note: officially atheist (2002 est.)
Languages:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing
dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), 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: 90.9%
male: 95.1%
female: 86.5% (2000 census)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 11 years
male: 11 years
female: 11 years (2006)
Education expenditures:
1.9% of GDP (1999)
Government
China
Country name:
conventional long form: People's Republic of China
conventional short form: China
local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
local short form: Zhongguo
abbreviation: PRC
Government type:
Communist state
Capital:
name: Beijing
geographic coordinates: 39 55 N, 116 23 E
time difference: UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
note: despite its size, all of China falls within one time zone
Administrative divisions:
23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions
(zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular
and plural)
provinces: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei,
Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin,
Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan,
Zhejiang; (see note on Taiwan)
autonomous regions: Guangxi, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang Uygur,
Xizang (Tibet)
municipalities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin
note: China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries
for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau
Independence:
221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty); 1 January 1912
(Manchu Dynasty replaced by a Republic); 1 October 1949 (People's
Republic established)
National holiday:
Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1
October (1949)
Constitution:
most recent promulgation 4 December 1982
Legal system:
based on civil law system; derived from Soviet and continental civil
code legal principles; legislature retains power to interpret
statutes; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislation;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003); Vice
President XI Jinping (since 15 March 2008)
head of government: Premier WEN Jiabao (since 16 March 2003);
Executive Vice Premier LI Keqiang (17 March 2008), Vice Premier HUI
Liangyu (since 17 March 2003), Vice Premier ZHANG Deijiang (since 17
March 2008), and Vice Premier WANG Qishan (since 17 March 2008)
cabinet: State Council appointed by National People's Congress (NPC)
elections: president and vice president elected by National People's
Congress for a five-year term (eligible for a second term);
elections last held 15-17 March 2008 (next to be held in mid-March
2013); premier nominated by president, confirmed by National
People's Congress
election results: HU Jintao elected president by National People's
Congress with a total of 2,963 votes; XI Jinping elected vice
president with a total of 2,919 votes
Legislative branch:
unicameral National People's Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao
Dahui (2,987 seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and
provincial people's congresses, and People's Liberation Army to
serve five-year terms)
elections: last held December 2007-February 2008; date of next
election - NA
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats - 2,987
Judicial branch:
Supreme People's Court (judges appointed by the National People's
Congress); Local People's Courts (comprise higher, intermediate, and
basic courts); Special People's Courts (primarily military,
maritime, railway transportation, and forestry courts)
Political parties and leaders:
Chinese Communist Party or CCP [HU Jintao]; eight registered small
parties controlled by CCP
Political pressure groups and leaders:
the China Democracy Party; the Falungong spiritual movement
note: no substantial political opposition groups exist, although the
government has identified the organizations listed above as
subversive groups
International organization participation:
ADB, AfDB (nonregional members), APEC, APT, Arctic Council
(observer), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, CDB, EAS, FAO, G-24
(observer), G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU,
ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM
(observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC
(observer), SCO, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNITAR, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNTSO,
UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador ZHOU Wenzhong
chancery: 2300 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 328-2500
FAX: [1] (202) 328-2582
consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San
Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Clark T. RANDT, Jr.
embassy: 55 An Jia Lou Lu, 100600 Beijing
mailing address: PSC 461, Box 50, FPO AP 96521-0002
telephone: [86] (10) 8531-3000
FAX: [86] (10) 8531-3300
consulate(s) general: Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau,
Shanghai, Shenyang
Flag description:
red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow
five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of
the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner
Economy
China
Economy - overview:
China's economy during the last quarter century has changed from a
centrally planned system that was largely closed to international
trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing
private sector and is a major player in the global economy. Reforms
started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of collectivized
agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of
prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state
enterprises, the foundation of a diversified banking system, the
development of stock markets, the rapid growth of the non-state
sector, and the opening to foreign trade and investment. China has
generally implemented reforms in a gradualist or piecemeal fashion,
including the sale of minority shares in four of China's largest
state banks to foreign investors and refinements in foreign exchange
and bond markets in 2005. After keeping its currency tightly linked
to the US dollar for years, China in July 2005 revalued its currency
by 2.1% against the US dollar and moved to an exchange rate system
that references a basket of currencies. Cumulative appreciation of
the renminbi against the US dollar since the end of the dollar peg
reached 15% in January 2008. The restructuring of the economy and
resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold
increase in GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity
(PPP) basis, China in 2007 stood as the second-largest economy in
the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is
still lower middle-income. Annual inflows of foreign direct
investment in 2007 rose to $75 billion. By the end of 2007, more
than 5,000 domestic Chinese enterprises had established direct
investments in 172 countries and regions around the world. The
Chinese government faces several economic development challenges:
(a) to sustain adequate job growth for tens of millions of workers
laid off from state-owned enterprises, migrants, and new entrants to
the work force; (b) to reduce corruption and other economic crimes;
and (c) to contain environmental damage and social strife related to
the economy's rapid transformation. Economic development has been
more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and
approximately 200 million rural laborers have relocated to urban
areas to find work. One demographic consequence of the "one child"
policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries
in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air
pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table,
especially in the north - is another long-term problem. China
continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic
development. In 2007 China intensified government efforts to improve
environmental conditions, tying the evaluation of local officials to
environmental targets, publishing a national climate change policy,
and establishing a high level leading group on climate change,
headed by Premier WEN Jiabao. The Chinese government seeks to add
energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil as
its double-digit economic growth increases demand. Chinese energy
officials in 2007 agreed to purchase five third generation nuclear
reactors from Western companies. More power generating capacity came
on line in 2006 as large scale investments - including the Three
Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River - were completed.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$7.099 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$3.251 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
11.9% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$5,400 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 48.6%
services: 40.1% (2007 est.)
Labor force:
800.7 million (2007 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 43%
industry: 25%
services: 32% (2006 est.)
Unemployment rate:
4% unemployment in urban areas; substantial unemployment and
underemployment in rural areas (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line:
8%
note: 21.5 million rural population live below the official
"absolute poverty" line (approximately $90 per year); and an
additional 35.5 million rural population above that but below the
official "low income" line (approximately $125 per year) (2006 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 34.9% (2004)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
47 (2007)
Investment (gross fixed):
42.7% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $674.3 billion
expenditures: $651.6 billion (2007 est.)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Public debt:
18.4% of GDP (2007 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.8% (2007 est.)
Central bank discount rate:
3.33% (31 December 2007)
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
7.47% (31 December 2007)
Stock of money:
$2.09 trillion (31 December 2007)
Stock of quasi money:
$3.437 trillion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit:
$4.653 trillion (31 December 2007)
Agriculture - products:
rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples,
cotton, oilseed; pork; fish
Industries:
mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals,
coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum;
cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including
footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation
equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships,
and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch
vehicles, satellites
Industrial production growth rate:
13.4% (2007 est.)
Electricity - production:
3.256 trillion kWh (2007)
Electricity - consumption:
2.859 trillion kWh (2006)
Electricity - exports:
14.04 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - imports:
4.771 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 80.2%
hydro: 18.5%
nuclear: 1.2%
other: 0.1% (2001)
Oil - production:
3.725 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - consumption:
7.578 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports:
79,060 bbl/day (2007)
Oil - imports:
3.19 million bbl/day (2007)
Oil - proved reserves:
16 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production:
69.27 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
70.51 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
2.69 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
3.92 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
2.265 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Current account balance:
$371.8 billion (2007 est.)
Exports:
$1.22 trillion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Exports - commodities:
machinery, electrical products, data processing equipment, apparel,
textile, steel, mobile phones
Exports - partners:
US 19.1%, Hong Kong 15.1%, Japan 8.4%, South Korea 4.6%, Germany 4%
(2007)
Imports:
$904.6 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, oil and mineral fuels, plastics, LED
screens, data processing equipment, optical and medical equipment,
organic chemicals, steel, copper
Imports - partners:
Japan 14%, South Korea 10.9%, Taiwan 10.5%, US 7.3%, Germany 4.7%
(2007)
Economic aid - recipient:
$1.641 billion (FY07)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.534 trillion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external:
$363 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$758.9 billion (2007 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$93.75 billion ( 2007 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
$4.477 trillion (31 December 2007 est.)
Currency (code):
Renminbi (RMB); note - also referred to by the unit yuan (CNY)
Currency code:
CNY
Exchange rates:
Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar - 7.61 (2007), 7.97 (2006), 8.1943
(2005), 8.2768 (2004), 8.277 (2003)
Communications
China
Telephones - main lines in use:
365.4 million (2007)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
547.286 million (2007)
Telephone system:
general assessment: domestic and international services are
increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed
domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and
many towns; nonetheless, by the end of 2006, more than 95% of
China's villages had been connected to the telephone network; China
continues to develop its telecommunications infrastructure, and is
partnering with foreign providers to expand its global reach; 3 of
China's 6 major telecommunications operators are part of an
international consortium which, in December 2006, signed an
agreement with Verizon Business to build the first next-generation
fiber optic submarine cable system directly linking the US mainland
and China
domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular
telephone systems have been installed; mobile-cellular
subscribership is increasing rapidly; the number of Internet users
reached 253 million in 2008; a domestic satellite system with 55
earth stations is in place
international: country code - 86; a number of submarine cables
provide connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US;
satellite earth stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 Pacific Ocean and 1
Indian Ocean; 1 Intersputnik - Indian Ocean region; and 1 Inmarsat -
Pacific and Indian Ocean regions) (2007)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 369, FM 259, shortwave 45 (1998)
Radios:
417 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
3,240 (of which 209 are operated by China Central Television, 31 are
provincial TV stations, and nearly 3,000 are local city stations)
(1997)
Televisions:
400 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.cn
Internet hosts:
14.306 million (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
3 (2000)
Internet users:
253 million (2008)
Transportation
China
Airports:
467 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 403
over 3,047 m: 58
2,438 to 3,047 m: 128
1,524 to 2,437 m: 130
914 to 1,523 m: 20
under 914 m: 67 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 64
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
1,524 to 2,437 m: 13
914 to 1,523 m: 17
under 914 m: 26 (2007)
Heliports:
35 (2007)
Pipelines:
gas 26,344 km; oil 17,240 km; refined products 6,106 km (2007)
Railways:
total: 75,438 km
standard gauge: 75,438 km 1.435-m gauge (20,151 km electrified)
(2005)
Roadways:
total: 1,930,544 km
paved: 1,575,571 km (includes 41,005 km of expressways)
unpaved: 354,973 km (2005)
Waterways:
124,000 km navigable (2006)
Merchant marine:
total: 1,826
by type: barge carrier 4, bulk carrier 451, cargo 689, carrier 2,
chemical tanker 69, combination ore/oil 1, container 162, liquefied
gas 44, passenger 8, passenger/cargo 83, petroleum tanker 244,
refrigerated cargo 33, roll on/roll off 10, specialized tanker 9,
vehicle carrier 17
foreign-owned: 20 (Ecuador 1, Greece 2, Hong Kong 12, Indonesia 1,
Japan 2, South Korea 1, Norway 1)
registered in other countries: 1,441 (Bahamas 10, Bangladesh 1,
Belize 71, Bermuda 10, Bolivia 1, Cambodia 193, Cyprus 10, France 5,
Georgia 10, Germany 2, Honduras 3, Hong Kong 324, India 1, Indonesia
2, Kiribati 15, South Korea 1, Liberia 11, Malta 12, Marshall
Islands 7, Mongolia 1, Norway 36, Panama 532, Philippines 4, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines 94, Sierra Leone 15, Singapore 14,
Thailand 1, Tuvalu 16, unknown 39) (2008)
Ports and terminals:
Dalian, Guangzhou, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen,
Tianjin
Military
China
Military branches:
People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces, Navy (includes
marines and naval aviation), Air Force (includes airborne forces),
and Second Artillery Corps (strategic missile force); People's Armed
Police (PAP); PLA Reserve Force (2008)
Military service age and obligation:
18-22 years of age for selective compulsory military service, with
24-month service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service
(all officers are volunteers); 18-19 years of age for women high
school graduates who meet requirements for specific military jobs
(2007)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 375,009,345
females age 16-49: 354,314,328 (2008 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 313,321,639
females age 16-49: 295,951,438 (2008 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 10,760,380
female: 9,710,032 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures:
4.3% of GDP (2006)
Transnational Issues
China
Disputes - international:
continuing talks and confidence-building measures work toward
reducing tensions over Kashmir that nonetheless remains militarized
with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai
Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and
Northern Areas); India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic
Kashmir lands to China in 1964; China and India continue their
security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to the
dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional
nuclear proliferation, and other matters; China claims most of
India's Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas; lacking any
treaty describing the boundary, Bhutan and China continue
negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve
territorial disputes due to cartographic discrepancies; Chinese maps
show an international boundary symbol off the coasts of the littoral
states of the South China Seas, where China has interrupted
Vietnamese hydrocarbon exploration; China asserts sovereignty over
the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan,
Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct
of Parties in the South China Sea" eased tensions in the Spratly's
but is not the legally binding "code of conduct" sought by some
parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand construction of
facilities in the Spratly's and in March 2005, the national oil
companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint
accord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; China
occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and
Taiwan; China and Taiwan continue to reject both Japan's claims to
the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's
unilaterally declared equidistance line in the East China Sea, the
site of intensive hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation; certain
islands in the Yalu and Tumen rivers are in dispute with North
Korea; North Korea and China seek to stem illegal migration to China
by North Koreans, fleeing privations and oppression, by building a
fence along portions of the border and imprisoning North Koreans
deported by China; China and Russia have demarcated the once
disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun
River in accordance with their 2004 Agreement; China and Tajikistan
have begun demarcating the revised boundary agreed to in the
delimitation of 2002; the decade-long demarcation of the
China-Vietnam land boundary is expected to be completed by the end
of 2008, while the maritime boundary delimitation and fisheries
agreements in the Gulf of Tonkin, ratified in June 2004, have been
implemented; citing environmental, cultural, and social concerns,
China has reconsidered construction of 13 dams on the Salween River,
but energy-starved Burma, with backing from Thailand, remains intent
on building five hydro-electric dams downstream despite regional and
international protests; Chinese and Hong Kong authorities met in
March 2008 to resolve ownership and use of lands recovered in
Shenzhen River channelization, including 96-hectare Lok Ma Chau
Loop; Hong Kong developing plans to reduce 2,000 out of 2,800
hectares of its restricted Closed Area by 2010
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 300,897 (Vietnam); estimated
30,000-50,000 (North Korea)
IDPs: 90,000 (2007)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in
China occurs within the country's borders, but there is also
considerable international trafficking of Chinese citizens to
Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North
America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of
legitimate employment, only to be forced into commercial sexual
exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan;
women and children are trafficked to China from Mongolia, Burma,
North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and
prostitution; some North Korean women and children seeking to leave
their country voluntarily cross the border into China and are then
sold into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China is on the Tier 2 Watch List
for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence
of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in
terms of punishment of trafficking crimes and the protection of
Chinese and foreign victims of trafficking; victims are sometimes
punished for unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of
their being trafficked, such as violations of prostitution or
immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government continued to
treat North Korean victims of trafficking solely as economic
migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in
North Korea; additional challenges facing the Chinese Government
include the enormous size of its trafficking problem and the
significant level of corruption and complicity in trafficking by
some local government officials (2008)
Illicit drugs:
major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle
region of Southeast Asia; growing domestic drug abuse problem;
source country for chemical precursors, despite new regulations on
its large chemical industry
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008
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@Christmas Island
Introduction
Christmas Island
Background: