China - Quick Facts

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Country Name:
Conventional long form: People's Republic of China
Conventional short form: China
Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
Local short form: Zhongguo
Abbreviation: PRC
Capital: Beijing
Languages spoken:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
Population: 1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.)
Currency: Yuan (CNY); note - also referred to as the Renminbi (RMB)
Government: Socialist Republic, also referred to as Socialist State or a Communist State

Click here for Public Holidays of China

Location:
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam.
border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Mongolia 4,677 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km / regional borders: Hong Kong 30 km, Macau 0.34 km

Area:
Did you know? Despite its large area, China has just one time zone!
Total: 9,596,960 sq km
Land: 9,326,410 sq km
Water: 270,550 sq km
Comparitive area: The total area of China is slightly less than the total area of the United States (including Alaska)

Major crops and products:
Rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed, pork, fish
(source: CIA factbook)

Climate:
Extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Terrain:
Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Ethnic Populations:
Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%
(source: CIA factbook)

China - Links

Information about The History of China - Wikipedia
Information about the People's republic of China - Wikipedia
Information about China - CIA factbook

As a parent and an advocate of early childhood education, Mona Lee Locke embarked on a project close to her heart: encouraging a cross-cultural exchange on early education by leading a delegation of 60 U.S. teachers to China. KCTS-Seattle producer Susan Han and videographer Valerie Vozza document the 10-day visit in Precious Children, a one-hour presentation that reveals how this nation of 1.2 billion people is preparing its children for the future. click here for more

Google Map China
Google Map - Beijing

China.org.cn - China's Official Gateway to News and Information

Chinese news:
Chinese News from Yahoo! News (English)
Beijing Daily (Chinese)
Beijing News (Chinese)
China Daily (English)
China News Digest (Chinese)
China Online (English)
Chinabyte (Chinese)
Economic Observer (English)
Inside China Today (English)
People's Daily Online (English)
QingDao News (Chinese)
South China Morning Post (English)
Yangtse Evening Post (Chinese)

Chinese / Asian Art Museums

Sackler Museum at Peking University, Beijing
Gu Gong (Palace) Museum, Beijing
Musee Guimet - Important Asian Museum in Paris, France
The Splendors of Imperial China - A presentation of the Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, presented by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Museum of Fine Arts San Francisco
Smithsonian: Freer-Sackler Art Gallery
National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwa
Indianapolis Museum of Art
San Diego Museum of Art
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred College 
Seattle Asian Art Museum
Wing Luke Asian Museum