Info Center \ Culture \ General China \

Country Description of China

Viewing the world map, you will find that China is a vast country situated at the eastern part of Eurasia and the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. Covering a land area of 3,706,581 square miles (9,600,000 square kilometers), China is the third largest of the world, inferior to Russia and Canada. It is 3,231 miles long from east to west and 3,417.5 miles long from north to south. With the entire territory shaping like a rooster, China's northernmost end reaches Mohe inHeilongjiang Province; the southernmost is at Zengmu Ansha in Nansha Islands, the easternmost at conjunction of Heilongjiang River and the Wusuli River, while the western at the Pamirs.

China is an ancient country having a profound history. Originated in the eastern area of the Yellow River Region, China's civilization is over 5,000 years old and was considered one of four ancient civilizations of the world, along with the civilizations of the ancient Babylon, the ancient Egypt and the ancient India. The first dynasty of Chinese history started from the xia dynasty (2070BC-1600BC) and the last one was the qing dynasty (1644-1912),

while the most glorious period were the Qin (221BC-206BC), Han (206BC-220), Tang (618-907) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. During thousands of years of feudal ruling, Chinese people have created brilliant science and art culture,

like the Four Great Inventions, the poetry, paintings and Chinese calligraphy. Also, a great amount of cultural relics such as the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors left by Chinese ancestors have become the treasures of the nation and the wonder of the world.

Founded in 1949 by the Communist Party of China, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a unified multi-ethnic country. 56 nationalities are now living in 34 direct administrative regions including 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly-governed city regions–Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing and two special administrative regions (SAR)–Hong Kong and Macau.

The 55 ethnic minorities mainly live in Chongqing, Gansu, Guangxi, , Hainan, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet, Xinjiang and Yunnan. China is also the most populous country in the world. Being over 1.3 billion (in the end of 2007),

China's population is about 22 percent of the world population. The most populous part of China is the eastern coastal areas. Almost 94 percent of Chinese people live in the Southeast China which covers 43 percent of China's land area; while the other six percent people live in the northwestern areas which cover 57 percent of China's territory.

Thanks to the Reform and Opening-Up Policy, China has become stronger and stronger in economy, science and technology. Currently, China's economy has been growing rapidly, with the GDP dramatically increasing year by year. The GDP growth rate of the first half year of 2008 has reached 10.3. In 2005 and 2008, China successfully launched the Shenzhou-6 and Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft and the unmannned spacecraft, Shenzhou-8 will be launched in 2011. In August, 2008, the XXIX Olympiad was successfully held in China's capital Beijing. Most Chinese people are now living a well-to-do life and enjoy their happiness in this stable and harmonious society.