AREA:
9,571,300 sq km (3,695,500 sq miles).
POPULATION: 1,223,890,000 (official estimate
1996). Roughly a quarter of the world's population live in China.
POPULATION DENSITY:
127.9 per sq km.
CAPITAL: Beijing
(Peking). Population: 12,510,000 (1995). The largest city
in the country, Shanghai, has a population of over 14 million
and, as at 1990, 39 other cities have a population of over
one million.
GEOGRAPHY: China
is bounded to the north by Russia and Mongolia; to the east
by North Korea, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea; to
the south by Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal;
and to the west by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Macau form an enclaves on the southeast
coast. China comprises 23 Provinces, 5 Autonomous Regions
and 3 Municipalities directly under Central Government. It
has a varied terrain ranging from high plateaux in the west
to flatlands in the east; mountains take up almost one-third
of the land. The most notable high mountain ranges are the
Himalayas, the Altai Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains and
the Kunlun Mountains. On the border with Nepal is the 8848m-high
(29,198ft) Mount Jolmo Lungma (Mount Everest). In the west
is the Qinghai/Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of
4000m (13,200ft), known as 'the Roof of the World'. At the
base of the Tianshan Mountains is the Turfan Depression or
Basin, China's lowest area, 154m (508ft) below sea level at
the lowest point. China has many great river systems, notably
the Yellow (Huang He) and Yangtse Kiang (Chang Jiang). Only
10% of all China is suitable for agriculture.
LANGUAGE: The
official language is Mandarin Chinese. Among the enormous
number of local dialects, in the south, large groups speak
Cantonese, Fukienese, Xiamenhua and Hakka. Mongolia, Tibet
and Xinjiang, which are autonomous regions, have their own
languages. Translation and interpreter services are good.
English is spoken by many guides.
RELIGION: The principal religions and
philosophies are Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. There
are 100 million Buddhists and approximately 60 million Muslims,
five million Protestants (including large numbers of Evangelicals)
and four million Roman Catholics, largely independent of Vatican
control.
TIME: GMT + 8. Despite the vast size of the country, Beijing
time is standard throughout China.
ELECTRICITY: 220/240
volts AC, 50Hz. Two-pin sockets and some three-pin sockets
are in use.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Telephone: IDD
is available. Country code: 86. Outgoing international code:
00. Antiquated internal service with public telephones in
hotels and shops displaying a telephone unit sign. It is often
easier to make international phone calls from China than it
is to make calls internally.
Fax: A growing number of hotels offer
fax facilities but often only incoming. Rates are generally
expensive.
Post: Service to Europe takes about a
week. All postal communications to China should be addressed
'People's Republic of China'.
Press: The main English-language daily
is the China Daily and China Travel. There is also the Beijing
Review, with weekly editions in English, French, Spanish,
Japanese and German. National newspapers include The People's
Daily and The Guangming Daily, with many provinces having
their own local dailies as well.
BBC World Service
and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these
change.
BBC:
MHz 21.66 15.36 9.58 5.99
Voice of America:
MHz 15.29 15.16 11.43 6.045
|
