Geography
Total area: 9,596,960 sq. km. (about 3.7 million sq. mi.).
Cities: Capital--Beijing. Other major cities--Shanghai,
Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Harbin, Chengdu.
Terrain: Plains, deltas, and hills in east; mountains, high plateaus,
deserts in west.
Climate: Tropical in south to subarctic in north.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Chinese (singular and
plural).
Population (2003 est.): 1.3 billion.
Population growth rate (2003 est.): 0.6%.
Health (2003 est.): Infant mortality rate--25.26/1,000. Life
expectancy--72.22 years (overall); 70.33 years for males, 74.28
years for females.
Ethnic groups: Han Chinese--91.9%; Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao,
Uygur, Yi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Buyi, Korean, and other
nationalities--8.1%.
Christian singles note-Religions: Officially atheist; Taoism, Buddhism,
Islam, Christianity.
Language: Mandarin (Putonghua), plus many local dialects.
Education: Years compulsory--9. Literacy--86%.
Work force (2001 est., 711 million): Agriculture and forestry--50%;
industry and commerce--23%; other--27%.
Government
Type: Communist party-led state.
Constitution: December 4, 1982.
Independence: Unification under the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty 221 BC; Qing (Ch'ing
or Manchu) Dynasty replaced by a republic on February 12, 1912;
People's Republic established October 1, 1949.
Branches: Executive--president, vice president, State
Council, premier. Legislative--unicameral National People's
Congress. Judicial--Supreme People's Court.
Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (the P.R.C. considers Taiwan to
be its 23rd province); 5 autonomous regions, including Tibet; 4
municipalities directly under the State Council.
Political parties: Chinese Communist Party, 66.35 million members; 8
minor parties under communist supervision.
Suffrage: Universal at 18.
Economy
GDP (2003 est.): $1.4 trillion (exchange rate based).
Per capita GDP (2003 est.): $1,090 (exchange rate based).
GDP real growth rate (2003): 9.1%.
Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin, tungsten,
antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead,
zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest).
Agriculture: Products--Among the world's largest producers of
rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley; commercial
crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds; produces variety of
livestock products.
Industry: Types--iron, steel, coal, machinery, light
industrial products, armaments, petroleum.
Trade (2003): Exports--$438.4 billion: mainly electrical
machinery and equipment, power generation equipment, apparel, toys,
footwear. Main partners--U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, EU, South
Korea, Singapore. Imports--$412.8 billion: mainly electrical
equipment, power generation equipment, petroleum products, chemicals,
steel. Main partners--Japan, EU, Taiwan, South Korea, U.S.,
Hong Kong.
PEOPLE
Ethnic Groups
Christian singles note-The largest ethnic group is the Han Chinese, who
constitute about 91.9% of the total population. The remaining 8.1% are
Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8
million), Uygur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Mongolian (5 million),
Tibetan (5 million), Buyi (3 million), Korean (2 million), and other
ethnic minorities.
Language
There are seven major Chinese dialects and many subdialects. Mandarin
(or Putonghua), the predominant dialect, is spoken by over 70% of the
population. It is taught in all schools and is the medium of
government. About two-thirds of the Han ethnic group are native
speakers of Mandarin; the rest, concentrated in southwest and
southeast China, speak one of the six other major Chinese dialects.
Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include
Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang),
and Korean (in the northeast).
The Pinyin System of Romanization
On January 1, 1979, the Chinese Government officially adopted the
pinyin system for spelling Chinese names and places in Roman letters.
A system of Romanization invented by the Chinese, pinyin has long been
widely used in China on street and commercial signs as well as in
elementary Chinese textbooks as an aid in learning Chinese characters.
Variations of pinyin also are used as the written forms of several
minority languages.
Pinyin has now replaced other conventional spellings in China's
English-language publications. The U.S. Government also has adopted
the pinyin system for all names and places in China. For example, the
capital of China is now spelled "Beijing" rather than
"Peking."
Religion
Christian singles note-Religion plays a significant part in the life of
many Chinese. Buddhism is most widely practiced, with an estimated 100
million adherents. Traditional Taoism also is practiced. Official
figures indicate there are 20 million Muslims, 5 million Catholics,
and 15 million Protestants; unofficial estimates are much higher.
While the Chinese constitution affirms religious toleration, the
Chinese Government places restrictions on religious practice outside
officially recognized organizations. Only two Christian
organizations--a Catholic church without official ties to Rome and the
"Three-Self-Patriotic" Protestant church--are sanctioned by
the Chinese Government. Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many
parts of the country and unofficial religious practice is flourishing.
In some regions authorities have tried to control activities of these
unregistered churches. In other regions, registered and unregistered
groups are treated similarly by authorities and congregations worship
in both types of churches. Most Chinese Catholic bishops are
recognized by the Pope, and official priests have Vatican approval to
administer all the sacraments.
Population Policy
With a population officially just under 1.3 billion and an estimated
growth rate of about 0.6%, China is very concerned about its
population growth and has attempted with mixed results to implement a
strict family planning policy. The government's goal is one child per
urban family, and two children per rural family, with guidelines
looser for ethnic minorities with small populations. Enforcement
varies widely, and relies upon "social compensation fees"
for extra children as a means of keeping families small. Official
government policy opposes forced abortion or sterilization, but in
some localities there are instances of forced abortion. The
government's goal is to stabilize the population in the first half of
the 21st century, and current projections are that the population will
peak at around 1.6 billion by 2050.
