Map of China | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background:


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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
Total: 9,596,960 km²
Land: 9,326,410 km²
Water: 270,550 km²
Comparative: slightly smaller than the US

Land boundaries
Total: 22,457 km
Border countries: (14) Afghanistan 91 km; Bhutan 477 km; Burma 2,129 km; India 2,659 km; Kazakhstan 1,765 km; North Korea 1,352 km; Kyrgyzstan 1,063 km; Laos 475 km; Mongolia 4,630 km; Nepal 1,389 km; Pakistan 438 km; Russia (northeast) 4,133 km; and Russia (northwest) 46 km; Tajikistan 477 km; Vietnam 1,297 km

Coastline: 14,500 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

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
Highest point: Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m
Lowest point: Turpan Pendi (Turfan Depression) -154 m
Mean elevation: 1,840 m

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest), arable land

Land use
Agricultural land: 54.7% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land arable land: 11.3% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent crops: 1.6% (2018 est.)
Agricultural land permanent pasture: 41.8% (2018 est.)
Forest: 22.3% (2018 est.)
Other: 23% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land: 690,070 km² (2012)

Major rivers
By length in km:

Major watersheds area km²:

Total water withdrawal
Municipal: 117.01 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
Industrial: 103.04 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)
Agricultural: 361.24 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources: 2.84 trillion cubic meters (2020 est.)

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

Geography
Note note 1: world's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US) and largest country situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak above sea level
Note note 2: the largest cave chamber in the world is the Miao Room, in the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park, which encloses some 10.78 million m³ (380.7 million cu ft) of volume; the world's largest sinkhole is the Xiaoxhai Tiankeng sinkhole in Chongqing Municipality, which is 660 m deep, with a volume of 130 million m³
Note note 3: China appears to have been the center of domestication for two of the world's leading cereal crops: millet in the north along the Yellow River and rice in the south along the lower or middle Yangtze River


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Population
Distribution: overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated; though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than that of many other countries in Asia and Europe; high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang: 1,413,142,846 (2023 est.)
Growth rate: 0.18% (2023 est.)
Below poverty line: 0.6% (2019 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
Adjective: Chinese

Ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) (2021 est.)
Note: the PRC officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups

Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; 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); note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet)
Major-language samples:

Religions: folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.1% (2021 est.)
Note: officially atheist

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 16.48% (male 124,166,174/female 108,729,429)
15-64 years: 69.4% (male 504,637,819/female 476,146,909)
65 years and over: 14.11% (2023 est.) (male 92,426,805/female 107,035,710)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 44.5
Youth dependency ratio: 25.5
Elderly dependency ratio: 19
Potential support ratio: 5.3 (2021 est.)
Note: data do not include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan

Median age
Total: 39.8 years (2023 est.)
Male: 38.6 years
Female: 41.1 years

Population growth rate: 0.18% (2023 est.)

Birth rate: 9.7 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Death rate: 7.8 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)

Population distribution: overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated; though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than that of many other countries in Asia and Europe; high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang

Urbanization
Urban population: 64.6% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 1.78% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Note: data do not include Hong Kong and Macau

Major urban areas
Population: 29.211 million Shanghai, 21.766 million BEIJING (capital), 17.341 million Chongqing, 14.284 million Guangzhou, 14.239 million Tianjin, 13.073 million Shenzhen (2023)

Environment
Current issues: air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain; China is the world's largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; coastal destruction due to land reclamation, industrial development, and aquaculture; deforestation and habitat destruction; poor land management leads to soil erosion, landslides, floods, droughts, dust storms, and desertification; trade in endangered species
International agreements party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed, but not ratified: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

Air pollutants
Particulate matter emissions: 38.15 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions: 9,893.04 megatons (2016 est.)
Methane emissions: 1,490.24 megatons (2020 est.)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.09 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.14 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio: 23 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 6.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Male: 6.9 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 6 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 78.2 years (2023 est.)
Male: 75.5 years
Female: 81.2 years

Total fertility rate: 1.45 children born/woman (2023 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 84.5% (2017)

Drinking water source
Improved urban: 97.3% of population
Improved rural: 91.5% of population
Improved total: 95.1% of population
Unimproved urban: 2.7% of population
Unimproved rural: 8.5% of population
Unimproved total: 4.9% of population (2020 est.)

Current health expenditure: 5.6% of GDP (2020)

Physicians density: 2.23 physicians/1,000 population (2019)

Hospital bed density: 4.3 beds/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access
Improved urban:
Unimproved urban:

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: high (2023)
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, severe fever thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS)
Soil contact diseases: hantaviral hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 6.2% (2016)

Alcohol consumption
Per capita total: 4.48 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita beer: 1.66 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita wine: 0.18 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita spirits: 2.63 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Per capita other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)

Tobacco use
Total: 25.6% (2020 est.)
Male: 49.4% (2020 est.)
Female: 1.7% (2020 est.)

Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 2.4% (2013)

Education expenditures: 3.6% of GDP (2020 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 96.8%
Male: 98.5%
Female: 95.2% (2018)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 14 years
Male: 14 years
Female: 14 years (2015)

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 11.4% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 12.1%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 10.4%


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Country name
Conventional long form: People's Republic of China
Conventional short form: China
Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
Local short form: Zhongguo
Abbreviation: PRC
Etymology: English name derives from the Qin (Chin) rulers of the 3rd century B.C., who comprised the first imperial dynasty of ancient China; the Chinese name Zhongguo translates as "Central Nation" or "Middle Kingdom"

Government type: communist party-led state

Capital
Name: Beijing
Geographic coordinates: 39 55 N, 116 23 E
Time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Time zone note: China is the largest country (in terms of area) with just one time zone; before 1949 it was divided into five
Etymology: the Chinese meaning is "Northern Capital"

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural), and two special administrative regions (tebie xingzhengqu, singular and plural)

Dependent areas

Independence: 1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China)

National holiday: National Day (anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949)

Constitution
History: several previous; latest promulgated 4 December 1982
Amendments: proposed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress or supported by more than one fifth of the National People’s Congress membership; passage requires more than two-thirds majority vote of the Congress membership; amended several times, last in 2018

Legal system: civil law influenced by Soviet and continental European civil law systems; legislature retains power to interpret statutes; note - on 28 May 2020, the National People's Congress adopted the PRC Civil Code, which codifies personal relations and property relations

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Citizenship
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descent only: least one parent must be a citizen of China
Dual citizenship recognized: no
Residency requirement for naturalization: while naturalization is theoretically possible, in practical terms it is extremely difficult; residency is required but not specified

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013); Vice President HAN Zheng (since 10 March 2023)
Head of government: Premier LI Qiang (since 11 March 2023)
Cabinet: State Council appointed by National People's Congress
Elections/appointments: president and vice president indirectly elected by National People's Congress; election last held on 10 March 2023 (next to be held in March 2,028); premier nominated by president, confirmed by National People's Congress
Election results:
Note: ultimate authority rests with the Communist Party Central Committee’s 25-member Political Bureau (Politburo) and its seven-member Standing Committee; XI Jinping holds the three most powerful positions as party general secretary, state president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission

Legislative branch
Description: unicameral National People's Congress (NPC) or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (maximum of 3,000 seats; members indirectly elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses, and the People's Liberation Army; members serve 5-year terms); note - in practice, only members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its 8 allied independent parties, and CCP-approved independent candidates are elected
Elections: the 14th NPC convened on 5 March 2023; the 15th NPC will convene in March 2,028
Election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - NA; the 14th NPC consists of 2,977 delegates; 2,187 men; 790 women (26.5%)

Judicial branch
Highest courts: Supreme People's Court (consists of over 340 judges, including the chief justice and 13 grand justices organized into a civil committee and tribunals for civil, economic, administrative, complaint and appeal, and communication and transportation cases)
Judge selection and term of office: chief justice appointed by the People's National Congress (NPC); limited to 2 consecutive 5-year-terms; other justices and judges nominated by the chief justice and appointed by the Standing Committee of the NPC; term of other justices and judges determined by the NPC
Subordinate courts: Higher People's Courts; Intermediate People's Courts; District and County People's Courts; Autonomous Region People's Courts; International Commercial Courts; Special People's Courts for military, maritime, transportation, and forestry issues

Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party or CCP [XI Jinping]
Note: China has 8 nominally independent small parties controlled by the CCP

International organization participation: ADB, AfDB (nonregional member), APEC, Arctic Council (observer), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, BRICS, CDB, CICA, EAS, FAO, FATF, G-20, G-24 (observer), G-5, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, Pacific Alliance (observer), PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC (observer), SCO, SICA (observer), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNOOSA, UN Security Council (permanent), UNTSO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador XIE Feng (since 30 June 2023)
In the us chancery: 3,505 International Place NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 495-2,266
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 495-2,138
In the us email address and website:
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Nicholas BURNS (since 2 April 2022)
From the us embassy: 55 An Jia Lou Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100,600
From the us mailing address: 7,300 Beijing Place, Washington DC 20,521-7,300
From the us telephone: [86] (10) 8,531-3,000
From the us FAX: [86] (10) 8,531-4,200
From the us email address and website:

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; the color red represents revolution, while the stars symbolize the four social classes - the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie (capitalists) - united under the Communist Party of China

National symbols: dragon, giant panda; national colors: red, yellow

National anthem
Name: "Yiyongjun Jinxingqu" (The March of the Volunteers)
Lyrics/music: TIAN Han/NIE Er
Note: adopted 1949; the anthem, though banned during the Cultural Revolution, is more commonly known as "Zhongguo Guoge" (Chinese National Song); it was originally the theme song to the 1935 Chinese movie, "Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm"

National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites: 57 (14 natural, 39 cultural, 4 mixed)
Selected World Heritage Site locales:


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Economy overview: one of the world’s top two economies; sustained growth due to export relations, its manufacturing sector, and low-wage workers; only major economy to avoid COVID-19 economic decline; recovery efforts slowing due to longstanding poverty imbalances and other institutional issues; state-sponsored economic controls

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real gdp growth rate:

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2017 dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 39.1% (2017 est.)
Government consumption: 14.5% (2017 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 42.7% (2017 est.)
Investment in inventories: 1.7% (2017 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 20.4% (2017 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -18.4% (2017 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 7.9% (2017 est.)
Industry: 40.5% (2017 est.)
Services: 51.6% (2017 est.)

Agriculture products: maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, sweet potatoes

Industries: world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites

Industrial production growth rate: 8.22% (2021 est.)

Labor force: 791.383 million (2021 est.)
Note: by the end of 2012, China's working age population (15-64 years) was 1.004 billion

Unemployment rate:
Note: data are for registered urban unemployment, which excludes private enterprises and migrants

Youth unemployment
Rate ages 15 24 total: 11.4% (2021 est.)
Rate ages 15 24 male: 12.1%
Rate ages 15 24 female: 10.4%

Population below poverty line: 0.6% (2019 est.)

Gini index
Coefficient distribution of family income: 38.2 (2019 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10%: 2.1%
Highest 10%: 31.4% (2012)
Note: data are for urban households only

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $3.983 trillion (2019 est.)
Expenditures: $4.893 trillion (2019 est.)
Surplus  or deficit: -3.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Taxes and other revenues: 8.09% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

Public debt:
Note: official data; data cover both central and local government debt, including debt officially recognized by China's National Audit Office report in 2011; data exclude policy bank bonds, Ministry of Railway debt, and China Asset Management Company debt

Revenue
From forest resources: 0.08% of GDP (2018 est.)
From coal: 0.57% of GDP (2018 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

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:
Note: Data are in current year dollars and do not include illicit exports or re-exports.
Partners: United States 17%, Hong Kong 10%, Japan 6% (2019)
Commodities: broadcasting equipment, computers, integrated circuits, office machinery and parts, telephones (2021)

Imports:
Partners: South Korea 9%, Japan 8%, Australia 7%, Germany 7%, US 7%, Taiwan 6% (2019)
Commodities: crude petroleum, integrated circuits, iron, natural gas, cars, gold (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

Debt external:

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Access electrification-total population: 100% (2021)
Installed generating capacity: 2,217,925,000 kW (2020 est.)
Consumption: 6,875,088,640,000 kWh (2019 est.)
Exports: 21.655 billion kWh (2019 est.)
Imports: 4.858 billion kWh (2019 est.)
Transmission/distribution losses: 333.01 billion kWh (2019 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels: 66% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 4.8% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources solar: 3.5% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources wind: 6.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 17.8% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources tide and wave: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources geothermal: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)
Generation sources biomass and waste: 1.6% of total installed capacity (2020 est.)

Coal
Production: 4,314,681,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
Consumption: 4,506,387,000 metric tons (2020 est.)
Exports: 6.652 million metric tons (2020 est.)
Imports: 307.047 million metric tons (2020 est.)
Proven reserves: 141.595 billion metric tons (2019 est.)

Petroleum
Total petroleum production: 4,712,200 bbl/day (2021 est.)
Refined petroleum consumption: 14,007,500 bbl/day (2019 est.)
Crude oil and lease condensate exports: 52,500 bbl/day (2018 est.)
Crude oil and lease condensate imports: 9,238,100 bbl/day (2018 est.)
Crude oil estimated reserves: 26,022,600,000 barrels (2021 est.)

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 11.51 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products exports: 848,400 bbl/day (2015 est.)
Products imports: 1.16 million bbl/day (2015 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 179,317,495,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
Consumption: 306,576,649,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
Exports: 3,548,831,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
Imports: 131,608,161,000 cubic meters (2019 est.)
Proven reserves: 6,654,250,000,000 cubic meters (2021 est.)

Carbon dioxide emissions: 10,773,248,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From coal and metallurgical coke: 8,652,419,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From petroleum and other liquids: 1,520,552,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
From consumed natural gas: 600.276 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)

Energy consumption per capita: 105.687 million Btu/person (2019 est.)


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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 179,414,200 (2022 est.)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 13 (2021 est.)
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 1.73 billion (2021 est.)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 122 (2021 est.)

Telephone system

Broadcast media: all broadcast media are owned by, or affiliated with, the Chinese Communisty Party (CCP) or a government agency; no privately owned TV or radio stations; state-run Chinese Central TV, provincial, and municipal stations offer more than 2,000 channels; the Central Propaganda Department as well as local (provincial, municipal) sends directives to all domestic media outlets to guide its reporting with the government maintaining authority to approve all programming; foreign-made TV programs must be approved/censored prior to broadcast; increasingly, PRC nationals turn to online platforms (Bilibili, Tencent Video, iQiyi, etc) to access PRC and international films and television shows. Video platforms have to abide by regulations issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which align with censorship policies from CCP propaganda authorities. (2022)

Internet
Country code: .cn
Users total: 1.022 billion (2021 est.)
Users percent of population: 73% (2021 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 483,549,500 (2020 est.)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 34 (2020 est.)


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Military expenditures:

Military and security forces: People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces, Navy (PLAN, includes naval aviation), Navy Marine Corps (PLANMC), Air Force (PLAAF, includes airborne forces), Rocket Force (strategic missile force), and Strategic Support Force (information, electronic, and cyber warfare, as well as space forces); People's Armed Police (PAP, includes Coast Guard, Border Defense Force, Internal Security Forces); PLA Reserve Force (2023)
Note 1: the Strategic Support Force includes the Space Systems Department, which is responsible for nearly all PLA space operations, including space launch and support, space surveillance, space information support, space telemetry, tracking, and control, and space warfare
Note 2: the PAP is a paramilitary police component of China’s armed forces that is under the dual authority of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Central Military Commission and charged with internal security, law enforcement, counterterrorism, and maritime rights protection
Note 3: in 2018, the Coast Guard was moved from the State Oceanic Administration to the PAP; in 2013, China merged four of its five major maritime law enforcement agencies - the China Marine Surveillance (CMS), Maritime Police, Fishery Law Enforcement (FLE), and Anti-Smuggling Police - into a unified coast guard

Military service age and obligation: 18-22 years of age for men for selective compulsory military service, with a 2-year service obligation; women 18-19 years of age who are high school graduates and meet requirements for specific military jobs are subject to conscription (2023)
Note: the PLA’s conscription system functions as a levy; the PLA establishes the number of enlistees needed, which produces quotas for the provinces; each province provides a set number of soldiers or sailors; if the number of volunteers fails to meet quotas, the local governments may compel individuals to enter military service

Space program
Overview: has a large, comprehensive, and ambitious space program and is considered one of the World’s leading space powers; capable of manufacturing and operating the full spectrum of space launch vehicles (SLVs) and spacecraft, including human crewed, satellite launchers, lunar/inter-planetary/asteroid probes, satellites (communications, remote sensing, navigational, scientific, etc.), space stations, and re-usable space transportation systems, such as orbital space planes/shuttles; trains astronauts (taikonauts); researches and develops a range of other space-related capabilities, including advanced telecommunications, optics, spacecraft components, satellite payloads, etc.; participates in international space programs, such as the Square Kilometer Array Project radio telescope project and co-leads (with Australian and Japan) the Global Earth Observation System of Systems; has signed space cooperation agreements with more than 30 countries, including Brazil, Canada, France, and Russia, as well as the European Space Agency (note - the US NASA is barred by a 2011 law from cooperating with the Chinese bilaterally in space unless approved by the US Congress; the US also objected to China’s participation in the International Space Station program); has a space industry dominated by two state-owned aerospace enterprises but since announcing in 2014 that it would allow private investment into the traditionally state-dominated space industry has developed a substantial commercial space sector, including space launch services (2023)
Overview note: further details about the key activities, programs, and milestones of the country’s space program, as well as government spending estimates on the space sector, appear in space programs

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system
Number of registered air carriers: 56 (2020)
Inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 2,890
Annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 436,183,969 (2018)
Annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 611,439,830 (2018) mt-km

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix: B

Airports: 507 (2021)
With paved runways: 510
With paved runways civil airports: 131
With paved runways military airports: 127
With paved runways joint use (civil-military) airports: 69
With paved runways other airports: 183
With paved runways note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
With unpaved runways: 23
With unpaved runways note: unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control

Heliports: 39 (2021)

Pipelines: 76,000 km gas, 30,400 km crude oil, 27,700 km refined petroleum products, 797,000 km water (2018)

Railways
Total: 150,000 km (2021) 1.435-m gauge (100,000 km electrified); 104,0000 traditional, 40,000 high-speed
Standard gauge: (2018)

Roadways
Total: 5.2 million km (2020)
Paved: 4.578 million km (2020) (includes 168,000 km of expressways)
Unpaved: 622,000 km (2017)

Waterways: 27,700 km (2020) (navigable waterways)

Merchant marine
Total: 7,362 (2022)
By type: bulk carrier 1,684, container ship 355, general cargo 1,164, oil tanker 1,133, other 3,026

Ports and terminals
Major seaports: Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xiamen
Container ports teus: Dalian (3,672,000), Guangzhou (24,180,000), Ningbo (31,070,000), Qingdao (23,710,000), Shanghai (47,030,300), Shenzhen (28,767,600), Tianjin (20,269,400), Xiamen (12,045,700) (2021)
Lng terminals import: Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Tangshan, Zhejiang
River ports: Guangzhou (Pearl)


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Refugees country of origin: 303,107 (Vietnam), undetermined (North Korea) (mid-year 2021)
IDPs: undetermined (2021)

Illicit drugs: a major source of precursor chemicals for narcotics such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, new psychoactive substances (NPS), and synthetic drugs; is a destination and transit country for methamphetamine and heroin produced in South east and Southwest Asia;  China remains a major source of precursor chemicals sold in North America via the internet and shipped to overseas customers; domestic use of synthetic drugs is prevalent; chemical alterations of drugs circumvent laws and hamper efforts to stem the flow of these