National Summary:
   conventional long form: People's Republic of China
    conventional short form: China
    local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
    local short form: Zhong Guo
    abbreviation: PRC
    data code: CH
    capital: Beijing (Peking).

Location:
    China is situated in the eastern part of Asia, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, in the southeastern part of the Eurasian contient, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam . It's border countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia (northeast), Russia (northwest), Tajikistan, and Vietnam. It's geographic coordinates is 35 00 N, 105 00 E.

Size:
    China covers covers an area of 9.6 million square km, which is approximately one-fifteenth of the land area of the world.

National Flag:
   The national flag has five yellow, five-pointed stars on the upper left part on a field of red. The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution. The larger star represents the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. This expresses the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC.

National Emblem:
  The national emblem of the PRC features Tiananmen Gate beneath the five shining stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a cogwheel at the bottom.

Administrative Institutions:
At present,China was divided into 23 provinces (Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Taiwan), 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Tibet), 4 municipalities (Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin), and 1 special administrative region (Hongkong).

Population:
China has the largest population in the world. In 1998, there were 1,248.1 million people living on the mainland (excluding those living in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao), accounting for 22 percent of the world population.

   Male ------------------ 581.82 million, 51.5 percent of the total

   Female ---------------- 548.69 million, 48.5 percent of the total

   Growth rate ------------ 0.77%

   Birth rate ------------ 15.1 births/1,000 population

   Death rate ------------ 6.98 deaths/1,000 population