 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| The low down... |
| Fact File |
| Official Name People's Republic of China |
| Form of Government Communist republic with single legislative body (National Peoples Congress) |
| Capital Beijing |
| Area 9,596,960 sq km |
| Population 1,298,847,624 |
| Population Density 129.9 per sq km |
| Life Expectancy 71.9 |
| Infant Mortality (per 1000) 25.2 |
| Literacy Rate 80.9% |
| Religions Officially atheist;traditionally Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, other minorities including Christian and Muslim |
| Ethnic Groups Han Chinese 92%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean 8% |
| Currency Yuan (CNY) |
| Economy services 32.3%, industry 52.9%, agriculture 14.8% |
| GDP per capita US$5,000 |
| Climate varies widely;subtropical southeast;temperate east;cold & arid Tibetan Plateau;arid in northern deserts;cold & temperate in northeast |
| The third largest country in the world, and the most poplulous, china is today something of an enigma: it has an increasingly capitalistic economy but with an old-style Communist Party leadership remaining in political control. Much depends on how successfully this socialist market economy works. With a civilization going back 5,000 years, China’s history has combined long periods of dynastic stability with shorter periods of sudden change. In the last 100 years it has gone through a series of convulsive social, political, and economic transformation. Once isolated, agrarian, and indifferent to other societies and cultures, China’s future is now that of a modern industrial nation trading with much of the world. Politically it remains a one-party state. The political reforms needed for greater democracy are widely discussed in the western media, as are civil liberties and human rights issues, but they are not yet on the agenda of China itself. |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
| source: Lonely Planet & CIA World Factbook |
|
| big countries get several! |
| central |
| east |
|
| south/central |
|
| north west |
 |
| The country can be divided into three major regions: the mountains to the west, including the vast Plateau of Tibet; the series of deserts and the desert basins starting in the northwest with the Tarim Basin and the Taklimakan Desert, reaching across the Nei Mongol Plateau to Manchuria in the northeast; and the largely low-lying eastern region consisting of the valleys and floodplains of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) and Huang (Yellow) rivers, extending to the coastal plains including the Pearl river in the south. |
| The melting snows of the Plateau of Tibet feed several major rivers – the Brahmaputra, flowing south to India, the Salween (Nu) of Myanmar, and the Mekong which skirts Laos and Thailand before passing through Cambodia and reaching the sea in Vietnam. In addition it is the source of both the Yellow and the mighty Yangtze, China’s two main rivers which drain into the East China Sea. The Plateau of Tibet is the highest region in the world, averaging about 4,900 m with ranges rising to 7,300m. |
| The Himalayan ranges have a political significance. Forming a massive rampart along China’s south western frontier, for centuries they have provided a natural defensive barrier against the west. This is one reason why China is unwilling to allow the pressure for Tibetan independence to take it beyond the status of an autonomous region. |
| China has large deposits of coal and iron ore, and is a major producer of tungsten. Industries produce iron, steel, coal, machinery, armaments, textiles, and petroleum, while the main exports are textiles, oil and oil products, chemicals, light industrial goods and armaments. Serious environmental problems exist – air pollution from large scale use of coal, and water pollution from industrial effluents; falling water tables and nation-wide water shortages; and the fact that less than 10% of sewage is treated. |