1977년 개혁 개방을 선언한 이후 중국은 지난 30년간 매년 10%의 復利성장을 계속해왔다. 이렇게 많은 인구의 이렇게 폭발적인 경제발전은 인류역사상 처음이다. 강철 같은 주요자원의 약 30%는 중국에서 소비된다고 보면 크게 틀리지 않는다. 중국은 미국에 이어 세계 두번째의 에너지 소비국이다. 총에너지의 약70%를 석탄이 담당한다. 그 배출가스로 해서 세계 30大 오염도시 가운데 20개가 중국에 있다. 중국은 자원과 함께 돈도 빨아들이는 거대한 블랙 홀이다. 매년 800억 달러가 중국에 직접 투자된다.
  
  
  작년 중국의 수출은 2006년도보다 25.7%가 늘어난 1조2000억 달러, 수입은 20.8%가 늘어나 9558억 달러로 추계되었다. 이에 따른 무역흑자는 2622억 달러이다. 수출 2위는 독일, 3위는 미국이다. 수입은 1위가 미국, 2위가 중국, 3위가 독일. 무역규모는 미국, 중국, 독일, 일본 순이다. 미국의 對中 무역적자는 2006년도의 2325억 달러를 크게 넘어설 모양이다.
  
   작년도 중국의 무역규모(수출+수입) 2조1558억 달러는 한국의 세 배이다.
  
  중국은 외환보유고가 1조6000억 달러이다. 물론 세계1등이다. 인터넷 사용자는 2억5300만 명으로서 미국을 젖히고 세계1등이다. 자동차 생산에선 세계 2위, 판매에선 세계 2등이다.
  
  중국엔 68만명의 CEO가 있고 그중 35%는 여성이다. 지난 30년간 186개이던 신문은 2081개로, 930개이던 잡지는 9363개로 늘었다. 그만큼 언론자유도 확대되었다.
  
  2006년 통계에 따르면 8만9000명이 교통사고로 죽었다. 산업災害까지 합치면 10만1480명이 사고로 죽었다. 이렇게 교통사고가 많은 이유중의 하나는 중국에 자동차, 오토바이, 모터사이클이 1억6000만 대나 되기 때문이다.
  
  2002년 통계에 의하면 중국의 出産아기 性比(성비)는 남자 116.8에 여자가 100이었다. 장차 약5000만 명의 중국남자가 짝을 찾지 못해 결혼하지 못할 것이라고 한다. 이는 심각한 사회문제를 야기한다. 탈북여성들이 중국 시골남자의 부인으로 팔려가는 현상도 이와 무관하지 않다. 남자가 여자를 아내감으로 납치해가는 일도 있다. 중국에선 의사가 임신한 여인에게 태아의 性을 말해주는 것을 금지하고 있다. 중국정부는 한 명 낳기 운동을 오랫동안 벌여왔다. 딸을 낳은 가정이 아들을 낳기 위하여 딸의 출산을 신고하지 않는 사례도 많다고 한다. 어떤 마을에선 출산아의 40%가 보고되지 않은 경우도 있었다.
  
  연간 자살자가 28만7000명이나 되는 중국이다. 그래도 사치품 소비량이 세게 3위이다. 지난 30년간 10%대이던 도시화율이 약50%로 높아졌다. 이 또한 인류역사상 처음 보는 변화이다. 驚天動地(경천동지), 桑田碧海(상전벽해) 등의 표현도 부족하다.
  
  이런 세계사적인 발전을 가져온 인물이 鄧小平이었다. 인류역사상 가장 짧은 시간에 가장 많은 사람들을 인간답게 살 수 있게 만든 인물이다. 일본의 나카소네 전 총리는 '현재 세계에서 중국이 가장 우수한 국가 지도층을 갖고 있다'고 말한 적이 있다.
  
  이런 나라를 이웃에 둔 것은 재앙인가, 축복인가? 그것은 중국인이 아니라 한국인이 대답할 문제이다. 우리 하기에 달렸다는 뜻이다.
  
  ___________________________________________________________
  You can support Wikipedia by making a tax-deductible donation.
  People's Republic of China
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Jump to: navigation, search
   This article contains Chinese text.
  Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
  For the Chinese civilization, see China.
  'PRC' redirects here. For other uses, see PRC (disambiguation).
  Not to be confused with Republic of China, commonly known as 'Taiwan' since the 1970's.
  中华人民共和国
  (Simplified Chinese characters)
  中華人民共和國
  (Traditional Chinese characters)
  Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó
  People's Republic of China
  
  Flag National Emblem
  
  Anthem: 'March of the Volunteers'
  (义勇军进行曲)
  
  
  Capital Beijing
  39°55′N 116°23′E / 39.917, 116.383
  Largest city Shanghai
  Official languages see below
  Recognised regional languages List[a][show]
  Chinese languages
  · Cantonese (Yue)
  · Gan
  · Hakka (Kejia)
  · Hui
  · Jin
  · Mandarin (Guan)
  · Min
  · Pinghua
  · Wu
  · Xiang
  English
  Hmong-Mien languages
  Kazakh
  Korean
  Kyrgyz
  Mon-Khmer languages
  Mongolic languages
  Portuguese
  Tai
  Tajik
  Tibetan
  Tungusic languages
  Uyghur
  Zhuang
  National language Standard Mandarin (Chinese)
  Demonym Chinese
  Government Single-party state, Socialist republic[b]
   - President Hu Jintao
   - Premier Wen Jiabao
   - Chairman of the NPCSC Wu Bangguo
   - Chairman of the CPPCC Jia Qinglin
  Establishment
   - Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors c. 2852 BC
   - Qin Dynasty c. 221 BC
   - People's Republic declared 1 October 1949
  Area
   - Total 9,640,821 km² [d] or 9,671,018 km²[d]
  (3rd)
  3,704,427 sq mi
   - Water (%) 2.8[c]
  Population
   - 2007 estimate 1,321,851,888[c] (1st)
   - 2000 census 1,242,612,226
   - Density 140/km² (53rd)
  363/sq mi
  GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate
   - Total $7.043 trillion[1] (2nd)
   - Per capita $5,300[2] (99th)
  GDP (nominal) 2007 estimate
   - Total $3.25 trillion (4th)
   - Per capita $2,800 (105th)
  Gini (2007) 47.0[3]
  HDI (2007) ▲ 0.777 (medium) (81st)
  Currency Yuan[c] (CNY)
  Time zone (UTC+8)
   - Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+9)
  Internet TLD .cn[c]
  Calling code +86[c]
  a. ^ General Information of the People's Republic of China, ChinaToday. Retrieved 21 February 2007. In addition to Standard Mandarin, Cantonese is co-official in both Hong Kong and Macau. English is co-official in Hong Kong (SAR); correspondingly, Portuguese in Macau (SAR). Similarly, several minority languages are also co-official with Chinese (Mandarin) in minority areas, viz. Zhuang in Guangxi, Uyghur in Xinjiang, Mongolian in the classical alphabet in Inner Mongolia, Tibetan in Tibet, etc.
  b. ^ The role of the government, China, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved on 21-02-2007.
  
  c. ^ Information for mainland China only. The Special Administrative Regions of the PRC: Hong Kong, Macau are excluded. In addition, the island territories under the control of the Republic of China, which includes the islands of (Taiwan, Kinmen, and Matsu) are also excluded.
  
  d. ^ 9,598,086 km² Excludes all disputed territories.
  9,640,821 km² Includes PRC-administered area (Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract, both territories claimed by India), Taiwan is not included.
  
  China Daily website
  The People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó listen (help·info)), commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people (a fifth of the world's population). It is a socialist republic that is ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system and has administrative control over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions. Beijing has been its capital since 1949.
  
  At 9.6 million km2, the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the world's third largest country by area[4] and endowed with a diverse landscape. In the north, near China's borders with Mongolia and Russia's Siberia, the Gobi Desert and forest steppes dominate the dry expanse while lush subtropical forests grow along its southern borders with Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The terrain in the west is rugged and high altitude with the Himalayas and the Tian Shan mountain ranges forming China's natural borders with India and Central Asia. In contrast, China's eastern seaboard is low-lying and has a 14,500-km long coastline bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea and on the east by the East China Sea beyond which lies Korea and Japan.
  
  Ancient Chinese civilization - one of the world's earliest - flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River that flows through the North China Plain. For the past 4000 years, China had been ruled by hereditary monarchs or dynasties beginning with the Xia until the Qing that finally ended in 1911. The first half of the 20th century saw China plunged into a period of disunity and civil wars that divided the country into two main political camps - the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC). Major hostilities ended in 1949 with the establishment of the People's Republic in mainland China by the victorious Communists while the retreating Nationalists set up the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. Even today, the PRC is still involved in potentially bloody disputes with the ROC over issues of sovereignty and the political status of Taiwan.
  
  The PRC is considered to be a major power,[5][6] holding a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and memberships in APEC, East Asia Summit, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China is a nuclear state and has the world's largest standing army and fourth largest defense budget. It is a fast-growing economic power[7][8][9][10] having the world's fourth largest GDP in nominal terms or second largest in purchasing power and consuming as much as a third of the world's steel and over a half of its concrete.[11] China is also the world's second largest exporter[12] and the third largest importer.[13] Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1978, the poverty rate in China has gone down from 53% to 8% in 2001.[14] However, China is now faced with a number of other economic problems including a rapidly ageing population, a widening rural-urban income gap, and rapid environmental degradation.[15][16] Currently China is one of five remaining communist states, along with Vietnam, North Korea, Laos and Cuba.[17]
  
  Contents [hide]
  1 History
  2 Politics
  2.1 Foreign relations
  2.2 Population policy
  2.3 Human rights
  3 Administrative divisions
  4 Geography and climate
  5 Military
  6 Economy
  7 Science and technology
  8 Transportation
  9 Demographics
  9.1 Largest cities
  10 Education
  11 Public health
  12 Religion
  13 Culture
  13.1 Sports and recreation
  14 See also
  15 References
  16 Further reading
  17 External links
  
  
  
  History
  Main articles: History of China and History of the People's Republic of China
  Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of the mainland, and the Kuomintang (KMT) retreating to Taiwan and some outlying islands of Fujian. On 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China, declaring 'the Chinese people have stood up'.[18] Red China was a frequent appellation for the PRC (generally within the Western Bloc) used from the time of Communist ascendance until the mid-late 1970s with the improvement of relations between China and the West.[19]
  
  Following a series of dramatic economic failures (caused by the Great Leap Forward), Mao stepped down from his position as chairman in 1959, with Liu Shaoqi as successor. Mao still had much influence over the Party, but was removed from day-to-day management of economic affairs, which came under the control of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.
  
  
  Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949.In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, which would last until Mao's death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution, motivated by power struggles within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major upheaval in Chinese society. In 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard Nixon in Beijing to establish relations with the United States. In the same year, the PRC was admitted to the United Nations, replacing the Republic of China for China's membership of the United Nations, and permanent membership of the Security Council.
  
  After Mao's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrestled power from Mao's anointed successor Hua Guofeng. Although Deng never became the head of the Party or State himself, his influence within the Party led the country to economic reforms of significant magnitude. The Communist Party subsequently loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives and the communes were disbanded with many peasants receiving multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production. This turn of events marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open market environment, a system termed by many 'market socialism'. The PRC adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982.
  
  In 1989, the death of pro-reform official, Hu Yaobang, helped to spark the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, during which students and others campaigned for several months for more democratic rights and freedom of speech. However, they were eventually put down on 4 June when PLA troops and vehicles entered and forcibly cleared the square by opening fire on protesters, resulting in numerous casualties. This event was widely reported and famously videotaped, which brought worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the government.
  
  President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both former mayors of Shanghai, led post-Tiananmen China in the 1990s. Under Jiang Zemin's ten years of administration, China's economic performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual GDP growth rate of 11.2%.[20][21] The country formally joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
  
  Although China needs economic growth to spur its development, the government has begun to worry that rapid economic growth has negatively impacted the country's resources and environment. Another concern is that certain sectors of society are not sufficiently benefiting from China's economic development. As a result, under current President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the PRC have initiated policies to address these issues of equitable distribution of resources, but the outcome remains to be seen.[22] For much of China's population, living standards have seen extremely large improvements, and freedom continues to expand, but political controls remain tight.
  
  
  Politics
  Main article: Politics of the People's Republic of China
  
  The Great Hall of the People, where the National People's Congress convenes.While the PRC is regarded as a Communist state by many political scientists, simple characterizations of China's political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible.[23] The PRC government has been variously described as authoritarian, communist, and socialist, with heavy restrictions remaining in many areas, most notably in the Internet and in the press, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights, and freedom of religion. However, compared to its closed door policies until the mid-1970s, the liberalization of the PRC is such that the administrative climate is much less restrictive than before, though the PRC is still far from the full-fledged democracy practiced in most of Europe or North America, according to most observers internationally.
  
  The country is ruled under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Its incumbent President is Hu Jintao and its premier is Wen Jiabao.
  
  The country is run by the Communist Party of China (CPC), which is guaranteed power by the Constitution.[24] There are other political parties in the PRC, referred to in China as 'democratic parties', which participate in the People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress. There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are now held at the village and town levels,[25][26] and that legislatures have shown some assertiveness from time to time. However, the Party retains effective control over governmental appointments: in the absence of meaningful opposition, the CPC wins by default most of the time. Political concerns in China include lessening the growing gap between rich and poor and fighting corruption within the government leadership.[27] The level of support that the Communist Party of China has among the Chinese population in general is unclear since there are no consistently contested national elections.[28] According to a survey conducted in Hong Kong, where a relatively high level of freedom is enjoyed, the current CPC leaders have received substantial votes of support when residents were asked to rank their favorite leaders from the PRC and Taiwan.[29]
  
  See also: Government of the People's Republic of China, Chinese nationalism, Propaganda in the People's Republic of China, Chinese law, Politics of the Republic of China, Neoconservatism in China, Politics of Hong Kong, and Politics of Macau
  
  Foreign relations
  Main article: Foreign relations of the People's Republic of China
  
  Hu Jintao with US President George W. Bush.The People's Republic of China maintains diplomatic relations with most major countries in the world. Sweden was the first western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic on the ninth of May 1950.[30] In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[31] It is considered a founding member of the UN, though the PRC was not in control of China at the time. The PRC was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement.
  
  Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, the PRC has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the Republic of China (ROC) government. The government opposes publicized foreign travels by former and present Taiwanese officials promoting Taiwan's independence, such as Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian, and other politically controversial figures, such as Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, in an official context.
  
  China has been playing an increasing role in calling for free trade areas and security pacts amongst its Asia-Pacific neighbors. In 2004, China proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues that pointedly excluded the United States.[32] The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit in 2005. China is also a founding member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), with Russia and the Central Asian republics.
  
  Much of the current foreign policy is based on the concept of China's peaceful rise. Conflicts with foreign countries have occurred at times in its recent history, particularly with the United States; e.g., the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict in May 1999 and the U.S.-China spy plane incident in April 2001. Its foreign relations with many Western nations suffered for a time following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, though they have since recovered. The relationship between China and Japan has been strained at times by Japan's refusal to acknowledge its war-time past to the satisfaction of the PRC, e.g. revisionist comments made by prominent Japanese officials and in some Japanese history textbooks. Another point of conflict between the two countries is the frequent visits by Japanese government officials to the Yasukuni Shrine. However, Sino-Japanese relations have warmed considerably since Shinzo Abe became the new Japanese Prime Minister in September 2006. A joint historical study to be completed by 2008 of WWII atrocities is being conducted by China and Japan.
  
  Equally bordering the most countries in the world alongside Russia, the PRC was in a number of international territorial disputes. China's territorial disputes have led to localized wars in the last 50 years, including the Sino-Indian War in 1962, the Sino-Soviet border conflict in 1969 and the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. In 2001, the PRC and Russia signed the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship,[33] which paved the way in 2004 for Russia to transfer Yinlong Island as well as one-half of Heixiazi to China, ending a long-standing Sino-Russian border dispute. Other territorial disputes include islands in the East and South China Seas, and undefined or disputed borders with India, Tajikistan and North Korea.
  
  While accompanying a rapid economic rise, the PRC since the 1990s seeks to maintain a policy of quiet diplomacy with its neighbors. Steadying its economic growth and participating in regional organizations and cultivating bi-lateral relations will ease suspicion over China's burgeoning military capabilities. The PRC has started a policy of wooing African nations for trade and bilateral co-operations.[34]
  
  
  Population policy
  Main article: One-child policy
  
  Population of China from 1961-2003With a population of over 1.3 billion, the PRC is very concerned about its population growth and has attempted, with mixed results,[35] to implement a strict family planning policy. The government's goal is one child per family, with exceptions for ethnic minorities and flexibility in rural areas, where a family can have a second child if the first is a girl or physically disabled. The government's goal is to stabilize population growth early in the twenty-first century, though some projections estimate a population of anywhere ranging from 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion by 2025. Hence the country's family planning minister has indicated that China will maintain its one-child policy until at least the year 2018.[36]
  
  The policy is resisted, particularly in rural areas, because of the need for agricultural labor and a traditional preference for boys (who can later serve as male heirs). Families who breach the policy often lie during the census.[37] Official government policy opposes forced sterilization or abortion, but allegations of coercion continue as local officials, who are faced with penalties for failing to curb population growth, may resort to forced abortion or sterilization, or manipulation of census figures.
  
  The decreasing reliability of PRC population statistics since family planning began in the late 1970s has made evaluating the effectiveness of the policy difficult.[38] Estimates by Chinese demographers of the average number of children for a Chinese woman vary from 1.5 to 2.0. The government is particularly concerned with the large imbalance in the sex ratio at birth, apparently the result of a combination of traditional preference for boys, and family planning pressure, which led to the ban of using ultrasound devices for the purpose of preventing sex-selective abortion.
  
  
  Human rights
  Main article: Human rights in the People's Republic of China
  
  The Unknown Rebel - This famous photo, taken on 5 June 1989 by photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a protester faced by a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.While economic and social controls have been greatly relaxed in China since the 1960s, political freedom is still tightly controlled by both central and local governments. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the 'fundamental rights' of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the State.
  
  Censorship of political speech and information is openly and routinely used to silence criticism of government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party.[39] In particular, press control is notoriously tight: Reporters Without Borders considers the PRC one of the least free countries in the world for the press.[40] The government has a policy of limiting groups, organizations, and beliefs that it considers a potential threat to 'social stability' and control, as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The Communist Party has had mixed success in controlling information: a very strong media control system faces very strong market forces, an increasingly educated citizenry and cultural change that are making China more open, especially on environmental issues.[41][42]
  
  A number of foreign governments and NGOs routinely criticize the PRC, alleging widespread human rights violations including systematic use of lengthy detention without trial, forced confessions, torture, mistreatment of prisoners, restrictions of freedom of speech, assembly, association, religion, the press, and labor rights.[39] China leads the world in capital punishment, accounting for roughly 90% of total executions in 2004.[43] Human rights issues are one of the factors driving independence movements in Tibet and Xinjiang.[citation needed] In the Reporters Without Borders' Annual World Press Freedom Index of 2005,[40] the PRC ranked 159 out of 167 places. PRC journalist He Qinglian in her 2004 book Media Control in China[44] documents government controls on the Internet and other media in China.
  
  The PRC government has responded by arguing that the notion of human rights should take into account a country's present level of economic development, and focus more on the people's rights to subsistence and development in poorer countries.[45] The rise in the standard of living, literacy and life expectancy for the average Chinese in the last three decades is seen by the government as tangible progress made in human rights.[46] Efforts in the past decade to combat deadly natural disasters, such as the perennial Yangtze River floods, and work-related accidents are also portrayed in China as progress in human rights for a still largely poor country.[45]
  
  
  Administrative divisions
  Main article: Administrative divisions of China
  See also: List of cities in the People's Republic of China and Names of the territories of the People's Republic of China in Simplified and Traditional Chinese
  The People's Republic of China has administrative control over twenty-two provinces and considers Taiwan to be its twenty-third province.[47] There are also five autonomous regions, each with a designated minority group; four municipalities; and two Special Administrative Regions that enjoy considerable autonomy. The twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities can be collectively referred to as 'mainland China', a term which usually excludes Hong Kong and Macau.
  
  Political divisions of the PRC Provinces (省)
  For a larger map, see here. Anhui (安徽)
  Fujian (福建)
  Gansu (甘肃)
  Guangdong (广东)
  Guizhou (贵州)
   Hainan (海南)
  Hebei (河北)
  Heilongjiang (黑龙江)
  Henan (河南)
  Hubei (湖北)
   Hunan (湖南)
  Jiangsu (江苏)
  Jiangxi (江西)
  Jilin (吉林)
  Liaoning (辽宁)
   Qinghai (青海)
  Shaanxi (陕西)
  Shandong (山东)
  Shanxi (山西)
  Sichuan (四川)
   Taiwan (台湾)†
  Yunnan (云南)
  Zhejiang (浙江)
  
  †Taiwan is claimed by the PRC but administered by the Republic of China
  Autonomous regions (自治区) Municipalities (直辖市) Special Administrative
  Regions (特别行政区)
  Guangxi (广西壮族自治区)
  Inner Mongolia (内蒙古自治区)
  Ningxia (宁夏回族自治区)
  Xinjiang (新疆维吾尔自治区)
  Tibet (西藏自治区)
   Beijing (北京市)
  Chongqing (重庆市)
  Shanghai (上海市)
  Tianjin (天津市)
   Hong Kong (香港特別行政區)
  Macau (澳門特別行政區)
  
  
  
  Geography and climate
  Main articles: Geography of China and Geography of the People's Republic of China
  
  Grasslands of Chengde, Hebei, North China.
  Farmlands in East China.
  Tibetan Plateau in Southwest China.
  South China Sea at Hainan.China is the second largest country in Asia by area after Russia, and is considered the third largest[48] in the world in respect to land and sea area. The uncertainty over size is related to (a) the validity of claims by the PRC on territories such as Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract (both territories also claimed by India), and (b) how the total size of the United States is calculated: The World Factbook gives 9,826,630 km²,[49] and the Encyclopedia Britannica gives 9,522,055 km².[50] A recent change in the method used by the United States to calculate its surface area adds to the confusion as to the actual size of the United States.[51] China borders 14 nations (counted clockwise from south): Vietnam, Laos, Burma, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan,[52] Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and North Korea. Additionally the border between PRC and ROC is located in territorial waters.
  
  The territory of the PRC contains a large variety of landscapes. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, grasslands can be seen. Southern China is dominated by hill country and low mountain ranges. In the central-east are the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur.
  
  To the west, major mountain ranges, notably the Himalayas, with China's highest point at the eastern half of Mount Everest, and high plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert.
  
  A major issue is the continued expansion of deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert.[53] Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices result in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Korea and Japan. Water, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries.
  
  China has some relevant environmental regulations: the 1979 Environmental Protection Law, which was largely modeled on U.S. legislation. But the environment continues to deteriorate.[54] While the regulations are fairly stringent, they are frequently disregarded by local communities while seeking economic development. Twelve years after the law, only one Chinese city was making an effort to clean up its water discharges.[55] This indicates that China is about twenty years behind the U.S. schedule of environmental regulation.
  
  Water pollution has increased as an issue along with industrial production. The Chinese government has chosen a discharge standard measuring the concentration of a pollutant rather than the total pollutant load (as is done in the U.S. and many Western countries). As a result many industrial dischargers in China simply dilute the effluent with river water taken from the same source as the receiving waters. Consequently the outcome has been to create considerable water pollution in many of the country's rivers.[citation needed]
  
  With regard to carbon emissions, China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol but it is not required to reduce carbon emissions because of its status as a developing country. However, with rapid industrialization, China is fast becoming one of the world's top emitters of carbon gases and possibly a major contributor to global warming.[citation needed]
  
  Part of the price China is paying for increased prosperity is damage to the environment. Leading Chinese environmental campaigner Ma Jun has warned that water pollution is one of the most serious threats facing China. According to Ma the drinking water of 300 million peasants is unsafe and water quality in one fifth of the cities is not up to standard. This makes the crisis of water shortages more pressing, with 400 out of 600 cities short of water.[56]
  
  See also: Environment of China and Water resources of the People's Republic of China
  
  Military
  Main article: People's Liberation Army
  
  Luhu class destroyer of the PLAN.With 2.3 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest military in the world.[57] The PLA consists of an army, navy, air force, and strategic nuclear force. The official announced budget of the PLA for 2007 was $45 billion. However, the United States claims China does not report its real military spending. The DIA estimates that the real Chinese military budget for 2007 could be anywhere from US$85 to US$125 billion.[58]
  
  The PRC, despite possession of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, is widely seen by military researchers both within and outside of China as having only limited power projection capability; this is, among other things, because of the limited effectiveness of its navy. It is considered a major military regional power and an emerging military superpower.[59]
  
  Much progress has been made in the last decade and the PRC continues to make efforts to modernize its military. It has purchased state-of-the-art fighter jets from Russia, such as the Sukhoi Su-30s, and has also produced its own modern fighters, specifically the Chinese J-10s and the J-11s.[60] It has also acquired and improved upon the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, which are considered to be among the best aircraft-intercepting systems in the world,[61] albeit Russia has since produced the new generation S-400 Triumf. The PRC's armored and rapid-reaction forces have been updated with enhanced electronics and targeting capabilities. In recent years, much attention has been focused on building a navy with blue-water capability.[62]
  
  
  Economy
  Main articles: Economy of the People's Republic of China, Economy of Hong Kong, and Economy of Macau
  
  In 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated China's market-oriented reforms.From its founding in 1949 to late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Private businesses and capitalism were suppressed. To propel the country towards a modern, industrialized communist society, Mao Zedong instituted the Great Leap Forward which is now widely seen — both within China and outside - as a major economic failure and a great humanitarian disaster. His death and the end of the Cultural Revolution allowed Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership to reform the economy and move to a market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Collectivization of the agriculture was dismantled and farmlands were privatized to increase productivity. A wide variety of small-scale enterprises were allowed to flourish while the government relaxed price controls and promoted foreign investment. Foreign trade was focused upon as a major vehicle of growth, which led to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) first in Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) and then in other Chinese cities. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured by introducing western-style management system and the unprofitable ones were closed, resulting in massive job losses.
  
  
  Shanghai Stock Exchange building at Shanghai's Pudong financial district.
  Nominal GDP from 1952 to 2005.With an average annual GDP growth rate of 9.6% for the last two decades, the economy is among fastest growing in the world.[63] Its is the world's third largest with nominal GDP at RMB24.953 trillion (US$3.45 trillion) corresponding to US$2650 per capita.[64] The primary, secondary, and tertiary industries contributed 11.3%, 48.6%, and 40.1% respectively to the total economy. If PPP is taken into account, China's economy is second only to the US at US$7 trillion corresponding to US$5300 per capita.[65] China is the fourth most visited countries in the world with 49.6 million inbound international visitors in 2006.[66] It is a member of the WTO and is the world's third largest trading power behind the US and Germany with a total international trade of US$2.18 trillion - US$1.22 trillion in exports (#3) and US$955.8 billion in imports (#3). Its foreign exchange reserves have exceeded US$1.5 trillion, making it the world's largest.[67] It is among the world's favorite destination for FDI, attracting more than US$80 billion in 2007 alone.[68] China's success has been primarily due to manufacturing as a low-cost producer. This is attributed to a combination of cheap labor, good infrastructure, medium level of technology and skill, relatively high productivity, favorable government policy, and some say, an undervalued exchange rate. The latter has been blamed for China's bulging trade surplus (US$262.7 billion in 2007)[69] and has become a major source of dispute between China and its major trading partners - the US, EU, and Japan despite the yuan having been de-pegged and risen in value by 20% against the US dollar since 2005.[70]
  
  The state still dominates in strategic 'pillar' industries (such as energy and heavy industries), but private enterprise (30 million private businesses)[71] now accounts for approximately 70% of China's national output, up from 1% in 1978.[72] Its stock market in Shanghai (SSE) is raising record amounts of IPOs and its benchmark Shanghai Composite index has doubled since 2005. SSE's market capitalization reached US$3 trillion in 2007 and is the world's fifth largest exchange. China now ranks 34th in the Global Competitiveness Index.[73] Twenty nine Chinese companies made the list in the 2008 Fortune Global 500.[74] Measured on market capitalization, 3 out of 10 of the world's most valuable companies are in China including #2-PetroChina, #5-China Mobile (world's most valuable telecommunications company), and #6-Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (world's most valuable bank).[75]
  
  China's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese population remains below the poverty line. 90.9% of the population is relatively literate,[76] compared to 20% in 1950.[77] Urban unemployment declined to 4 percent in China by the end of 2007 (true overall unemployment might be higher at around 10%).[78] Its middle class population has now reached 80-150 million.[79][80] China's retail market is worth RMB4930 billion (US$700 billion) in 2007 and growing at 15% annually.[81] It is also now the world's third biggest consumer of luxury goods with 12% of the global share.[82]
  
  However, China's growth has been uneven when comparing different geographic regions and rural and urban areas. Urban-rural income gap is getting wider in China with a Gini coefficient of 46.9%. Development has also been mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal regions while the remainder of the country are left behind. To counter this, the government has promoted development in the western, northeastern, and central regions of China. The economy is also highly energy-intensive and inefficient - it uses 20%-100% more energy than OECD countries for many industrial processes.[83] It has now become the world's second largest energy consumer behind the US[84] but relies on coal to supply about 70% of its energy needs.[85] Coupled with a lax environmental regulation, this has led to a massive water and air pollution (China has 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities).[86] Consequently, the government has promised to use more renewable energy with a target of 10% of total energy use by 2010 and 30% by 2050.[87]
  
  
  Science and technology
  Main articles: Science and technology in the People's Republic of China and List of Chinese inventions
  
  Wind turbines in Xinjiang. The Dabancheng project is Asia's largest wind farm.After the Sino-Soviet split, China started to develop its own nuclear weapons and delivery systems, successfully detonating its first surface nuclear test in 1964 at Lop Nur. A natural outgrowth of this was a satellite launching program, which culminated in 1970 with the launching of Dong Fang Hong I, the first Chinese satellite. This made the PRC the fifth nation to independently launch a satellite. In 1992, the Shenzhou manned spaceflight program was authorized.[88] After four tests, Shenzhou 5 was launched on 15 October 2003, using a Long March 2F launch vehicle and carrying Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei, making the PRC the third country to put a human being into space through its own endeavors.[89] With the successful completion of the second manned mission, Shenzhou 6 in October 2005, the country plans to build a Chinese Space Station in the near future and achieve a lunar landing in the next decade.[90]
  
  China has the world's second largest research and development budget, and is expected to invest over $136 billion this year after growing more than 20% in the past year.[91] The Chinese government continues to place heavy emphasis on research and development by creating greater public awareness of innovation, and reforming financial and tax systems to promote growth in cutting-edge industries. President Hu Jintao in January 2006 called for China to make the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-based one, and this year's National People's Congress has approved large increases in research funding. Stem cell research and gene therapy, which some in the Western world see as controversial, face minimal regulation in China. China has an estimated 926,000 researchers, second only to the United States' 1.3 million.[92]
  
  China is also actively developing its software, semiconductor and energy industries, including renewable energies such as hydro, wind and solar power.[93] In an effort to reduce pollution from coal-burning power plants, China has been pioneering the deployment of pebble bed nuclear reactors, which run cooler and safer, and have potential applications for the hydrogen economy.[94]
  
  
  Transportation
  Main article: Transport in the People's Republic of China
  
  G030 northbound in Hebei. There are 45,000 km (28,000 mi) of expressways in China. This is the second-longest total in the world, and half that of the United States.Transportation in the mainland of the People's Republic of China has improved remarkably since the late 1990s as part of a government effort to link the entire nation through a series of expressways known as the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS). The total length of expressway is 45,000 km at the end of 2006, second only to the United States.[95][96] Most of the expressways, however, require tolls.
  
  Private car ownership is increasing at an annual rate of 15%, though it is still uncommon because of government policies that make car ownership expensive, such as taxes and toll roads.[97] Private highway driving is becoming more common, being almost nonexistent ten years ago.
  
  Domestic air travel has increased significantly, but remains too expensive for most. Long distance transportation is dominated by railways and charter bus systems. Railways are the vital carrier in China; they are monopolized by the state, divided into various railway bureaus in different regions. At the rates of demand it experiences, the system has historically been subject to overcrowding during travel seasons such as Chunyun during the Chinese New Year.
  
  Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai both have a rapidly expanding network of subway or light rail systems, while several other cities also have running rapid transit. Numerous cities are also constructing subways. Hong Kong has one of the most developed transport systems in the world. Shanghai has a Maglev rail line connecting Shanghai's urban area to Pudong International Airport.
  
  See also: Rail transport in the People's Republic of China
  
  Demographics
  Main articles: Demographics of the People's Republic of China and List of ethnic groups in China
  As of July 2006, there are 1,313,973,713 people in the PRC. About 20.8% (male 145,461,833; female 128,445,739) are 14 years old or younger, 71.4% (male 482,439,115; female 455,960,489) are between 15 and 64 years old, and 7.7% (male 48,562,635; female 53,103,902) are over 65 years old. The population growth rate for 2006 is 0.59%.[98] The PRC officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Han Chinese, who constitute about 91.9% of the total population.[99] Large ethnic minorities include the Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uyghur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Tujia (5.75 million), Mongols (5 million), Tibetans (5 million), Buyei (3 million), and Koreans (2 million).[100]
  
  In the past decade, China's cities expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 41.8% between 1978 and 2005, a scale unprecedented in human history.[101] 80 to 120 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities and return home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[102]
  
  Today, the People's Republic of China has dozens of major cities with one million or more long-term residents, including the three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Major cities in China play key roles in national and regional identity, culture and economics.
  
  
  Largest cities
  The figures below are from the 2007 census, and are only estimates of the population within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large floating populations of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[103] the figures below do not include the floating population, only long-term residents.
  
  Rank Core City Division Pop. Rank Core City Division Pop. view • talk • edit
  
  Shanghai
  
  Beijing
  
  
  1 Shanghai Shanghai Municipality 14,530,000 11 New Territories Hong Kong SAR 3,730,000
  2 Beijing Beijing Municipality 10,300,000 12 Kowloon-Hong Kong Island Hong Kong SAR 3,387,665
  3 Shenzhen Guangdong Province 11,820,000 13 Chongqing Chongqing Municipality 3,270,000
  4 Guangzhou Guangdong Province 7,050,000 14 Qingdao Shandong Province 3,200,000
  5 Dongguan Guangdong Province 6,450,000 15 Tangshan Hebei Province 3,200,000
  6 Tianjin Tianjin Municipality 5,190,000 16 Nanjing Jiangsu Province 3,110,000
  7 Wuhan Hubei Province 4,890,000 17 Zibo Shandong Province 2,900,000
  8 Harbin Heilongjiang Province 4,754,753 18 Fuzhou Fujian Province 2,600,000
  9 Shenyang Liaoning Province 4,420,000 19 Changsha Hunan Province 2,520,000
  10 Chengdu Sichuan Province 3,750,000 20 Nanchang Jiangxi Province 2,440,000
  2007 Census
  See also: List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
  
  Education
  Main article: Education in the People's Republic of China
  
  Public school in Xinjiang.In 1986, China set the long-term goal of providing compulsory nine-year basic education to every child. As of 1997, there were 628,840 primary schools, 78,642 secondary schools and 1,020 higher education institutions in the PRC.[104] In February 2006, the government advanced its basic education goal by pledging to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees, in the poorer western provinces.[105] As of 2002, 90.9% (male: 95.1%; female: 86.5%) of the population over age 15 are literate.[98] China's youth (age 15 to 24) literacy rate is 98.9% (99.2% for males and 98.5% for females) in 2000.[106] In March 2007, China announced the decision of making education a national 'strategic priority', the central budget of the national scholarships will be tripled in two years and 223.5 billion Yuan (28.65 billion US dollars) of extra funding will be allocated from the central government in the next 5 years to improve the compulsory education in rural areas.[107]
  
  
  Tsinghua University is a well regarded university in Mainland China.The quality of Chinese colleges and universities varies considerably across the country. The consistently top-ranked universities in mainland China are Tsinghua and Peking in Beijing; Fudan, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and East China Normal University in Shanghai; Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an; Nanjing University in Nanjing; the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei; Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and Wuhan University in Wuhan.[108][109]
  
  Many parents are highly committed to their children's education, often investing large portions of the family's income on education. Private lessons and recreational activities, such as in foreign languages or music, are popular among the middle-class families who can afford them.[110]
  
  
  Public health
  Main article: Public health in the People's Republic of China
  
  Since China has some of the most polluted cites in the world,[111] respiratory problems have increased because of widespread air pollution.[112]The Ministry of Health, together with its counterparts in the provincial health bureaus, oversees the health needs of the Chinese population.[113] An emphasis on public health and preventative treatment characterized health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as attacking several diseases. This has shown major results as diseases like cholera, typhoid, and scarlet fever were nearly eradicated.
  
  With economic reform after 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition despite the disappearance, along with the People's Communes, of much of the free public health services provided in the countryside. Health care in China became largely private fee-for-service. This was widely criticised by the Islamic Hui populations of the North West, who were often unable to obtain medical support in their remote communities. By 2000, when the World Health Organization made a large study of public health systems throughout the world, The World Health Report 2000 Health Systems: Improving Performance the Chinese public health system ranked 144 of the 191 UN member states ranked.
  
  The country's life expectancy at birth jumped from about 35 years in 1949 to 73.18 years in 2008,[114][115] and infant mortality went down from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to about 23 per thousand in 2006.[98][116] Malnutrition as of 2002 stood at 12 percent of the population according to United Nations FAO sources.[117]
  
  Despite significant improvements in health and the introduction of western style medical facilities, the PRC has several emerging public health problems, which include respiratory problems as a result of widespread air pollution[112] and millions of cigarette smokers,[118] a possible future HIV/AIDS epidemic, and an increase in obesity among urban youths.[119][120] Estimates of excess deaths in China from environmental pollution (apart from smoking) are placed at 760,000 people per annum from air and water pollution (including indoor air pollution).[121] China's large population and close living quarters has led to some serious disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of SARS (a pneumonia-like disease) which has since been largely contained.[122]
  
  
  Religion
  Main article: Religion in China
  See also: Chinese folk religion and Feng shui
  
  Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are one, a litang style painting portraying three men laughing by a river stream, 12th century, Song Dynasty.China does allow a limited degree of religious freedom although the state is officially atheist, in accordance with the doctrines of Marxism. However, official tolerance is only extended to those in state-approved religious organizations and not to those who worship underground, such as house churches. An accurate number of religious adherents is hard to obtain due to a lack of official data, but there is general consensus that religion has been enjoying a resurgence over the past 20 years.[123] A survey by Phil Zuckerman on Adherents.com found that in 1998, 59% (over 700 million)[124] of the population was irreligious. Meanwhile, another survey in 2007 found that there are 300 million (23% of the population) believers as opposed to an official figure of 100 million.[125]
  
  Despite the surveys' varying results, most agree that China's traditional religions - Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions - are the dominant faiths. According to a number of sources, Buddhism in China accounts for between 660 million (~50%) and over 1 billion (~80%)[126] while Taoists number 400 million (~30%).[127][128] However, the number of adherents to these religions can be overcounted because one can subscribe to one or more of these traditional beliefs simultaneously and the difficulty to clearly differentiate Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions. In addition, subscribing to Buddhism and Taoism is not necessarily considered religious for those who follow the philosophies in principle but stop short at subscribing to any kind of divinity.[129][130][131] Most Chinese Buddhists are nominal adherents because only a small proportion of the population (over 8% or over 100 million)[132][133] may have taken the formal step of going for refuge.[134][135] Even then, it's still difficult to estimate accurately the number of Buddhists because they did not have congregational memberships and often did not participate in public ceremonies.[136] Mahayana (大乘, Dacheng) and its subsets Pure Land (Amidism), Tiantai and Zen are the most widely practiced denominations of Buddhism. Other forms, such as Theravada and Tibetan, are practiced largely by ethnic minorities along the geographic fringes of the Chinese mainland.[137]
  
  Christianity in China was first introduced during the Tang period in the 7th century with the arrival of Nestorianism in 635 CE. This was followed by Franciscan missionaries in the 13th century, Jesuits in the 16th century, and finally Protestants in the 19th century, during which time Christianity began to make significant foothold in China.[citation needed] Of the minority religions, Christianity has been particularly noted as one of the fastest growing (especially since the last 200 years) and today may number between 40 million (3%)[138][139] and 54 million (4%)[140] according to independent surveys, while official estimates suggested that there are only 16 million Christians.[141]
  
  Islam in China dates to a mission in 651, eighteen years after Muhammad's death. Muslims came to China for trade, dominating the import/export industry during the Song Dynasty.[142][143] They became influential in government circles, including Zheng He, Lan Yu and Yeheidie'erding. Nanjing became an important center of Islamic study.[144] The Qing Dynasty waged war and genocide against Muslims in the Dungan revolt and Panthay rebellion.[145][146][147] The number of Muslims in China today is estimated between 20 and 100 million[142] but mostly surveys have ranged 20 to 30 million Muslims (1.5% to 2% of the population) as the most common reliable number.[148][149][150][151][152]
  
  In July 1999, Falun Gong was officially proscribed and persecuted by the authorities.[153] It had 50-70 million practitioners in 1998 according to official estimates, The New York Times said.[154] However, Falun Gong claims to have 100 million practitioners while the China's Ministry of Civil Affairs claims that there are as few as 2 million.[155] As there are no membership lists, current global numbers are unknown. There are also followers of minority religions including Hinduism, Dongbaism, Bon, and a number of new religions and sects (particularly Xiantianism).
  
  
  Culture
  Main articles: Culture of the People's Republic of China, Culture of China, Media of the People's Republic of China, and Music of China
  For centuries, opportunity for economic and social advancement in China could be provided by high performance on Imperial examinations. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy and literati painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. China's traditional values were derived from various versions of Confucianism and conservatism. A number of more authoritarian and rational strains of thought have also been influential, such as Legalism. There was often conflict between the philosophies, such as the individualistic Song Dynasty neo-Confucians, who believed Legalism departed from the original spirit of Confucianism. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. In recent years, a number of New Confucians have advocated that democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian 'Asian values.'[156]
  
  
  Beijing Opera is quintessential of traditional Chinese culture and holds an important position in the world treasure house of art.[157]The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born in the old society but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and a Confucian education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and obedience to the state. Many observers believe that the period following 1949 is a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others say that the CPC's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution, where many aspects of traditional culture were labeled 'regressive and harmful' or 'vestiges of feudalism' by the regime and thus, were destroyed. They further argue that many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, Chinese art, literature, and performing arts like Beijing opera, were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at the time. One example being Chinese character simplification, since traditional characters were blamed for the country's low literacy rate at the time.[158] However, simplified Chinese characters are not used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.[158]
  
  Today, the Chinese government has accepted a great deal of traditional Chinese culture as an integral part of Chinese society, lauding it as an important achievement of the Chinese civilization and emphasizing it as vital to a Chinese national identity. Since the Cultural Revolution ended, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival,[159][160] and folk and variety art in particular have gained a new found respectability, and sparked interest nationally and even worldwide.[161]
  
  
  Sports and recreation
  Main article: Sports in China
  
  Evening pickup basketball game in a Beijing neighborhood.China has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world, spanning the course of several millennia. There is, in fact, evidence that a form of association football was played in China in ancient times.[162] Besides soccer,[163] some of the most popular sports in the country include martial arts, table tennis, badminton, swimming, and basketball. Board games such as Go (Weiqi), and Xiangqi (Chinese chess) and recently Chess are also commonly played and have organized competitions.
  
  Physical fitness is widely emphasized in Chinese culture. Morning exercises are a common activity and often one can find the elderly practicing qigong and tai chi chuan in parks or students doing stretches on school campuses. Young people are especially keen on basketball, especially in urban centers with limited space and grass areas. The NBA has a huge following among Chinese youths, with Yao Ming being the idol of many.[164] The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, were held in Beijing, and as a result the country has put even more emphasis on sports.[citation needed]
  
  Many traditional sports are also played. The popular Chinese dragon boat racing (龙舟) occurs during the Dragon Boat Festival. In Inner Mongolia, sports such as Mongolian-style wrestling and horse racing are popular. In Tibet, archery and equestrianism are a part of traditional festivals.[165]
  
  See also: Chinese art, Chinese architecture, Han Chinese clothing, Chinese cuisine, Traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese literature, Chinese mythology, Cinema of China, Chinese animation, Music of China, Public holidays in the People's Republic of China, and List of Chinese people
  
  See also
   People's Republic of China portal
   China portal
  China (civilization)
  Chinese government
  Chinese Soviet Republic
  Zhonghua minzu
  
  References
  ^ CIA World Factbook[GDP PPP Rankings]
  ^ CIA World Factbook[GDP PPP Per capita Rankings]
  ^ CIA World Factbook[Gini rankings]
  ^ Area rank is disputed with the United States and is either ranked third. See List of countries and outlying territories by area for more information.
  ^ Gordon, Peter. 'Review of 'China: The Balance Sheet -- What the World Needs to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower''. The Asia Review of Books. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
  ^ Miller, Lyman. 'China an Emerging Superpower?'. Stanford Journal of International Relations. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
  ^ China Passes U.S. In Trade With Japan
  ^ Trade Policy Outlook for Second-term Bush Administration
  ^ China - Taiwan Economic Ties
  ^ Beijing's Growing Politico-Economic Leverage Over Ulaanbaatar
  ^ Center for International Trade in Forest Products China’s Building Boom. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
  ^ The World Factbook, Rank Order - Exports.
  ^ The World Factbook, Rank Order - Imports.
  ^ Fighting Poverty: Findings and Lessons from China’s Success (World Bank). Retrieved 10 August 2006.
  ^ Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue - New York Times
  ^ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China fails environment targets
  ^ [http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/inordinate_fear.html Randall Hoven, 7 November 2007 American Thinker
  ^ The Chinese people have stood up. UCLA Center for East Asian Studies. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Justin Raimondo. 'China and the New Cold War'. 17 June 1999. Accessed 19 March 2007.
  ^ Nation bucks trend of global poverty (11 July 2003). China Daily.
  ^ China's Average Economic Growth in 90s Ranked 1st in World (1 March 2000). People's Daily Online.
  ^ 'China worried over pace of growth'. BBC. Accessed 16 April 2006.
  ^ Boum, Aomar (1999). Journal of Political Ecology: Case Studies in History and Society. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
  ^ Constitution Of The People'S Republic Of China
  ^ Unknown Author (2003). 'Beijingers Get Greater Poll Choices' (Web). China Daily. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
  ^ 'Does China’s Land-Tenure System Discourage Structural Adjustment?' by Bryan Lohmar and Agapi Somwaru. 1 May 2006. USDA Economic Research Service. URL accessed 3 May 2006.
  ^ China sounds alarm over fast-growing gap between rich and poor. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Beijingers get greater poll choices
  ^ University of Hong Kong releases the latest ratings of the top 10 political figures in Mainland China and Taiwan as well as people's appraisal of past Chinese leaders'. 4 April 2006. accessed 3 May 2006.
  ^ China and Sweden
  ^ Eddy Chang (22 August 2004). Perseverance will pay off at the UN The Taipei Times.
  ^ Dillon, Dana and John Tkacik Jr, 'China’s Quest for Asia', Policy Review, December 2005 and January 2006, Issue No. 134. Accessed 22 April 2006.
  ^ Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation (21 March 2006). Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0330/p01s01-woaf.html. Abraham McLaughlin, 'A rising China counters US clout in Africa', The Christian Science Monitor, 30 March 2005 edition. Princeton N. Lyman. 'China’s Rising Role in Africa', 21 July 2005 Council of Foreign Relations. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  ^ The New England Journal of Medicine, September 2005
  ^ China to keep one-child policy - CNN.com
  ^ http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/sandt/fertl2b.htm,
  ^ http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/sandt/fertl2b.htm
  ^ a b China Human Rights Fact Sheet (March 1995). Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ a b Reporters sans frontières - Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index - 2005
  ^ 1998 U.S. Embassy Beijing report 'The Fading of Environmental Secrecy'. Accessed 4 February 2007
  ^ 1997 U.S. Embassy Beijing report 'Environmental NGOs in China: Green is Good, But Don't Openly Oppose the Party', Accessed 4 February 2007
  ^ http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0405-07.htm 5 April 2005. Accessed 23 June 2006. The Independent/UK article, republished.
  ^ Media Control in China published 2004 by Human Rights in China, New York. Revised edition 2006 published by Liming Cultural Enterprises of Taiwan
  ^ a b 'China's Progress in Human Rights' July 2005, Accessed: 18 April 2008.
  ^ 'China's reform and opening-up promotes human rights, says premier'. 11 December 2003. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States. Accessed 28 April 2006.
  ^ Gwillim Law (2 April 2005). Provinces of China. Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  ^ 'The People's Republic of China' (7 September 2005). Foreign & Commonwealth Office
  ^ 'Population by Sex, Rate of Population Increase, Surface Area and Density'. Demographic Yearbook 2005. UN Statistics Division. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  ^ 'United States'. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
  ^ 'Rank Order — Area' (29 March 2006). CIA World Factbook.
  ^ China's border with Pakistan falls in the disputed Kashmir province. The area under Pakistani-administration is claimed by India.
  ^ 'Beijing hit by eighth sandstorm'. BBC news. Accessed 17 April 2006.
  ^ Ma Xiaoying; Leonard Ortalano [May 2000] (2002). Environmental Regulation in China. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  ^ Sinkule, Barbara J., Implementing Environmental Policy in China, Praeger Publishers, 1995, ISBN 0-275-94980-X
  ^ Ma, Jun, Li, Naomi (2006). 'Tackling China's Water Crisis Online' (Web). www.chinadialogue.net. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
  ^ China Seeks to Allay U.S. Fears as Summit Nears (2006). Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  ^ U.S. Department of Defense
  ^ Nolt, James H. Analysis: The China-Taiwan military balance. Asia Times. Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  ^ SinoDefence: Fighter Aircraft. Accessed 15 April 2006
  ^ SinoDefence: Surface-to-air Missile System[dead link] (2006). Accessed 15 April 2006.
  ^ SinoDefence: Aircraft carrier programme (2006). Accessed 15 April 2006
  ^ http://www.chinability.com/GDP.htm
  ^ GDP rate revised up to 11.9% Xin Zhiming, China Daily (11 April 2008). Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
  ^ World Economic Outlook Database International Monetary Fund (April 2008). Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
  ^ UNTWO Tourism Barometer. June 2007 issue
  ^ China's forex reserve reaches $1.809 trillion by June Xinhua (14 July 2008). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ FDI doubles despite tax concerns Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (19 February 2008). Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  ^ 2007 trade surplus hits new record - $262.2B ChinaDaily.com.cn (11 January 2008). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China widens yuan, non-dollar trading range to 3% (23 September 2005). Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  ^ Putting Democracy in China on Hold John Lee, The Center for Independent Studies. Retrieved 26 July 2008
  ^ ''China Is a Private-Sector Economy''. BussinessWeek (2005-08-22). Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
  ^ The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008 World Economic Forum. Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ GLOBAL 500 CNN Money.com. Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
  ^ Global 500 2008 Financial Times.com. Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
  ^ CIA - The World Fact Book
  ^ Plafker, Ted, China's Long — but Uneven — March to Literacy International Herald Tribune
  ^ Urban unemployment declines to 4% in China People's Daily Online (22 January 2008). Retrieved on 27 July 2008.
  ^ China’s middle class reaches 80 million Euromonitor International (25 July 2007). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China's Middle Class Leslie T. Chang, National Geographic.com (May 2008). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China's Retail Market is Expected to Grow by About 34% Between 2008 and 2012, to... Thomson Reuters (4 March 2008). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China's hunger for luxury goods grows Jehangir S. Pocha, The Boston Globe (21 March 2006). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China Quick Facts The World Bank. Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China - Background Energy Information Administration - U.S. government official statistics. Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China's Coal Gordon Feller, ECOworld. Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China Quick Facts The World Bank. Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China have set a Renewable Energy Target of 10% of Electric Power Capacity by 2010 Thomson Reuters (11 March 2008). Retrieved on 26 July 2008.
  ^ China's First Man-made Satellite (2003). Ministry of Culture. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Wade, Mark. Shenzhou (6 January 2006). Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Wade, Mark. (30 March 2005)Project 921-2. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ 'China overtakes Japan on R&D' Financial Times. Accessed 3 December 2006.
  ^ OECD: China to spend $136 billion on R&D BusinessWeek. Retrieved 3 December 2006.
  ^ 'Blinding Science: China's Race to Innovate' Bruce Einhorn, Business Week, 31 March 2006, accessed: 16 April 2006.
  ^ 'China leading world in next generation of nuclear plants' Robert J. Saiget. DAGA. 5 October 2004. Accessed 16 April 2006.
  ^ China to build more highways in 2007
  ^ Expressways Being Built at Frenetic Pace
  ^ 'China's Car Drive' (13 June 2005). Earlywarning.
  ^ a b c 'Chinese People' (2005). TravelBlog.
  ^ CIA factbook (29 March 2006). Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Stein, Justin J (Spring 2003). Taking the Deliberative in China. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ Zhou Qun, Lin Yanhua. China's urbanization encounters 'urban disease', Chinanews.cn (中国新闻网), 11 November 2005. Accessed 21 April 2005.
  ^ China 2004 Migrant Workers, CBC Radio One, December 2004. Accessed: 21 April 2006
  ^ Francesco Sisci, 'China's floating population a headache for census', The Straits Times, 22 September 2000.
  ^ Education (2002). Orasia co., ltd.
  ^ China pledges free 9-year education in rural west (21 February 2006). China Economic Net.
  ^ Where And Who Are The World’s Illiterates: China
  ^ Premier Wen announces hefty educational investment (2007). Retrieved 6 March 2007.
  ^ 2005 Chinese University Ranking unveiled (21 February 2005). China Daily. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  ^ All-around Ranking (2003). Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  ^ 'China's graft: Tough talk, old message' by Mary Hennock. 27 September 2004. BBC News. Accessed 2 May 2006.
  ^ The World Bank - China Quick Facts
  ^ a b McGregor, Richard (2007-07-02). '750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution'. Financial Times. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.
  ^ China AIDS Survey at Yahoo Accessed 18 April 2006.
  ^ 'Population Growth in China : The Basic Characteristics of China’s Demographic Transition' by Maristella Bergaglio.
  ^ 'China'. CIA World Factbook, 2008-05-16
  ^ China’s Infant Mortality Rate Down. 11 September 2001. CHINA.ORG.CN. URL accessed 3 May 2006.
  ^ 'Nutrition country profiles: China summary'. Retrieved on 2007-07-22.
  ^ 'Smoking 'will kill one third of young Chinese men''. 16 August 2001. Honolulu Community College. Accessed 17 April 2006.
  ^ 'Serving the people?'. 1999. Bruce Kennedy. CNN. Accessed 17 April 2006.
  ^ 'Obesity Sickening China's Young Hearts' 4 August 2000. People's Daily. Accessed 17 April 2006.
  ^ International Herald Tribune, Tues 31 July 2007, p16
  ^ 'China’s latest SARS outbreak has been contained, but biosafety concerns remain'. 18 May 2004. World Health Organization. Accessed 17 April 2006.
  ^ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Survey finds 300m China believers
  ^ Adherents.com
  ^ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Survey finds 300m China believers
  ^ Buddhists in the world
  ^ Asia Sentinel - How Now Tao?
  ^ Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC)
  ^ Religions and Beliefs in China
  ^ Society for Anglo Chinese Understanding (SACU)
  ^ Index-China Chinese Philosophies and religions
  ^ Adherents.com: Buddhism
  ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2007 - China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)
  ^ AskAsia - Buddhism in China
  ^ TheAmericanForum For Global Education
  ^ U.S. Department of States - International Religious Freedom Report 2006: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)
  ^ Macintosh, R. Scott. China's prosperity inspires rising spirituality (9 March 2006). Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  ^ 'Christian population in China'. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
  ^ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Survey finds 300m China believers
  ^ China Survey Reveals Fewer Christians than Some Evangelicals Want to Believe
  ^ 'Chinese government official statistics on Christian population in China'. hrwf.org. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
  ^ a b BBC Islam in China (650-present) [1]
  ^ 'Islamic culture in China'.
  ^ 'Looking East: The challenges and opportunities of Chinese Islam'.
  ^ Levene, Mark. Genocide in the Age of the Nation-State. I.B.Tauris, 2005. ISBN 1845110579, page 288
  ^ Giersch, Charles Patterson. Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier. Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN 1845110579, page 219
  ^ Dillon, Michael. China’s Muslim Hui Community. Curzon, 1999. ISBN 0700710264, page xix
  ^ Counting up the number of people of traditionally Muslim nationalities who were enumerated in the 1990 census gives a total of 17.6 million, 96% of whom belong to just three nationalities: Hui 8.6 million, Uyghurs 7.2 million, and Kazakhs 1.1 million. Other nationalities that are traditionally Muslim include Kyrghyz, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Tatars, Salar, Bonan, and Dongxiang. See Dru C. Gladney, 'Islam in China: Accommodation or Separatism?', Paper presented at Symposium on Islam in Southeast Asia and China, Hong Kong, 2002. Available at http://www.islamsymposium.cityu.edu.hk. The 2000 census reported a total of 20.3 million members of Muslim nationalities, of which again 96% belonged to just three groups: Hui 9.8 million, Uyghurs 8.4 million, and Kazakhs 1.25 million.
  ^ CIA - The World Factbook - China
  ^ China (includes Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet)
  ^ China Daily - NW China region eyes global Muslim market
  ^ Muslim Media Network
  ^ Xinhua, China Bans Falun Gong, People's Daily, 22 July 1999
  ^ Joseph Kahn, 'Notoriety Now for Exiled Leader of Chinese Movement', The New York Times, 27 April 1999
  ^ Xu Jiatun, Cultural Revolution revisited in crackdown, Taipai Times, 8 September 1999.
  ^ Bary, Theodore de. 'Constructive Engagement with Asian Values'. Columbia University.
  ^ China National Tourism Administration (http://en.cnta.gov.cn) Tour Guidebook: Beijing
  ^ a b Yen, Yuehping. [2005] (2005). Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society. Routledge. ISBN 0415317533
  ^ 'China: Traditional arts'. Library of Congress - Country Studies. Accessed: 26 December 2007.
  ^ 'China: Cultural life: The arts'. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Accessed: 26 December 2007.
  ^ 'China: Folk and Variety Arts'. Library of Congress - Country Studies. Accessed: 26 December 2007.
  ^ Origins of the Great Game. 2000. Athleticscholarships.net. Accessed 23 April 2006.
  ^ ESPN Soccernet. 2002. ESPN Soccernet. Accessed 26 January 2006
  ^ Beech, Hannah (2003). 'Yao Ming' (HTML). Asian Heros. Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  ^ Qinfa, Ye. Sports History of China. About.com. Retrieved 21 April 2006.
  
  Further reading
  Find more about China on Wikipedia's sister projects:
   Dictionary definitions
   Textbooks
   Quotations
   Source texts
   Images and media
   News stories
   Learning resources
  Lynch, Michael (1998). Peoples Republic Of China 1949–90. Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 0-340-68853-X.
  Murphey, Rhoads (1996). East Asia: A New History. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-321-07801-2.
  Sang Ye (2006). China Candid: The People on the People's Republic. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24514-8.
  Selden, Mark (1979). The People's Republic of China: Documentary History of Revolutionary Change. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 0-853-45532-5.
  Terrill, Ross (2003). The New Chinese Empire, And What It Means For The United States. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08412-5.
  Thurston, Anne F. (1994). China Bound: A Guide to Academic Life and Work in the PRC. Washington: National Academies Press. ISBN 0-309-04932-6.
  Farah, Paolo, Five Years of China’s WTO Membership. EU and US Perspectives on China’s Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review Mechanism, Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Kluwer Law International, Volume 33, Number 3, pp. 263–304, 2006. Abstract.
  Heilig, Gerhard K., China Bibliography - Online. 2006, 2007. [2].
  
  External links
  Overviews
  
  People's Daily: China at a Glance
  BBC News — Country Profile: China
  China entry at The World Factbook
  'Rethinking ‘Capitalist Restoration’ in China' by Yiching Wu
  Documentaries
  
  'China on the Rise' PBS Online NewsHour. October 2005.
  China Rises a documentary co-produced by The New York Times, Discovery Times, CBC, ZDF, France 5 and S4C. 9 April 2006.
  China in the Red, 1998–2001. PBS Frontline.
  China From the Inside A documentary series co-produced by KQED Public Television and Granada Television.
  Government
  
  The Central People's Government of People's Republic of China (English)
  China's Official Gateway for News & Information (English)
   Studies
  
  Assertive Pragmatism: China's Economic Rise and Its Impact on Chinese Foreign Policy - analysis by Minxin Pei, IFRI Proliferation Papers n°15, 2006
  The Dragon's Dawn: China as a Rising Imperial Power 11 February 2005.
  History of The People's Republic of China Timeline of Key Events since 1949.
  Media, advertising, and urban life in China.
  China's Neoliberal Dynasty by Peter Kwong, originally published in The Nation 2 October 2006.
  Travel
  
  China travel guide from Wikitravel
  Maps
  
  Google Maps - China
  Google Maps - China Interesting locations
  Wikimedia Atlas of the People's Republic of China
  
  [edit][show]v • d • e People's Republic of China (Chinese civilization) topics
  
  [show] History
  
  China (timeline) · Republic of China · People's Republic of China · 1949-1976 · 1976-1989 · 1989-2002 · since 2002
  
  
  [show] Geography · Natural environment
  
  Overviews Geography and climate · Geology · Environment
  
  Regions East · Northeast · North · Western (Northwest · Southwest) · South Central
  
  Terrain Bays · Canyons · Caves · Deserts · Grasslands · Hills · Islands · Mountains (ranges · passes) · Peninsulas · Northeast / North / Central Plains · Valleys · Volcanoes
  
  Water Canals · Lakes · Rivers · Waterfalls · Wetlands · Water resources
  
  Seas Yellow Sea · East China Sea · South China Sea
  
  Reserves Nature reserves · Protected areas · Biosphere reserves · National parks
  
  Wildlife Fauna · Flora
  
  
  [show] Government · Politics · Economy
  
  Government
  and politics Constitution · President · Vice President · State Council (Premier) · Civil service · National People's Congress · Military (People's Liberation Army) · Political parties (Communist Party) · Elections · Education (universities) · Foreign relations · Public health · Water supply and sanitation · Welfare
  
  Administrative
  divisions Provinces · Territorial names in Chinese · Cities · Baseline islands · Border crossings
  
  Law Law enforcement · Courts · Penal system · Nationality Law
  
  Economy History · Reform · Finance · Banking (Central bank) · Currency · Agriculture · Energy · Industrial history · Science and technology · Transportation · Ports and harbors · Communications · Special Economic Zones (SEZs) · Foreign aid · Standard of living · Poverty
  
  
  [show] People · Society · Culture
  
  People Demographics · Ethnic groups · Languages · Religion · Internal migration · Urbanization · Emigration · Human rights · Statistics
  
  Society Urban life · Rural life · Women · Sexuality · Social issues · Social relations · Social structure · Generation Y · Intellectualism
  
  Culture Art · Cinema · Cuisine · Literature · Media · Newspapers · Music · Philosophy · Tourism · Sports · Martial arts · Variety arts · Tea culture · Public holidays · World Heritage Sites · Archaeology · Parks · Gardens · Libraries · Archives
  
  
  [show] Other topics
  
  National flag / emblem / anthem · Extreme points · Natural disasters · Terrorism · Time zones · International rankings
  
  
  List of China-related topics · Current events · Portal · Categories · WikiProject
  
  
  [hide] Geographic locale
  
  [show]v • d • eTerritories of Greater China and Chinese-speaking nations
  
   People's Republic of China
  Mainland China · Hong Kong · Macau
   Republic of China
  Taiwan · Pescadores · Quemoy (Kinmen) · Matsu
   Singapore
  
  
  
  [show]v • d • eCountries and territories of East Asia
  
   People's Republic of China Republic of China1
   Japan
   North Korea South Korea
   Mongolia
  SARs Hong Kong
   Macau
  
  Sometimes included: Singapore · Vietnam · Russian Far East
  
  1 Commonly known as 'Taiwan'; see Political status of Taiwan.
  
  [show]v • d • eCountries of Asia
  
  Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Republic of China (Taiwan)2 · Cyprus · Egypt3 · Georgia1 · India · Indonesia4 · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Thailand · East Timor (Timor-Leste)4 · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen3
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  For dependent and other territories, see Dependent territory.
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  1 Partly or significantly in Europe. 2 The Republic of China (Taiwan) is not officially recognized by the United Nations; see Political status of Taiwan.
  3 Partly or significantly in Africa. 4 Partly or wholly reckoned in Oceania.
  
  
  
  
  
  [hide] International membership
  
  [show]v • d • eMember states of the East Asia Summit (EAS)
  
   Australia
   Brunei
   Burma
   Cambodia
   India
   Indonesia
   Japan
   Laos
   Malaysia
   New Zealand
   People's Republic of China
   Philippines
   Singapore
   South Korea
   Thailand
   Vietnam
  
  
  
  Potential future members Timor-Leste Russia
  
  [show]v • d • ePresent-day communist states
  
   China Cuba North Korea Laos Vietnam
  
  
  [show]v • d • eMembers of the United Nations Security Council
  
  Permanent members China · France · Russia · United Kingdom · United States
  
  Term ends December 31, 2008 Belgium · Indonesia · Italy · Panama · South Africa
  
  Term ends December 31, 2009 Burkina Faso · Costa Rica · Croatia · Libya · Vietnam
  
  [show]v • d • eMembers of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
  
  Albania · Angola · Antigua and Barbuda · Argentina · Armenia · Australia · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Barbados · Belize · Benin · Bolivia · Botswana · Brazil · Brunei · Burkina Faso · Burma · Burundi · Cambodia · Cameroon · Canada · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Chile · PR China · Colombia · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Costa Rica · Côte d'Ivoire · Croatia · Cuba · Djibouti · Dominica · Dominican Republic · Ecuador · Egypt · El Salvador · European Union¹ · Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) · Fiji · Gabon · The Gambia · Georgia · Ghana · Grenada · Guatemala · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Guyana · Haiti · Honduras · Hong Kong² · Iceland · India · Indonesia · Israel · Jamaica · Japan · Jordan · Kenya · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Lesotho · Liechtenstein · Macau² · Madagascar · Malawi · Malaysia · Maldives · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Mexico · Moldova · Mongolia · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Nepal · New Zealand · Nicaragua · Niger · Nigeria · Norway · Oman · Pakistan · Panama · Papua New Guinea · Paraguay · Peru · Philippines · Qatar · Rwanda · St. Kitts and Nevis · St. Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines · Saudi Arabia · Senegal · Sierra Leone · Singapore · Solomon Islands · South Africa · Sri Lanka · Suriname · Swaziland · Switzerland · Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu³ · Tanzania · Thailand · Togo · Tonga · Trinidad and Tobago · Tunisia · Turkey · Uganda · Ukraine · United Arab Emirates · United States · Uruguay · Venezuela · Vietnam · Zambia · Zimbabwe
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  All twenty-seven member states of the European Union are also members of the WTO in their own right: Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Malta • Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • United Kingdom.
  Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
  Designated name for the Republic of China (Commonly Known as Taiwan)
  
  
  [show]v • d • eMember economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
  
  Australia · Brunei Darussalam · Canada · Chile · People's Republic of China · Hong Kong, China · Indonesia · Japan · Republic of Korea · Malaysia · Mexico · New Zealand · Papua New Guinea · Peru · Philippines · Russian Federation · Singapore · Chinese Taipei * · Thailand · United States of America · Vietnam
  
  * Designation of the Republic of China
  
  
  [show]v • d • eMembers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
  
  Member States China · Kazakhstan · Kyrgyzstan · Russia · Tajikistan · Uzbekistan
  
  Observer States India · Iran · Mongolia · Pakistan
  
  Guests Afghanistan · ASEAN · CIS
  
  Working Languages Chinese · Russian
  
  [show]v • d • eGroup of Eight Plus Five (G8+5)
  
  G8 Canada · France · Germany · Italy · Japan · Russia · United Kingdom · United States
  
  +5 Brazil · China · India · Mexico · South Africa
  
  [show]v • d • eBRIC countries
  
   Brazil · People's Republic of China · India · Russia
  
  [show]v • d • eStates belonging to the Like Minded Group of states at the United Nations
  
  Members Algeria · Bangladesh · Belarus · Bhutan · People's Republic of China · Cuba · Egypt · India · Indonesia · Iran · Malaysia · Myanmar · Nepal · Pakistan · the Philippines · Sri Lanka · Sudan · Syria · Viet Nam · Zimbabwe
  
  
  
  Coordinates: 35°00′N 105°00′E / 35, 105
  
  Retrieved from 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China'
  Categories: Communist states | People's Republic of China | Republics | Chinese-speaking countries and territories | States and territories established in 1949
  Hidden categories: All articles with dead external links | Articles with dead external links since May 2008 | Semi-protected | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since October 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements since May 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements since September 2008
  ViewsArticle Discussion View source History Personal toolsLog in / create account Navigation
  Main page
  Contents
  Featured content
  Current events
  Random article
  Search
   Interaction
  About Wikipedia
  Community portal
  Recent changes
  Contact Wikipedia
  Donate to Wikipedia
  Help
  Toolbox
  What links here
  Related changes
  Upload file
  Special pages
  Printable version
  Permanent link
  Cite this page
  Languages
  Afrikaans
  Alemannisch
  Anglo-Saxon
  العربية
  Aragonés
  Arpetan
  Asturianu
  Azərbaycan
  বাংলা
  Bân-lâm-gú
  Башҡорт
  Беларуская
  Беларуская (тарашкевіца)
  Bosanski
  Brezhoneg
  Български
  Català
  Чăвашла
  Cebuano
  Česky
  (Cuengh)
  Cymraeg
  Dansk
  Deutsch
  ދިވެހިބަސް
  Eesti
  Ελληνικά
  Español
  Esperanto
  Euskara
  Føroyskt
  Français
  Frysk
  Gaeilge
  Gaelg
  Gàidhlig
  Galego
  贛語
  ગુજરાતી
  文言
  Хальмг
  한국어
  Հայերեն
  हिन्दी
  Hornjoserbsce
  Hrvatski
  Ido
  Ilokano
  ইমার ঠার/বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী
  Bahasa Indonesia
  Interlingua
  Иронау
  isiZulu
  Íslenska
  Italiano
  עברית
  Basa Jawa
  Kapampangan
  ಕನ್ನಡ
  ქართული
  Kaszëbsczi
  Қазақша
  Коми
  Kongo
  Kurdî / كوردی
  Latina
  Latviešu
  Lëtzebuergesch
  Lietuvių
  Lumbaart
  Magyar
  Македонски
  മലയാളം
  मराठी
  Bahasa Melayu
  Монгол
  Myanmasa
  Nāhuatl
  Dorerin Naoero
  Nederlands
  Nedersaksisch
  नेपाली
  日本語
  ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬
  ‪Norsk (nynorsk)‬
  Nouormand
  Novial
  Occitan
  ଓଡ଼ିଆ
  پښتو
  Piemontèis
  Plattdüütsch
  Polski
  Português
  Qırımtatarca
  Română
  Runa Simi
  Русский
  Саха тыла
  Sardu
  Scots
  Shqip
  Simple English
  Slovenčina
  Slovenščina
  Soomaaliga
  Српски / Srpski
  Suomi
  "6;lůnski
  Svenska
  Tagalog
  தமிழ்
  తెలుగు
  Tetun
  ไทย
  Tiếng Việt
  Tok Pisin
  ᏣᎳᎩ
  Türkçe
  Türkmen
  Українська
  Vèneto
  Wolof
  吴语
  Xitsonga
  ייִדיש
  Yorùbá
  粵語
  Chavacano de Zamboanga
  Žemaitėška
  中文
  
  This page was last modified on 9 October 2008, at 03:19. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
  Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
  Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
  __________________________________________--
  
  
   CHINA TRAVEL
  Flight Booking
  Hotel Reservation
  Travel Packages
  
  
  
  General Information
  Art & Performance
  Cities & Provinces
  Culture & Tradition
  Diplomatic Missions
  Education & School
  Entertainment
  Finance & Banking
  Government
  Health & Medicine
  History & Dynasties
  Investment & Stock
  IT & Computer
  Import & Export
  Law & Justice
  Map & Atlas
  Media & Publication
  Military & Army
  Organizations
  People & Society
  Personal & Hobby
  Real Estates
  Reference & Library
  Science & Tech.
  Shopping & Auction
  Sports & Recreation
  Statistics & Data
  Travel & Tour
  Who's Who
  Back to HOME
   Enter your search terms
   Web ChinaToday.com
  Submit search form
  
  
  
  ------------------
  
  
  ------------------
  
  
  China Statistics and Related Data Information and Links
  
  
  This site is frequently updated and permanently 'under construction'
  
  
  
  
  Note: the followings include official and unofficial statistics, for your reference only.
  
  | Art | Average Economic Growth | Drug Addicts | Education | Employment | Foreign Exchange Reserve | GDP | GNP | Gold Production | Health & Medicine | Insurance | Internet & Computer | Land Formation | Models | Cell Phone Users | Natural Disasters | China Population | Professionals in Different Fields of life | Religions | Suicide Rate | Tele-communication |Traffic Accidents | TV Viewers | Unemployment Rate |
  
  
  Special Reports:
  China said the number of Internet users in the country reached about 253 million last month, helping China overtake the United States as the world's biggest Internet market.
  China Population
  Trade between China, ASEAN hits $202.6 bln, three years ahead of schedule
  China exports $4 bln of farm machinery in 2007, up 50%
  Increase of college enrollment in China to hit decade low in 2008
  China's online gaming population exceeds 40 million
  China's phone subscribers to hit 976 mln in 2008
  Accidents kill over 100,000 in China in 2007, down 10%
  BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior official with the Chinese work safety watchdog said Friday that 101,480 people died in workplace and transportation accidents in 2007, down 10.1 percent year on year.
  
  'The production safety situation is improving nationwide, but relevant agencies still shoulder arduous tasks in the coming year,' Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said at a national workplace safety meeting held Friday in Beijing.
  
  'The total number of accidents last year - 506,376 - was still unacceptably big,' said Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the CPC Central Committee.
  
  This figure is 19.3 percent lower than the previous year.
  
  Zhou called on local governments to step up work safety supervision and inspections to prevent severe accidents from happening especially in some accident-prone sectors as the traditional Spring Festival is approaching in February.
  
  In a similar development, the country's safety watchdog publicized temporary provisions on uncovering hidden dangers in the workplace on Thursday, another effort to improve the country's work safety conditions.
  
  The provisions, which would take effect on February 1, 2008, stipulated that any person or unit could report directly to the safety watchdog on spotting potential dangers in the workplace in a timely manner.
  
  Zhou added that the country had closed 11,155 small coal mines in the last five years and invested more than 83 billion yuan (11.42 billion U.S. dollars) to upgrade coal mine safety technologies and equipments.
  
  China To Sell More Than 10 Million Cars In 2008
  January 10, 2008 7:38 a.m. EST , Annabella Bulacan - AHN News Writer
  
  Beijing, China (AHN) - The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that auto production and sales may exceed more than 10 million this year, from 8.7 million in 2007.
  
  According to the association's vice chairman, Dong Yang, even the skyrocketing oil prices would not slow ongoing growth in the auto sector.
  
  'Production and sales in China's auto industry will continue to expand at double-digit rates in 2008 despite rising oil prices and stricter emission standards,' Dong said in a report by Dow Jones.
  
  Next to the U.S., China is the world's biggest car market and it ranks third in the global list of largest vehicle producers, behind the United States.
  
  Auto sales in the country were on the upswing since 2006 with recorded sales placed at 7.2 million units.
  
  Dong attributed the favorable showing in the improving economy and people's buying power, further stressing that, 'Motor vehicles will play an extraordinarily important role in China's consumer spending'.
  
  In a related report, Germany's Audi AG, the luxury car maker owned by Volkswagen AG, confirmed the significant increase in demand for luxury cars in China, including the A4 and A6 models.
  
  In 2007 alone, the company had total sales of 101,996 units in China, compared to 81,708 units sold in the previous year, translated to a 25 percent increase.
  
  
  
  
  
   ADVERTISEMENT
  
  
  
  Reports: China Development Statistics
  
  China has more newspapers and magazines
  There are ten times as many Chinese newspapers and magazines than there were 30 years ago. That's when the country adopted the reform and opening-up policy.
  Figures from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) show there were 186 newspapers and 930 magazines in China in 1978. Today, the country has 2,081 newspapers and 9,363 different magazines.
  
  In the meantime, official figures show China has some 600 publishing houses producing nearly 300,000 kinds of books. That's a dramatic increase from the 105 publishers of the past that produced only 10,000 different books.
  
  Rapid economic development and universal education since China adopted the reform has helped fuel the need for more information sources.
  
  Under the market economy, hundreds of publishing houses and newspapers have taken steps to restructure management systems into corporations listed on the stock market.
  
  The legal system overseeing the news and publishing sectors in China has also changed over the last three decades. Since 1990 a law and five relevant regulations were adopted in 1990 to govern the sectors.
  
  Since it started in 1993, digital publishing has flourished. Its industrial volume amounted to 20 billion yuan (2.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006. More than 500,000 kinds of digital books were produced last year alone in China, which is more than any other country in the world. (Xinhua News 2008-10-08)
  
  China has 680,000 executives and 35% are women - China has 680,000 business executives in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, up 14 percent from 2007, and 35 percent of them are women, according to the 2008 China Business Executive Survey (CBES) carried out by China Market Research (CTR).
  
  China?s rising class of business leaders is getting younger and higher in status. Department heads and general-managers make up 77 percent of the total and 25-44 year olds account for 70 percent. Managers born in 1970s are becoming the backbone of the group. Their average annual earnings were 157,000 yuan in 2008, up 36.5 percent from 115,000 yuan in 2007, while their household income grew by 39 percent to 263,000 yuan. The executive class, it seems, are media junkies, with 88.4 percent regularly reading newspapers, 86.3 percent watching TV, and 74.7 percent surfing the Internet.
  
  The survey found that 69 percent of executives have favorite brand products that they are reluctant to change. Nearly all (97.3 percent) own property, and 61 percent focus on location and amenities when choosing a house. The number owning a car rose 10 percent to 47 percent; 65 percent say they consider safety features when deciding what car to buy, while 50 percent pay attention to fuel consumption and emissions.
  
  74 percent have investments, with 43.2 percent owning shares, 27.6 percent investing in mutual funds and 9.5 percent owning life insurance policies.
  
  Many felt under pressure, with 47 percent complaining of high workloads and 41 percent fretting over personal responsibilities. 66 percent said they felt more pressure at work this year than last, and over 50 percent said general pressures of life were growing. But 72 percent of executives say they are satisfied with their present jobs and lifestyle.
  
  CTR Market Research interviewed 3,800 people in eight major cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu) for the 2008 China Business Executive Survey. Executives were defined as entrepreneurs, department heads and managers responsible for at least 50 staff. By Jessica Zhang (China.org.cn October 6, 2008)
  
  China's online advertising market near 11 bln yuan. Xinhua 08-02-24 - China's market in online advertising surged by 75 percent to 10.6 billion yuan (1.48 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, according to a report by Internet consultant iResearch Inc. The surge was largely driven by a boom in search engine advertising, or keyword advertising, which experienced an annual growth rate of 108.6 percent, said the report. Search engine advertising accounted for 27.3 percent of the market in terms of value, up 4.3 percentage points over the previous year, and it was predicted to hit 30 percent this year, the report said. Online brand advertising jumped 65.3 percent to 4.86 billion yuan in 2007 and was expected to reach 23.7 billion yuan by 2011, said the report. Advertising embedded in games, software and video clips would also become the major driving forces for online advertising, it said. The firm forecast that China's online advertising market would hit 17.2 billion yuan this year and 37 billion yuan in 2011. China had 210 million Internet users at the end of 2007, the world's second largest online population and only five million fewer than the United States, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. However, the United States reported more than 22.5 billion U.S. dollars in online advertising last year, about 15 times that of China.
  
  Online shopping nearly doubled in China in 2007: report - BEIJING (AFP) — Online shopping in China topped 59.4 billion yuan (8.2 billion dollars) last year, state media reported Tuesday, up more than 90 percent from a year ago. Fifty-five million of China's 210 million Internet users shopped online last year, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a report by China Internet Research Centre and taobao.com, the nation's largest online shopping portal. In 2006, 43.1 million Chinese used the Internet for shopping, with the value of transactions standing at 31.2 billion yuan, according to an earlier report by China Internet Research Centre. The report released this year forecast online sales, which now account for less than one percent of China's total retail sales, would make up five to eight percent of total retail sales by 2012.
  
  China's customs revenue in 2007 hits record high
  China's customs revenue reached a record 758.46 billion yuan in 2007, up 24.3 percent year-on-year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday. The customs revenue increased partly because of the increase of imports, which were up 20.5 percent to 865.5 billion U.S. dollars during the first 11 months of last year. The customs revenue from telecommunication equipment, integrated circuits, television receivers and printing machines rose considerably due to the increase in imports of these products, the administration said. More imports of high-end cars and SUVs, and rising prices of imported staple goods such as copper, nickel and other metals also contributed to the revenue rise, it explained. The higher export tariffs on some goods, which were aimed at curbing exports and balancing foreign trade, had also increased customs revenues by about 20 billion yuan, it said. www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-07.
  
  China's technology trade exceeds 130 trillion yuan
  People's Daily Nov. 24, 2005 - China's technology market reports a trade volume of 133.4 billion yuan in 2004. This is learned from the National Technology Market Work Conference held on Tuesday in Beijing. Enterprises became the biggest buyers and sellers in the market with their technological output and purchase accounting for 56 and 75 per cent of the total market trade amount respectively. (Click for full report)
  
  Buying Chinese goods saves Americans $100 bln a year
  by Liao Xiaoqi, Vice Commerce Minister of China
  The Sino-US economic and trade relations are among the most important bilateral economic relations in the world. Over the 26 years since China and the United States of America established formal diplomatic relations, bilateral economic relations have developed rapidly with cooperation having expended to various areas of economy. The Sino-US trade volume has grown from the $2.5 billion at the beginning to $169.4 billion in 2004. By the end of 2004 the US has invested in 45,000 projects in China, increasing in-place investment to $48 billion. From January to October this year trade between China and the US reached $127.3 billion, up by 26.2 percent year on year. The US is currently the second largest trade partner of China while China is the US' third. (Click for full article) Nov. 30, 2005
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Statistical Comparison Between China and United States
  
  Development Indicators
   China United States
  Population 1.31 billion 301 million
  GDP $2.7 trillion ($2,054 per person) $13.2 trillion ($43,950 per person)
  Taxes Collected $486 billion ($370 per person) 2.5 trillion ($8,297 per person)
  Balance of Trade $177.5 billion (surplus) $225 billion (deficit)
  Cell-phone Users 461 million (35 per 100 people) 219 million (73 per 100 people)
  Cable TV Subscribers 139 million (11 per 100 people) 110 million (37 per 100 people)
  Airline Passengers 160 million 658 million
  Foreign Visitors 22 million (9% from USA) 51 million (1% from China)
  Private Cars 11.5 million (9 per 1000 people) 136.4 million (450 per 1000 people)
  Deaths in Traffic Accidents 89,445 48,433
  Practicing Doctors 1.97 million (15 per 10,000 people) 745,000 (25 per 10,000 people)
  Feature Films Produced 330 699
  
  All $ US Currency/ Source TIME Mar. 19. 2007
  
  
  
  China Tourism Trade with Canada in 2006
  
  
  
   China to Canada Canada to China
  Number of Trips Number of trips: 139,000 Number of trips: 250,000
  Average Duration Average duration: 28.8 nights Average duration: 21 nights
  Total Spending Total spending: $257-million Total spending: $451-million
  
  Source: Tourism Industry
  
  Administration: National Bureau of Statistics of China
  
  
  China Economic Development Data
  
  China's Internet consumption expected to rise 45.8% in 2008
  BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's Internet consumption hit 398.8 billion yuan (53.89 billion U.S. dollars) last year and is expected to reach 581.5 billion yuan in 2008, up 45.8 percent, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
  
  The 'Netguide 2008' survey, which provides a wrap-up of China's2007 cyber world, polled more than 300 web sites and about 200 enterprises, with 50,786 interviewees around the country.
  
  The Internet consumption includes all web-related expenses such as broadband installment expenses, payment for online game and shopping, and payment for IP phone services. according to Fu Zhihua, director of the Data Center of the China Internet (DCCI) research department that conducted the survey.
  
  The DCCI survey also reports that Sina Corp., Netease.com Inc., Tencent and Sohu.com Inc., China's four largest Internet portals, have gained most from the robust Internet industry, accounting for about 76 percent of total web portal revenue in China.
  
  The market scale of financial web sites, fueled by bullish trends in China's stock market, reached 920 million yuan, and online search engines saw 82.8 percent growth to 2.87 billion yuan in 2007, said the survey.
  
  The Netguide 2008 shows that among Internet users, browsing daily news takes up 38.8 percent of their time, followed by dealing with e-mail, 11 percent, and writing and reading blogs, 9.2 percent.
  
  China's Tax Revenue Increases 31%. The Wall Street Journal
  China's customs revenue in 2007 hits record high
  China's customs revenue reached a record 758.46 billion yuan in 2007, up 24.3 percent year-on-year, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday. The customs revenue increased partly because of the increase of imports, which were up 20.5 percent to 865.5 billion U.S. dollars during the first 11 months of last year. The customs revenue from telecommunication equipment, integrated circuits, television receivers and printing machines rose considerably due to the increase in imports of these products, the administration said. More imports of high-end cars and SUVs, and rising prices of imported staple goods such as copper, nickel and other metals also contributed to the revenue rise, it explained. The higher export tariffs on some goods, which were aimed at curbing exports and balancing foreign trade, had also increased customs revenues by about 20 billion yuan, it said. www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-07.
  China has nearly 160 million motor vehicles. Jan. 2008
  Xinhua - China had 159.8 million motor vehicles by the end of 2007, up 10.02 percent from 2006, according to the Ministry of Public Security here on Thursday. Automobiles and motorcycles accounted for 90.61 percent of the total motor vehicles. The statistics also cover tractors, trailers and other sorts of motor vehicles, statistics from the traffic administration of the ministry show. Number of passenger automobiles went up 21.86 percent and trucks7.41 percent compared with 2006 figures. Private cars rose by 10.92 percent and made up 76.09 percent of China's total motor vehicles.
  
  China's CPI rises 6.5% in October. Xinhua.
  Think tank: Chinese economy to grow 11.2% in Q4. Xinhua
  China 'to be largest energy user' BBC Nov. 7.
  11% of China's fiscal expenditure goes to social security, Oct. 3, 2007
  
  Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China Rises by 12.2% in First Half of Year
  
  China's urban fixed assets investment up 26.7% in 1st 8 months Sep. 14, 2007
  
  China Jan-Feb power consumption up 16.8 pct at 467.73 bln kWh,
  
  Top 500 Enterprises 2007 take up 84% of GDP Sep. 1, 2007
  
  Report: 1.24 trln yuan gap between local, central gov't GDP figures Aug. 2, 2007
  
  Consumption outpaces GDP in major cities on Yangtze River Delta Aug. 8, 2007
  
  China's major SOEs see total assets reach 16.4 trillion yuan. July 28, 2007
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  More than 89,000 killed on China's roads in 2006
  Xinhua, Jan. 2, 2007 - The number of road traffic deaths in China was 89,455 in 2006, 9.4 percent fewer than that in 2005, and the first time below the 90,000-benchmark since 2000, according to the Ministry of Public Security. 'The country recorded 378,781 traffic accidents in 2006, down 15.9 percent year on year,' said a ministry spokesman on Monday. The 38 major traffic accidents - accidents with more than ten fatalities each - resulted in 558 deaths, dropping 30.9 percent from 2005. It was the lowest number of major accidents since 1991, he said. According to an analytical report, about 130 million violations of traffic rules by drivers last year led to more than 76,000 deaths, down 16 percent, among which the death toll from speeding, fatigue and drunk driving went down 24 percent from the previous year.
  
  China to be world's third largest auto-manufacturer
  Dec. 30, 2006 - China's auto industry has grown so rapidly in the five years since the nation joined the WTO that it will soon become the world's third largest auto manufacturer behind the United States and Japan. Since 2001, China's annual auto output has tripled and the nation has gone from being the fifth largest car manufacturer in the world in 2002 to the fourth largest in 2005. Over the last five years, China has fulfilled its commitments to the WTO by adopting a series of measure to further open its auto industry. In the first 11 months of this year, China produced 6.65 million cars, putting it on track to reach 7 million for the year, making China the world's third largest auto manufacturer behind the United States and Japan. China is expected to sell 6.4 million vehicles this year. (Full report)
  
  Traveling Volume Hits Record on May Day Holiday
  CRIEnglish.com May 8, 2007 - It's estimated that the reception volume and total tourism revenue have grown by 10 percent in the past golden week holidays, contrasting with the previous year. The Xinhua News Agency reported. Inbound and outbound tourism as well as the domestic tourism all heated up during the week-long holiday. Hong Kong and Macao were the hottest travel destinations for outbound Chinese travelers. New travel patterns, such as traveling in rural areas, leisure travel and self-guided tours also emerged as favorite methods for tourists. The total volume of retail holiday sales reached 320 billion yuan or some 42 billion US dollars, an increase of 15 percent over the same period in 2006.
  
  
  
  Economy Up 11.1% in 1st Quarter
  The Chinese economy has started 2007 on a strong note, expanding by 11.1 percent in the first quarter. But fears that the rapid economic growth will drive interest rates higher weighed on the stock markets yesterday. Data showing inflation rising to 3.3 percent in March cemented expectations that tighter monetary policy will be needed to cool the overheating economy. Stocks fell nearly 5 percent in Shanghai as a delay to the data release fueled fears of an even stronger number. (Click for full report.)
  
  
  
  Statistical review of 2006
  
  People's Daily, Mar. 2, 2007 - Listed here are some key figures from the Statistical Communique on the 2006 National Economic and Social Development, compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics and issued on February 28, which allow clearer insight into the year that just passed, 2006. They present a picture of better days, with lower energy consumption and higher economic growth and performance, a larger grain output and funds for scientific and technological research, as well as an increase in farmers' income and overall employment. (Click for full report)
  
  
  
  China's GDP grows 10.7% in 2006, fastest in 11 years
  China Daily, Jan. 26, 2007 - The economy turned in another sparkling performance last year, with gross domestic product (GDP) growing at the fastest clip in 11 years and inflation moving below 2 percent. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday announced that GDP grew by 10.7 percent to reach 20.94 trillion yuan ($2.68 trillion). The consumer price index, a key indicator of inflation, inched up by a mild 1.5 percent. (Click for full report.)
  
  
  
  Traffic accidents claim more than 18,000 in first quarter
  Xinhua News, April 2, 2007 - More than 78,000 traffic accidents in the first three months of the year have claimed the lives of more than 18,000 people and injured 93,000 others, the Ministry of Public Security said on Monday. The numbers of accidents were down 21.5 percent, deaths declined 13.2 percent and the number of people injured dropped 20.2 percent compared with the same period in 2005, said the ministry. Speeding was the main cause of the motor vehicle accidents, accounting for 14.4 percent of the death toll, according to the ministry.
  
  
  
  Economy Grew 9.9% in 2005: Statistics
  Xinhua News, Jan. 25, 2006 - China's economy grew 9.9 percent in 2005 on the back of improved efficiency, mild inflation and enhanced vitality, Li Deshui, director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), announced at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday morning. Preliminary estimates show that gross domestic product (GDP) for the year stood at 18.23 trillion yuan (US$2.26 trillion), Li said. The rate was marginally lower than the 10.1 percent growth in 2004. (Click for full report)
  
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  Art: There are 2,563 art ensembles across the nation. (by the end of 1997)
  
  Average Economic Growth: Between 1993-1997 the annual average economic growth is 11%.
  
  Drug Addicts: Based on a report from Ministry of Public Security in Feb. 2000, the registered drug addicts in China in 1999 are 681,000, a 14.3% increase over last year; compared with 10.3% increase in 1998 over 1997 . Unofficial estimation: the total drug addicts currently is between 3.5 and 4 million. (Source: www.cnd.org)
  
  Education: There are 52.49 million students in junior middle schools and 139.95 million pupils in primary schools.(by the end of 1997)
  
  Employment: Registered Unemployment by the end of April 2004: 81 million. History Data: unemployment rate by the end of 1997: 3.1% (official data). Registered unemployed people in urban area are 5.8 million. (Dec. 31, 1999 data); 14 million (Dec. 2000 data) Source: China Journal. New official statistics show by the end of Sep. 2002, the total number of unemployed people: 7.5 million.
  
  Foreign Exchange Reserve (Unit: 1 billion US Dollar):
  
  Year Foreign Exchange Reserve (Billion $US)
  1995 73.6
  1996 105.0
  1997 139.9
  1998 145.0
  1999 157.4
  2000 163.9
  2002 (End of June) 247.2
  End of 2002 286.4
  
  * Numbers in the table are based on every year-end data;
  ** Based on data in 2000, China has the second largest foreign exchange reserve in the world;
  ***Hong Kong Foreign Exchange Reserve by the end of Oct. 1998: 88.7 billion (USD). (The only data available in this website.)
  
  (BACK TO TOP)
  
  GNP: $1,000 billion USD
  
  GDP (2007) 24661.9 billion yuan RMB (3425.3 billion US$) a 11.4% increase over 2006.
  
  Gold Production: 173 ton (the year of 2000) (News: China discovers five major gold mines in 2007)
  
  Health and Medical: The total number of hospitals and clinics: 320,000, the total number of doctors: 1.39 million, nurses and technicans: 1,05 million. About AIDS in China: First case found in 1985, and by now 173 had died, and HIV infections: 400,000, two third of them are regular drug users (July 1999 data).
  
  High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) population in China: 100 million.
  
  Nearsightedness (Myopia) According to the most recent survey, about 50% Chinese teenagers are suffered from nearsightedeness compared with 15% in 1970's. (Source: www.cnd.org Feb. 25, 2000)
  
  Smoking Population: 350 million (2003 data), female share about 10% of the total smoking population. (compared with 1% in 1978 and 4% in 1996).
  
  Smoking: (based on data collected in January 2000, by China Consumers Association) Smoking population in China: 350 million (about 50 million smokers are teen-agers), shared about 1/4 of total smoking population in the world. 62% Chinese male and 3.8% Chinese female smoking. 37.6% of total Chinese population smoking.
  
  For those smokers in China, 16 cigarettes on average per day; and the expense for smoking shared 15% of their income.The average age of first smoking in China is 25 years old, 3 years earlier than that of 1984.
  
  The total smoking population in China increased 3.5% compared with the statisitcs in the year of 1984 (Health Ministry of PRC Nov. 99 data.)
  
  Population of Drug Addict: 791,000. (data of 2005 ). New drug addict population increased 22,000 in 2004.
  
  (BACK TO TOP)
  
  Suicide & Suicide Rate: 2002 statistic shows there are 287,000 people commit suicide in China every year (about 22 per 100 thousand population), which is 42% of total suicide in the world. (Data of 2001)
  
  Suicide Rate (Per 100,000) (source: WHO):
  
  Mainland China
  
  Year Male Female
  1998 13.4 14.8
  
  Hong Kong SAR
  
  Year Male Female
  1996 15.9 9.1
  
  (BACK TO TOP)
  
  Mental disease and mental disorder population: 16 million (1999 data)
  
  Traffic Accident Death: More than 90,000 people died in traffic accidents each year. The rate is the highest in the world. (Sep. 2001 data)
  
  Total Number of Cell Phone Users in China: about 440 million in 2006. According to Xinhua, By the end of 2007, China had 530 million mobile subscribers.
  
  Insurance income: in 1997: 108 billion yuan RMB (about $13 billion U.S. dollars), 39.3% increase over last year.
  
  Internet & Computer: Total Number of Computers: 12 million (Nov. 1999 data)
  Internet Account: 10 million, 79% users are male and average on-line time is17 hours/week; 21.2% of the total Internet account are in Beijing; Email is the most often used service for Internet customers. The Internet users share 2% of total population compared with USA 45%; South Korea 21% and Japan 15.5%.
  
  By the end of 2002, China's total number of Internet users are the second in the world. China Has 132 Million Internet Users, weekly average online time 16.5 hours (2006 data)
  
  Year Internet Account Total No. of On-line Computer Number of Websites .cn Domain Registered % Female User
  1997 0.62 million
  End of 1998 14%
  June 1999 4 million
  End of 1999 8.9 million 21%
  June 2000 10 million
  End of 2000 16.9 million 30.44%
  End of 2001 33.7 million 40.09%
  *June 2002 45 million
  End of 2002 59.1 million
  End of 2003 87 million 30.00 million
  End of 2004 94 million 41.69 million 430,000 669,000
  End of 2005 111 million 49.50 million 694,200 1,096,924
  End of 2006 123 million 2600,000
  
  *CNNIC data
  
  
  Optical Fiber Information Network: 1 million km (Nov. 1999 data)
  
  (BACK TO TOP)
  
  Land Formation: Mountains 33%; Plateaux 26%; Basins 18.8%; Plains 12%; Hills 9.9%.
  
  Models: The total number of professional models: 7,800 (source: China Garments & Fashion Association, Oct. 2003.)
  
  Natural Disasters Loss in 1998: 4610 people died; 380 million people have been negatively influenced; total loss: 307.2 billion RMB ($37.01 billion USD) (from official report ); Flooding: Loss in 1998: 3656 people died; 230 million people have been negatively influenced; Total loss: 264.2 billion RMB ($31.83 billion USD). (from official report )
  
  Professionals in different fields of life: 29.14 million, 0.4% increase over last year. Independent R&D institutes: 5,399, the institutes affiliated to universities and colleges 3425.
  
  Religions: China has about 5.5 million Protestants and 3.5 million Catholics (not include underground house churches)Number of Christianity: Official statistics on Christianity in China show there are 16 million believers, whose numbers are expanding in the Communist nation which also has 18 theological schools, with about 1,800 students.
  
  Tele-communication: The telephone penetration rate is up to 8.1 per 100 people and the number of telephones in use ranks the second in the world.
  
  China's phone subscribers to hit 976 mln in 2008
  Xinhua) - China's phone subscribers, mobile and fixed line combined, are expected to grow by more than 60 million in 2008 to hit a total of 976 million, according to the Ministry of Information Industry. The ministry said Friday that by the end of this year, China's fixed-line and mobile phone subscribers will account for 27.1 percent and 46.4 percent of the population, respectively. Sources from the ministry said that the continuous falling of mobile communication charges has directly led to a sharp increase in mobile phone subscribers and some people even replaced their fixed-lines with mobile phones. In 2007, China's mobile phone subscribers increased by 86.22 million, while fixed-line subscribers fell by 2.33 million. By the end of 2007, China had 370 million fixed-line subscribers and 530 million mobile subscribers, the two figures combined accounted for a fifth of the world's total phone subscribers, according to statistics from the ministry.
  
  Traffic Accident: Total number of death in traffic accidents in 2003: 104,000 people; Rate: 10.8 death per 100,000 cars.
  
  TV Viewers: The total number of TV viewers (4 years old and up): 1.115 billions, sharing 93.9% of national population. (Dec. 2002 data)
  
  Unemployment Rate: 7% (Sep. 2002 data).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   China Business Guide
  
  China Travel Guide, China Map, City Map, Books...
  
  China Travel Classifieds
  Good Deals, Good Offers
  
  
  China Visa Service
  Get your China Visa Online, Fast and easy.
  
  
  
  
  
  BUY CHINA MAP
  China Wall Map
  China Atlas
  China Tourist Map
  China City Maps ...
  
  
  FIND
  China Suppliers
  Plastics
  Chemicals
   Equipments
  Machinery
  Arts & Crafts
   Textile, Garments ..
  
  
  
  China Visa Service
  Tourist Visa, Business Visa, Student Visa..
  
  
  
  ------------------
  
  
  ------------------
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  | General Information | China Investment | China Import /Export | China Travel | China Art | China Education | China Law | China Military | China Organizations | China Provinces & Cities | China Finance | China Sports |
  
  
   This web site is created by InfoPacific Development Inc. and jointly managed by InfoPacific Development Inc. (Canada) and Kompass (China) Information Service Co. Ltd. This site is frequently updated and permanently 'under construction'. All rights reserved 1995-2008.
  
  Contact Chinatoday.com? Please send your email to contact@chinatoday.com
  Advertisement on this website? Please CLICK HERE. Customers in China, please call our China Office at:
  Beijing Office: (8610) 6424 8799 and (8610) 6424 8801
  
   This site is frequently updated and permanently under construction. All the information provided in this website is for informational purposes only. CHINATODAY .COM disclaims all liability or responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in this website and the opinions by publications linked by this website do not necessarily reflect the views of CHINATODAY.COM or any of its affiliates.