People's Republic of China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.

China is a cradle of civilization, with its known history beginning with an ancient civilization – one of the world's earliest – that flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties. Since 221 BCE, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the country has expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. The Republic of China (ROC) replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the ROC government relocated to Taiwan with its present capital in Taipei. Both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China.

China had the largest economy in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2014, it is the world's second-largest economy by nominal total GDP and largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army and second-largest defence budget. The PRC has been a United Nations member since 1971, when it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BCIM and the G-20. China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential superpower.

Geography

The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia, and is either the third- or fourth-largest by total area, after Russia, Canada and, depending on the definition of total area, the United States. China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook, to 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the CIA World Factbook.

China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin. China borders 14 nations, more than any other country except Russia, which also borders 14. China extends across much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan in South Asia; Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast.

The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° E. China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast width. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154m) in the Turpan Depression.

A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Korea and Japan. China's environmental watchdog, SEPA, stated in 2007 that China is losing a million acres (4,000 km²) per year to desertification. Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people.

Info:

Anthem: "March of the Volunteers
Capital: Beijing
National Language: Standard Mandarin
Official Written Language: Vernacular Chinese
Religion: Taoism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity
Demonym: Chinese
Legislature: National People's Congress
Area: 9,596,961 km2
Currency: Renminbi
Time Zone: China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Date Format: yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy年m月d日
Drives on the: right
Calling code: +86
ISO 3166 Code: CN
International TLD: .cn.中國.中国

Largest Cities of China

1. Guangzhou
2. Shanghai
3. Beijing
4. Shantou
5. Shenzhen
6. Tianjin
7. Chengdu
8. Dongguan
9. Hangzhou
10. Wuhan
11. Shenyang
12. Hongkong
13. Foshan
14. Xi'an
15. Nanjing
16. Chongqing
17. Quanzhou
18. Wenzhou
19. Qingdao
20. Suzhou

Flag of China

The red of the Chinese flag symbolizes the communist revolution, and it's also the traditional color of the people. The large gold star represents communism, while the four smaller stars represent the social classes of the people.

Official Website: China.org.cn

Did You Know?

• China executes the death penalty more than 4 times as the rest of the world combined.
• Fortune cookies are not a traditional Chinese custom. They were invented in early 1900 in San Francisco.
• China uses 45 billion chopsticks per year.
• Reincarnation is forbidden in China without government permission.
• The World's Biggest Mall, located in China, is 99% empty.
• Facebook, Twitter and The New York Times have been blocked in China since 2009.
• The World's First Paper Money was created in China 1,400 years ago.
• In China, over 35 million people still live in caves.
• Nearly 700 million Chinese people drink contaminated water.
• The Sunrise in parts of China can be as late as 10 AM because the country joined its five time zones into a single one.
• Almost a third of San Francisco's air pollution comes from China.
• 78% of software installed in China in 2010 was pirated.
• There's a bridge between mainland China and Macau, where cars switch from left to right-hand drive and vice versa.
• Every 30 seconds, a baby is born with a birth defect in China.
• Every year, about a million girl fetuses are aborted and tens of thousands of girl babies are abandoned in China because of the country's one-child policy.
• Table tennis is China's national sport.
• The PlayStation is illegal in China.
• If Walmart were a country, it would be China's sixth-largest export market.
• By 2020, China could have between 30 million and 40 million men who cannot find wives.
• In China, it is mandatory that cosmetic products are tested on animals while in Europe it's prohibited.
• In China, you can major in Bra Studies.
• A new skyscraper is built in China every five days.
• The word 'censorship' is censored in China.
• China has treatment camps for Internet addicts.
• Dyeing pets to look like other wild animals is a trend in China.
• 71% of people in China measure success by the things they own, making it the world's most materialistic country.
• Every year, nearly four million cats are eaten in China as a delicacy.
• Company executives in China can get sentenced to death for committing fraud.
• China used more cement in 3 years (2011 to 2013) than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century.
• In 2013, a Zoo in China angered visitors by trying to pass off a Tibetan mastiff dog as a lion.
• Half of all the world's pigs live in China.
• The groundwater of 90% of Chinese cities is polluted.
• When a baby Panda is born, it's shipped by FedEx to China to help expand the gene pool.
• The first recorded use of Marijuana was in China, over 4700 years ago.
• Air pollution in China increases snowfall in California.
• All pandas in the world are on loan from China.
• Facebook has 95 million users in China despite being blocked.
• In China, there is an "Elderly Rights" law which makes it illegal for anyone who has parents over 60 not to visit them regularly.
• The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake in China was the deadliest earthquake on record with 830,000 deaths.

References

• Wikipedia
• Fact Slides
• Wikimedia