CHINA - Country Description of China

Country Description of China

Our Tour Group on Badaling Great Wall

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, its northernmost end reaches Mohe in Heilongjiang 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, the country'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 ancestors have become the treasures of the nation and the wonder of the world.

Founded in 1949 by the Communist Party, 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, Guizhou, 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), the country's population is about 22 percent of the world population. The most populous part is the eastern coastal areas. Almost 94 percent of Chinese people live in the Southeast part of the country which covers 43 percent of its land area; while the other six percent people live in the northwestern areas which cover 57 percent of the territory.

Terracotta Warriors, Xian

Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Thanks to the Reform and Opening-Up Policy, China has become stronger and stronger in economy, science and technology. Currently, the nation'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, 2008, 2011 and 2012, the country successfully launched the Shenzhou-6 and 7 manned spacecrafts, the unmannned Shenzhou-8, and the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft which carried three astronauts to the outer space. In August, 2008, the XXIX Olympiad was successfully held in its capital Beijing. Most Chinese are now living a well-to-do life and enjoy their happiness in this stable and harmonious society.