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| China |  |
 |
| Introduction |
| Background: | For centuries China has stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. But in the first half of the 20th century, China was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Output quadrupled in the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP. Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to weaken. |
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| Geography |
| Location: | Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam |
| Geographic coordinates: | 35 00 N, 105 00 E |
| Map references: | Asia |
| Area: |
total: 9,596,960 sq km land: 9,326,410 sq km water: 270,550 sq km |
| Area - comparative: | slightly smaller than the US |
| Land boundaries: |
total: 22,147.24 km border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,676.9 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km |
| Coastline: | 14,500 km |
| Maritime claims: |
contiguous zone: 24 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin territorial sea: 12 NM |
| Climate: | extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north |
| Terrain: | mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east |
| Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) |
| Natural resources: | coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) |
| Land use: |
arable land: 10% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 43% forests and woodland: 14% other: 33% (1993 est.) |
| Irrigated land: | 498,720 sq km (1993 est.) |
| Natural hazards: | frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts |
| Environment - current issues: | air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade in endangered species |
| Environment - international agreements: |
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation |
| Geography - note: | world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US) |
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| People |
| Population: | 1,273,111,290 (July 2001 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 25.01% (male 166,754,893; female 151,598,117) 15-64 years: 67.88% (male 445,222,858; female 418,959,646) 65 years and over: 7.11% (male 42,547,296; female 48,028,480) (2001 est.) |
| Population growth rate: | 0.88% (2001 est.) |
| Birth rate: | 15.95 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
| Death rate: | 6.74 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
| Net migration rate: | -0.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
| Sex ratio: |
at birth: 1.09 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2001 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate: | 28.08 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth: |
total population: 71.62 years male: 69.81 years female: 73.59 years (2001 est.) |
| Total fertility rate: | 1.82 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 0.07% (1999 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 500,000 (1999 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 17,000 (1999 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun: Chinese (singular and plural) adjective: Chinese |
| Ethnic groups: | Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1% |
| Religions: |
Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 2%-3%, Christian 1% (est.) note: officially atheist |
| Languages: | Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry) |
| Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 81.5% male: 89.9% female: 72.7% (1995 est.) |
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