General Information of the People's Republic of China (PRC)

China boasts a total land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, across four time zones. Beijing, the capital of China, is located in the Eastern 8th Zone,  "Beijing Time" is the standard for the whole country. Current China Time   (For China general information, Click the following links to get a quick review) | Administrative Divisions | Map of Administrative Division | Armed Force | Capital | Civil Electrical Power | Climate | constitution | Economic Growth Rate | Date of Establishment | Dynasties | Family Names | GDP | History | Interesting Statistics | Internet Domain Code | Languages | Location in the World | Measures & Weights | Main Ports of Entry | Currency (Money) | National Flag, Emblem & Anthem | Nationalities | China Calendar, Official Holidays and Working Hours | Population | President | Religions | Rivers | Road Drive Side | Ruling Party | State Organs | Telephone Area Code | Topography | TV System | Weather |

CAPITAL: Beijing  Area: 16,800 square kilometers; Population: 14.93 million (by 2004)

• CLIMATE: China lies mainly in the northern temperate zone under the influence of monsoon. From September and October to March and April next year monsoon blow from Siberia and the Mongolia Plateau into China and decrease in force as it goes southward, causing dry and cold winter in the country and a temperature difference of 40 degree centigrade between the north and south. The temperature in China in the winter is 5 to 18 degree centigrade lower than that in other countries on the same latitude in winter. Monsoon blows into China from the ocean in summer, bringing with them warm and wet currents, thus rain. Great differences in climate are found from region to region owing to China's extensive territory and complex topography. The northern part of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China has no summer, Hainan Island has a long summer but no winter; the Huaihe River valley features four distinct seasons; the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is covered by snow all year round; the southern part of the Yunan-Guizhou Plateau is spring-like all the year; and the northwestern inland region sees a great drop of temperature in the day. Annual precipitation also varies greatly from region to region; it is as high as 1,500 millimeters along the southeastern coast. Decreasing landward, it is less than 50 millimeters in northwest China. (Click for Current China Weather Information)
   

• DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT (PRC): October 1, 1949
   
• POPULATION: Total Population 1.328 billion (2008) about 22% of total population in the world.

  Year	Total Population	Urban Population	Rural Population
  1949	542 million
  1955	615 million
  1960	662 million
  1965	725 million
  1970	830 million
  1975	924 million
  1980	987 million
  1985	1.058 billion
  1990	1.143 billion
  1992	1.171 billion
  1995	1.2112 billion
  1996	1.224 billion	359.5 million (29.4%)	864.39 million (70.6%)
  1997	1.236 billion	369.89 million (29.9%)	866.37 million (70.1%)
  1998	1.248 billion
  1999	1.259 billion	388.92 million (30.9%)	870.17 million (69.1%)
  2000	1.2953 billion	36%	64%
  2005	1.30756 billion	561.57 million (42.99%)	744.71 million 57.01%

   (For more information about China population, please click here.)

   

  Year	Birth Rate (Per Thousand)	Death Rate (per thousand)	Natural Growth Rate (per thousand)
  1970	33.43		25.83
  1995	17.12	6.57
  1996	16.98	6.56	10.42
  1997	16.57	6.51	10.06
  1998	16.30	6.50	9.53
  1999	15.23	5.97	8.77
  2000

  The year of 1998 saw19.91 million births, 8.07 million deaths of the population, with a net growth population of 11.84 million (compared with 12.37 million in 1997);  More than 10% of total population is over 60 years old (1999 data).

  China population is distributed unevenly with more in the east (more than 300 persons per square kilometer) and fewer in the west (about 40 persons per square kilometer. The national average density of population is 119 per square kilometer (1990 census). For basic urban population data, please visit "ChinaToday.com" Provinces and Cities page. The average size of household was 3.7 persons. The proportion of population aged at 0-14 was 26.4 percent, those aged 15-64 was 67.2 percent, and that of the people aged 65 and over was 6.4 percent. The Average Chinese Life-Span of the population was 70.8 years, that for male was 68.71, and female, 73.04. (Some of the above data are based on the report from China National Statistics Bureau, FOR YOUR REFERENCE ONLY).

  2005 China Population Report

• GDP (2007)  24661.9 billion yuan RMB (3425.3 billion US$) a 11.4% increase over 2006. Compare GDP (in 1999, China's GDP was 8205.4 billion yuan RMB, about $980.6 billion US$) ,

   

• China's Location In the World

China's location in the world

• China Map (Administrative Divisions)

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•   NATIONAL FLAG, NATIONAL EMBLEM and NATIONAL ANTHEM
  

•   ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS (Provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities) (China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 Special Administrative Regions - Hong Kong and Macao). For the locations of these administrative divisions, please click MAP OF CHINA.
  

•   ECONOMIC GROWTH (1995-2000)
   

Year	Economic Growth Rate
1995	10.2%
1996	9.7%
1997	8.8%
1998	7.8%
1999	7.1%
2000	8.0%

　

FIND China Suppliers Plastics, Chemicals,  Equipments, Paper, Printing, Machinery, Arts & Crafts, Textile, Garments, Wooden Products and Furniture ...

 

• MAIN PORTS OF ENTRY

Air: Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hohhot, Hong Kong, Kunming, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin, Urumqi, Xiamen and Xi'an.

Land: Alataw, Baketu, Erenhot, Friendship Pass, Hunchun, Ji'an, Kunjirap, Manzhouli, Mohe, Nyalam (Zhangmu), Pingxiang, Ruili, Suifenhe, Tumen, Wanding, Xunke and Yadong.

Water: Beihai, Dalian, Dangdong, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hankou, Huangpu, Jiujiang, Lianyungang, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Sanya, Shanghai, Shantou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Weihai, Yangzhou, Yantai, Zhangjiang and Zhenjiang.

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• HISTORY: China, one of the four oldest civilizations in the world, has a written history of 4,000 years and boasts rich cultural relics and historical sites. It is the inventor of compass, paper-making, gunpowder and printing. The Great Wall, Grand Canal and Karez irrigation system are three great ancient engineering projects built 2,000 years ago. Now they are the symbols of the rich culture of the Chinese nation. China has gone over a long history of primitive society, slavery society, feudal society and semi-feudal semi-colonial society and the present socialist society. Chinese Dynasties and Chinese Historic Relics
  

•   STATE ORGANS:

The National People's Congress (NPC)
(Click  For Chinese Language Version of the NPC Site)
The President of the People's Republic of China: Hu Jintao
The State Council (Chinese Government Website)
The Central Military Commission
The Supreme People's Court
The Supreme People's Procuratorate (website in Chinese)

More government agencies....

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• CONSTITUTION
  

• ARMED FORCE: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) (click here for more information.)
  

• THE RULING PARTY: The Communist Party of China (CPC)
  

• THE PRESIDENT: Hu Jintao
  

• OFFICIAL HOLIDAYS:

New Year's Day: January 1
Chinese Lunar New Year's Day: (Between January and February (The exact date varies, depends on the Lunar Calendar, Chinese New Year's Day in 2010 is Feb. 14.  is the Year of Tiger in Chinese calendar. For further information: click for Chinese Zodiac page.); 
Labor Day: May 1; 
National Day: October 1

The working days are from Monday to Friday. Most people do not work on weekend. Official hours are from 8:00am to 17:00pm with one hour for lunch.

• LANGUAGES: The national language is Putonghua (the common speech) or Mandarin, which is one of the five working languages at the United Nations. Most of the 55 minority nationalities have their own languages. Cantonese is one of the local dialects of southern China. As a written language, Chinese has been used for 6,000 years.

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• NATIONALITIES: The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities. They are Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, Va, She, Gaoshan, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Tu, Daur, Mulam, Qiang, Blang, Salar, Maonan, Gelo, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Ozbek, Russian, Ewenki, Benglong, Bonan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Drung, Oroqen, Hezhen, Moinba, Lhoba and Gelo. All nationalities in China are equal according to the law. The State protects their lawful rights and interests and promotes equality, unity and mutual help among them.
  

• FAMILY NAMES: Chinese family names came into being some 5,000 years ago. There are more than 5,000 family names, of which 200 to 300 are polular. The order of Chinese names is family name goes first, following by given name. For instance, the family name of a person is Wang, given name is Dong, his/her full name would be Wang Dong . The most popular Chinese family names are LI, ZHANG, WANG, LI, ZHAO, LIU, CHEN. According to the most recent official statistics, the three most popular family names are: LI, WANG and ZHANG, occupied 7.9% (97million), 7.4 and 7.1  of total population in China respectively.
  

• RIVERS: China has 50,000 rivers each covering a catchment area of more than 100 square kilometers, and 1,500 of them cover a catchment area exceeding 1,000 square kilometers. Most of them flow from west to east to empty into the Pacific Ocean. Main rivers include the Yangtze (Changjiang), Yellow (Huanghe), Heilong, Pearl, Liaohe, Haihe, Qiangtang and Lancang. The Yangtze of 6,300 kilometers is the longest river in China. The second longest Yellow River is 5,464 kilometers. The Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Beijing is a great water project in ancient China. It is of 1,794 kilometers, making it the longest canal in the world.
  

• RELIGIONS: 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.

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• TOPOGRAPHY: With a broad area, China's topography is very complex. The outline descends step by step from the west to the east. Mountains and hilly land take up 65 percent of the total area. There are five main mountain ranges. Seven mountain peaks are higher than 8,000 meters above sea level. The Bohai Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea embrace the east and southeast coast.
  

• MONEY: Chinese Money is called Renminbi (RMB) (means "People's Currency"). The popular unit of RMB is Yuan. The official exchange rate between U.S. Dollar and Renminbi Yuan currently is about 1 : 8.3 (1.00 Dollar = 8.30 Yuan). 1 Yuan to 10 Jiao, 1 Jiao to 10 Fen (There are parts of China the Yuan is also known as Kuai and Jiao is known as Mao. Chinese currency is issued in the following denominations: one, two, five, ten, fifty and a hundred Yuan; one, two and five Jiao; and one, two and five Fen.
  

• CIVIL ELECTRICAL POWER: AC 220 V, 50 Hz (bathrooms of many luxury and medium-grade hotels may have 110-volt sockets).
  

• TELEVISION SYSTEM: PAL (In addition to Chinese language TV broadcast, English and Japanese TV programs are available in many hotel via satellite relay. China Central Television Station (CCTV) and some local TV stations also provide English news and other programs in English.)
  

• TELEPHONE AREA CODE: Mainland China 86; Hong Kong 852; Taiwan 886. (Special Telephone Numbers: Police 110; Fire 119; Emergency 120.)

(For the telephone code of major Chinese cities, please click HERE).

• ROAD DRIVE SIDE: 

• Mainland China: on the right

• Hong Kong: on the left

• Taiwan: on the right

•   INTERNET DOMAIN CODE: cn (such as "....org.cn" , "...edu.cn" or "....com.cn")

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China Weathe

• Current China Weather (provided by China Meteorological Administration )

• Weather Channel (China City Weather Check) 

China can be visited through out the year because of the stretch of its territories and sites and activities it can offer. Deciding when to visit China depends on which places you wish to visit, what type of weather you enjoy, and how much a bargain you want. China is a huge country with many different climates and types of landscape. Think of it in terms of the United States, which China resembles in size and shape. Traveling along the Golden Route (Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guilin) is like visiting New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Jacksonville, Florida all in one trip.

April, May, September and October are the peak tourist months at China’s most popular destinations when the weather is the most comfortable. Prices drop a bit in the shoulder season, which runs from November through March and from June through August. However, the winter months are peak season for trips to China’s Hainan Island and to the Northeast Harbin for its world-famous ice-lantern festival.  This months are also packed with New Year holidays, Chinese Spring Festival and other national or local happy fairs.  Summer months are great time to explore China’s Far East-Manchuria.   

• China - GeoPedia by National Geographic Magazine

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