemployment rate: urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 10% (1999 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: -1.3% (1999 est.)

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: $194.9 billion (f.o.b. 1999)
Commodities: machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing footwear toys and sporting goods; mineral fuels chemicals
Partners: US 22% Hong Kong 19% Japan 17% Germany South Korea Netherlands UK Singapore Taiwan (1999)

Imports: $165.8 billion (c.i.f. 1999)
Commodities: machinery and equipment plastics chemicals iron and steel mineral fuels
Partners: Japan 20% US 12% Taiwan 12% South Korea 10% Germany Hong Kong Russia Singapore (1999)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $159 billion (1998 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: yuan per US$1 - 8.2793 (January 2000) 8.2783 (1999) 8.2790 (1998) 8.2898 (1997) 8.3142 (1996) 8.3514 (1995)


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Electricity
Production: 1.16 trillion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 1.014 trillion kWh (1998)
Exports: 7.935 billion kWh (1998)
Imports: 89 million kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 110 million (1999 est.)
Mobile cellular: 23.4 million (1998)

Telephone system: domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities industrial centers and many towns

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 3 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $12.608 billion (FY99); note - Western analysts believe that China's real defense spending is several times higher than the official figure because a number of significant items are funded elsewhere
Percent of gdp: 1.2% (FY99)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 206 (1996 est.)

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 9,070 km; petroleum products 560 km; natural gas 9,383 km (1998)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 110,000 km navigable (1999)

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: 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

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle; growing domestic drug abuse problem