China General Information

By: He Liang

Endowed with terra firma grandeur, China is reputed as the single oldest uninterrupted civilization in the world. It occupies an area of 9,560,900 square kilometers (3,691,000 square miles), which is approximately 1/15 of the total area of the world. According to the recent census, China’s entire population was estimated to be 1.2 billion as of February 15, 1995. All of Europe (excluding Russia) is believed to be only half of China in area and in population.

Geography

Lying in the northern part of the eastern hemisphere, China is strategically situated in East Asia of the Pacific. It extends about 5,000 kilometers from east to west and about 5,500 kilometers from north to south. The land boundary exceeds 20,000 kilometers in length bordering Korea in the east, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) in the south, India, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal in the southwest, Pakistan and Afghanistan toward the west, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia and Tajikistan toward the northwest and Mongolia toward the north. China faces Japan across the Yellow Sea, and looks toward the Philippines beyond the South China Sea.

Running 18,000 kilometers from the mouth of the Yalu River on the border of Korea to the mouth of the Beilung River on the borders of Vietnam, China is known to possess one of the longest coastlines in the world.

The eastern part of China proper is flanked from north to south by the Bohai, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, with all the waters merging with the Pacific. Over a spectacular area of the sea, there are more than 5,000 islands scattering around. Taiwan province is the largest island of China, followed by Hainan Province and Chongming Island.

Climate

In as much as China is situated in the southeastern part of the Eurasian Continent and on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, China is said to encounter monsoon season which is attributable to the heat reserves between the largest continent and the biggest Ocean in the world. The polar continental mass of cold and dry air from Siberia permeates a large part of China during the winter and the tropical mass of hot and humid air from the Pacific affects the weather during the summer. A distinctive continental climate dominates most regions in China and the temperatures vary significantly on a daily and annual basis.

The rainfall appears on a diminishing scale from southeast to northwest in general distribution. The annual precipitation of certain areas along the southeast coast amounts to more than 80 inches. The Yangtze Valley gets about 40 inches annually and the north has only 20 inches or less. A stupendous project of transferring water resources from south to north has been planned for the future.

Topographically speaking, China is high on the relief map in the west but low in the east. Consequently, the flow of major rivers is directed eastward in a general pattern. The land surface from west to east may be classified as the plateau, the mountain, and the plain categories. China is fundamentally a mountainous country with hills, mountains, and plateaux covering 2/3 of the total area but inhabited by only 1/3 of the populace.

Flora and Fauna

The total number of seeding plants is estimated about 30,000 species representing 2,700 genera, of which more than 200 are seen only in China. There are about 2,500 tree species in forestry. Needless to say, economic benefits can be generated and derived from numerous species. i.e., tung oil tree, camphor tree, and lacquer tree. The varied host of vegetation has spillover effects for animal lives in terms of diversity in economic development. The paddlefish of the Yangtze, the Siberian tiger of the northeast, the giant salamander in the west, and the giant panda and subnosed monkey in the southwest are only a few of the renowned species in their own right.

Administration

For the purpose of administration, China is divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 3 municipalities directly under the Central Government.

The 23 provinces are Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shananxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and Taiwan, which is to be unified in due course.

The 5 autonomous regions are the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang AR, the Tibet AR, the Ningxia Hui AR, and Xinjiang Uygur AR. The three municipalities directly under the Central Government are Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai.

The provinces are divided into approximately 170 prefectures and subdivided into some 2,000 units at local county level. Governments are set up at each of the levels to ensure the execution of laws, decrees and ordinances in respective areas. The rights of Chinese citizens, which are specified in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, are well protected by the law.

In the light of the constitution, China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliances of workers and peasants. The organs through which the people exercise the state power are the National People’s Congress and the local congress – the legislative body which enacts all the important laws in China and supervises their execution. The State Council is the executive body of the highest organ of state administration.

Beijing, the political and cultural center, is the capital of the country. The national flag of China is the five-star red flag. The national anthem is the March of the Volunteers. The national badge is centered by Tai’anmen Rostrum in the shine of five stars, encircled by grains and a gear, which fully expresses the constitutional category of what the People’s Republic of China is.