The People Republic of China

【Territory of China】Located in the east of the Asian continent, on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has a land area of about 9.6 million square kilometers, and is the third largest country in the world, next only to Russia and Canada.

【Population】China is the most populous country in the world, with 1.27627 billion people at the end of 2001, one fifth of the world's total. This figure does not include the Chinese living in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan Province.

【Capital】Beijing, the capital of China, is divided into 14 districts and 4 counties, with a population of 13.82 million, mainly with Han, Hui, Manchu and Mongolian ethnic groups

【Administrative Division System】China's administrative units are currently based on a three-tier system. According to the Constitution of the PRC, the administrative division of China is as follows:

1.The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government;

2.Provinces and autonomous regions are divided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties and cities; and

3. Counties, autonomous counties and cities are divided into townships, ethnic minority townships, and towns.

【Climate】China has a marked continental monsoon climate characterized by great variety. Most parts of China are in the northern temperate zone while parts of the southern area are in the tropical or subtropical zone and parts of the northern area in the Frigid Zone.

Most of China lies in the north temperature zone, characterized by a warm climate and clear division between seasons, a climate well suited for habitation. In winter, northerly winds from high latitude areas keep the northern parts cold and dry; while in summer, monsoons from eastern and southern coastal areas bring warmness and moisture.

The climate also varies with the extensive territory and various topography from region to region.

In northern China, summer is warm and short, while winter is cold and long. In southern China, summer is long, humid and hot, and the winter short and warm, with temperature rarely below freezing. In central China (the valley area along the Yangtze River), division between seasons is clear -- summer is long, hot and humid while winter, short and cold.

In northwestern China, such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, summer is dry and sweltering and winter is formidably cold. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (about 4,000 meters above sea level) in southwestern China, winter is extremely cold and summer is short and moderately warm, with little precipitation and great difference in temperature between day and night.

【Resources】China abounds in natural resources. It leads the world in many proven mineral deposits; No country in the world boasts more wildlife than China, many of which are native to China, such as giant panda, snub-nosed golden monkey, and Chinese alligator; China's dawn redwood and Cathaya argyrophylla are known as the living fossils of ancient plants.

To protect the nation's native animals and plants, especially the endangered species, China has established more than 700 nature reserves. History China, with a recorded history of 5,000 years, is one of the world's earliest civilizations.

In the 21st century B.C., China entered slave society with the founding of the Xia Dynasty, thereby writing a finale to long years of primitive society. The Xia was followed by the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasty, Which encompassed the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

In 221 B.C., Qin Shihuang established China's first centralized autocracy, the Qin Dynasty, thereby ushering Chinese history into feudal-ism, which endured in a succession of dynasties, such as the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, until the Opium War of 1840.

The economy and science and technology were relatively well developed in ancient China. During the Shang Dynasty some 3,000 years ago, the Chinese had mastered the art of bronze metallurgy, and invented iron implements; Many distinguished thinkers, scientists, artists and writers came into being. The contributions to world civilization of ancient China's four inventions: papermaking, printing, powder, and the compass, as well as remarkable achievements in mathematics, medical science, astronomy, agriculture, and architecture, are universally recognized.

The Bourgeois Democratic Revolution of 1991 led by Sun Yat-sen toppled the rule of the Qing Dynasty, put an end to more than 2.000 years of feudal monarchical system and culminated in the establishment of the provisional government of the Republic of China.

The People's Republic of China was founded on October 1,1949. Today, China is implementing reform and opening-up policies, and has established socialist market economy, thereby charting the course for socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics. Population China, as the word's most populous country, has a population exceeding 1.2 billion, which makes up 22 percent of the world total. To bring population growth under control, the country has followed a family planning policy since the 1970s.