China - Quick Facts

Capital city

Beijing

National flag

Five-star red flag, length and width proportion: 3:2.





National anthem
March of the Volunteers (lines: Arise, those who do not want to be slaves! We will use our flesh and blood to build another Great Wall. China has reached the brink of national collapse. All the people have been making their last outcry. Arise! Arise! Arise! All our hearts become one. Let us face the angry guns. March on! Let us face the angry guns. March on! March on! March on! On!)

National Day
October 1, the country was founded in 1949.

Top legislature
National People's Congress (NPC)

Location
In East Asia, by the west Pacific Ocean.

Territory area
9.6 million square km, second to Russia and Canada.

Largest city
Shanghai

Currency
Ren Min Bi (RMB) yuan

Exchange rate
7.89~ yuan = US$1

Weights and measures
metric system

Gross domestic product
8,940.4 billion yuan (at the end of 2000)

Topography

High in its west and low in its east: mountain areas 33.3%, plateaus 26%, basins 18.8%, plains 12% and hills 9.9%.

Islands
Among the 5,400 islands, Taiwan Island (about 36,000 square km) is the largest, Hainan Island (about 34,000 square km) the second.

Mountains
Himalayas
Among the 19 mountains over 7,000 meters high in the world, seven are in China. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world", has many high mountains. The Himalayas, with an average elevation of 6,000 meters, have the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, 8,848 meters above sea level.

Rivers

Yangtze River

The Yangtze River, 6,300 km long, the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon. The Yellow River, the second longest in China, stretching 5,464 km.

Canyon
The canyon on the Yalu Tsangpo River, the world's largest, 504.6 km in length and 6,009 meters in depth.

Man-made river
The Grand Canal, 1,801 km long, the longest man-made river in the world. Its cutting began in the fifth century BC.

Lakes
The Poyang Lake on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is China's largest freshwater lake; the Qinghai Lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the country's largest salt lake

Climate
China has a great variety of wildlife, over 4,400 vertebrates, more than 100 rare species of the world: the giant panda, the golden monkey, the white-lipped deer, the South China Tiger, Crossoplilon mantchuricum, the white-flag dolphin, the Chinese alligator, and the crowned crane

Plants
China has a great variety of plants, 32,000 species of higher plants, including nearly all the major kinds of vegetation found in the frigid and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere

Popular flowers
Peony, azalea, primrose and felwort.

Population
China carried out its fifth national population census on November 1, 2000. It has a population of 1,295.33 million. Of which: the total population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (excluding Jinmen and Mazu islands of Fujian Province hereafter) and of servicemen on the mainland of China was 1,265.83 million; the population of Hong Kong SAR was 6.78 million; the population of Macao SAR was 440 thousand; the population of Taiwan Province and of Jinmen, Mazu and a few other islands of Fujian Province was 22.28 million.

Population growth rate
Compared with the population of 1,133.68 million from the 1990 population census (with zero hour of July 1, 1990 as the reference time), the total population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and the servicemen of the mainland of China increased by 132.15 million persons, or 11.66 percent over the past 10 years and 4 months. The average annual growth was 12.79 million persons, or a growth rate of 1.07 percent.

Average life-span
71 years old by the end of 2000.

Population composition
The males: 51.63%, the females: 48.37%; people aged below 14: 22.89%; people aged 15-64: 70.15%; people aged above 65: 6.96%; urban population: 36.09%; rural population: 63.91%.

Ethnic groups
China has 56 ethnic groups. Of the people enumerated in the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and servicemen of the mainland of China, 1,159.40 million persons or 91.59 percent were of Han nationality, and 106.43 million persons or 8.41 percent were of various national minorities.

Languages
Of the 56 ethnic groups in China, the Hui and Manchu use the same languages as Han people, while the rest of groups have their own spoken and written languages

Public holidays
New Year's Day (January 1), the Spring Festival (the New Year's Day by Chinese lunar calendar), International Labor Day (May 1), and the National Day (October 1)