LOCATION
The people‘s Republic of China is situated in the eastern part of the AsianContinent on the western coast of the Pacific. With a total land area of 9.6 million square km,China is the largest country in Asia and the third largest in the word, next to Russia and Canada.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
According to the Constitution of the People‘s Republic of China, 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 townships, and towns.
All autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties are ethnic autonomous areas. The state may establish special administrative regions when necessary. Currently, there are 34 provincial-level administrative areas in China-four municipalities directly under the Central Government, 23 provinces, five autonomous regions and two special administrative regions.
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
China has many mountains, with mountainous areas, which consist of mountains, hills and plateaus, making up two-thirds of its total land area. Of various landforms, mountains account for 33 percent; plateaus, 26 percent; basins, 19 percent; plains, 12 percent; and hills, 10 percent.
China has a terraced terrain, which descends from the west to the east step by step. The first, or the highest, terrace is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the "roof of the world," with an average elevation of over 4,000 meters. The second terrace extends from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the north and east, consisting of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, the Loess Plateau, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and the Tarim, Junggar and Sichuan basins, averaging 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level. The third terrace covers the areas from the Greater Hinggan Mountains, the Taihangshan Mountains, the Wushan Mountain and the Xuefeng Mountain to the eastern coast, composed mainly of plains below 200 meters above sea level, with some hills and low mountains with an elevation of below 1,000 meters. The fourth terrace comprises the sub-littoral zones on the continental shelf, with the average depth of water being less than 200 meters.
NATURAL RESOURCES
China has a vast territory, with abundant natural resources and diverse types of land resources. Its waterpower resources rank first in the world. It is one of the countries in the world having the most species of wild animals, and has almost all kinds of vegetation found in the Northern Hemisphere. It has abundant mineral resources, with a great variety of minerals.
CLIMATE
China is situated in the eastern part of the Asian Continent, facing the Pacific, the world‘s largest ocean, thus having a prominent monsoon climate. It also sees various other types of climate due to its vast territory, complicated topography and a great disparity in elevation. Climate zones from south to north appear in this order: tropical zone, subtropical zone, temperate zone, medium temperate zone and frigid temperate zone. There is also a vertical climatic zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
POPULATION AND ETHNIC GROUPS
China is the most populous country in the world. Its population, including residents in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, totals around 1.31 billion, which makes up more than one-fifth of the world‘s total. China, having an average population density of 135 people per square km, is one of the most densely populated countries, though inhabitants are unevenly distributed, with more in the east than in the west and more in rural areas than in urban areas. In the face of rapid population growth, China has practiced family planning since the late 1970s to control population growth. As a result, the birth rate has declined on an annual basis. The life expectancy of the Chinese people has increased to 71.4 years, with that for men being 69.63 years and women 73.33 years. It is five years longer than the world average level and seven years longer than that of developing countries and regions, but five years shorter compared with that of developed countries and regions.
China‘s natural population growth continued to decline in 2002. At the end of the year, the population on China‘s mainland totaled 1,284.53 million. There were 502.12 million urban residents, accounting for 39.1 percent of the total population, and 782.41 million rural residents, making up 60.9 percent. Of the total population, 661.15 million were males, while 623.38 million were females. People in the age group of 0-14 constituted 22.4 percent; those in the age group of 15-64, 70.3 percent; and people aged 65 and over, 7.3 percent. The number of elderly people reached 93.77 million. The year 2002 saw 16.47 million newborns nationwide, representing a birth rate of 12.86 per thousand,and 8.21 million deaths, a mortality rate of 6.41 per thousand. The year‘s net population growth stood at 8.26 million people, a natural growth rate of 6.45 per thousand.