China - Facts & Stats
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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
Country Name:
conventional long form: People's Republic of China
conventional short form: China
local short form: Zhong Guo
abbreviation: PRC
local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Capital:
Beijing
Flag Description:
The flag of China is 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 red color of the flag is the symbol of the revolution, signifying that the political power of the People's Republic of China is achieved through bloodshed and lives laid down by countless revolutionary martyrs who marched forward wave upon wave in the heroic struggles for the revolution. In the upper-left corner of the flag there are five-pointed yellow stars, of which the big one represents the Communist Party of China and the four small ones the people of all ethnic groups of the country. One point of the big star points right up the flag and of the four small ones each has a point pointing towards the center of the big star. This shows that the Chinese Communist Party is the force at the core of the leadership of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups who unite closely as one round the Party. With the color of the stars in yellow this means the great cause of socialism has a bright future.
http://fotw.vexillum.com/flags/cn.html
Government Type:
Communist State
Administrative Divisions:
23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions*
(zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities** (shi, singular and plural); Anhui,
Beijing**, Chongqing**, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi*, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei,
Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol*, Ningxia*,
Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai**, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin**, Xinjiang*, Xizang*
(Tibet), Yunnan, Zhejiang; note - China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries
for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau
Independence:
221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty 221 BC; Qing or
Ch'ing Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February 1912; People's Republic established 1 October 1949)
Language:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry)
Ethnic Groups:
Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%
Religion:
Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 1%-2%, Christian 3%-4%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.)
Population:
1,284,303,705 (July 2002 est.)
Population Growth Rate:
.87% (2002 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 24.3% (male 163,821,081; female 148,855,387)
15-64 years: 68.4% (male 452,354,428; female 426,055,713)
65 years and over: 7.3% (male 43,834,528; female 49,382,568) (2002 est.)
Life Expectancy:
male: 70 years ; female: 74 years (2002 est.)
Literacy rate:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 81.5%
male: 89.9%
female: 72.7% (1995 est.)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
$6 trillion (2001 est.)
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Currency:
yuan (CNY; 8.28CNY=1USD)
Area:
3,705,407 sq. miles (slightly smaller than the US)
Climate:
extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain:
mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Natural Resources:
coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony,
manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)
