China Overview

The People's Republic of China, simply known as China (Chinese:中国, pinyin: zhōng guó)is located in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. It is a unified multi-ethnic country with the Han nationality as the main nation. China is one of the four earliest civilizations nations in the world with Yellow River and Yangtze River as its base and cradles. Currently, China is governed by the Communist Party of China (founded in 1921), it has 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) and two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Since the economic reform took place in 1978, China has emerged on the international stage as a fast-growing power house in Southeast Asia.

It takes Chinese civilization as the mainstay and Chinese culture as the basis. The common language is Chinese (mandarin). The various ethnic groups within China's territory are collectively referred to as the Chinese nation. The Great Wall, Dragon tattoo, panda are one of important symbols of the Chinese nation. Confucianism, Taoism, tai-chi, Fengshui, kung fu, etc are originated from China.

Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third largest country by total area. China is bordered by 14 countries, neighboring to 8 countries. It border North Korea and Russia to the northeast, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the northwest, Mongolia due north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the west, India, Nepal and Bhutan to the southwest, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam to the south.