CHINA
(also see separate Taiwan entry)
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 9,596,960 km2; land area: 9,326,410 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than the US
Land boundaries: 23,213.34 km total; Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan
470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, North Korea
1,416 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km,
Pakistan 523 km, USSR 7,520 km, Vietnam 1,281 km
Coastline: 14,500 km
Maritime claims:
Continental shelf: claim to shallow areas of East China Sea
and Yellow Sea
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: boundary with India; bilateral negotiations are under
way to resolve disputed sections of the boundary with the USSR; a short
section of the boundary with North Korea is indefinite; sporadic border
clashes with Vietnam; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly
Islands with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam; maritime
boundary dispute with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands
occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims
Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands)
Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains,
deltas, and hills in east
Land use: arable land 10%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 31%; forest and woodland 14%; other 45%; includes irrigated 5%
Environment: frequent typhoons (about five times per year along
southern and eastern coasts), damaging floods, tsunamis, earthquakes;
deforestation; soil erosion; industrial pollution; water pollution;
air pollution; desertification
Note: world's third-largest country (after USSR and Canada)
PEOPLE
Population: 1,151,486,981 (July 1991), growth rate 1.6% (1991)
Birth rate: 22 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 33 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 72 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 2.3 children born/woman (1991)
Ethnic divisions: Han Chinese 93.3%; Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi,
Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities
6.7%
Religion: officially atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and
eclectic; most important elements of religion are Confucianism, Taoism,
and Buddhism; Muslim 2-3%, Christian 1% (est.)
Language: Standard Chinese (Putonghua) or Mandarin (based on the
Beijing dialect); also Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei
(Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and
minority languages (see ethnic divisions)
Literacy: 73% (male 84%, female 62%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 553,000,000; agriculture and forestry 60%, industry
and commerce 25%, construction and mining 5%, social services 5%,
other 5% (1989 est.)
Organized labor: All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)
follows the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; membership over 80
million or about 65% of the urban work force (1985)
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: People's Republic of China; abbreviated PRC
Type: Communist Party-led state
Capital: Beijing
Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and
plural), 5 autonomous regions* (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 3
municipalities** (shi, singular and plural); Anhui, Beijing**, Fujian,
Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi*, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan,
Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol*, Ningxia*,
Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai**, Shanxi, Sichuan, Tianjin**,
Xinjiang*, Xizang*, Yunnan, Zhejiang; note--China considers Taiwan its
23rd province
Independence: unification under the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty 221 BC,
Qing (Ch'ing or Manchu) Dynasty replaced by the Republic on 12 February
1912, People's Republic established 1 October 1949
Constitution: 4 December 1982
Legal system: a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely
criminal law; rudimentary civil code in effect since 1 January 1987; new
legal codes in effect since 1 January 1980; continuing efforts are being
made to improve civil, administrative, criminal, and commercial law
National holiday: National Day, 1 October (1949)
Executive branch: president, vice president, premier, five vice
premiers, State Council
Legislative branch: unicameral National People's Congress (Quanguo
Renmin Daibiao Dahui)
Judicial branch: Supreme People's Court
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government (de facto)--DENG
Xiaoping (since mid-1977);
Chief of State--President YANG Shangkun (since 8 April 1988);
Vice President WANG Zhen (since 8 April 1988);
Head of Government--Premier LI Peng (Acting Premier since
24 November 1987, Premier since 9 April 1988);
Vice Premier YAO Yilin (since 2 July 1979);
Vice Premier TIAN Jiyun (since 20 June 1983);
Vice Premier WU Xueqian (since 12 April 1988);
Vice Premier ZOU Jiahua (since 8 April 1991);
Vice Premier ZHU Rongji (since 8 April 1991)
Political parties and leaders: only party--Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), JIANG Zemin, general secretary of the Central Committee (since
NA June 1989)
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
President--last held 8 April 1988 (next to be held March 1993);
YANG Shangkun was nominally elected by the Seventh National People's
Congress;
National People's Congress--last held NA March 1988 (next to
be held March 1993); results--CCP is the only party but there are
also independents;
seats--(2,976 total) CCP and independents 2,976 (indirectly elected
at county or xian level)
Communists: 49,000,000 party members (1990 est.)
Other political or pressure groups: such meaningful opposition as
exists consists of loose coalitions, usually within the party and
government organization, that vary by issue
Member of: AfDB, AsDB, CCC, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO,
ITU, LORCS, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UN Security
Council, UN Trusteeship Council, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador ZHU Qizhen; Chancery at
2300 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008;
telephone (202) 328-2500 through 2502; there are Chinese Consulates
General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco;
US--Ambassador James R. LILLEY; Embassy at Xiu Shui Bei Jie 3,
Beijing (mailing address is 100600, PRC Box 50, Beijing or FPO San
Francisco 96655-0001); telephone 86 (1) 532-3831; there are US
Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang
Flag: red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller
yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle
of the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner
ECONOMY
Overview: Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been
trying to move the economy from the sluggish Soviet-style centrally
planned economy to a more productive and flexible economy with market
elements--but still within the framework of monolithic Communist control.
To this end the authorities have switched to a system of household
responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization,
increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in
industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services
and light manufacturing, and opened the foreign economic sector to
increased trade and joint ventures. The most gratifying result has been a
strong spurt in production, particularly in agriculture in the early
1980s. Otherwise, the leadership has often experienced in its hybrid
system the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy, lassitude,
corruption) and of capitalism (windfall gains and stepped-up inflation).
Beijing thus has periodically backtracked, retightening central controls
at intervals and thereby undermining the credibility of the reform
process. Popular resistance and changes in central policy have
weakened China's population control program, which is essential to the
nation's long-term economic viability.
GNP: $413 billion (1989 est.), per capita $370 (World Bank est.);
real growth rate 5% (1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.1% (1990)
Unemployment rate: 2.6% in urban areas (1990)
Budget: revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital
expenditures of $NA
Agriculture: accounts for 26% of GNP; among the world's largest
producers of rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley,
and pork; commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds;
produces variety of livestock products; basically self-sufficient in
food; fish catch of 8 million metric tons in 1986
Economic aid: donor--to less developed countries (1970-89) $7.0
billion; US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $220.7 million;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87),
$13.5 billion
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: total about 54,000 km common carrier lines; 53,400 km
1.435-meter standard gauge; 600 km 1.000-meter gauge;
all single track except 11,200 km double track on standard-gauge lines;
6,500 km electrified; 10,000 km industrial lines
(gauges range from 0.762 to 1.067 meters)
Highways: about 980,000 km all types roads; 162,000 km paved
roads, 617,200 km gravel/improved earth roads, 200,800 km unimproved
natural earth roads and tracks
Inland waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,800 km navigable
Merchant marine: 1,421 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
14,010,317 GRT/21,223,170 DWT; includes 24 passenger, 42 short-sea
passenger, 19 passenger-cargo, 7 cargo/training, 776 cargo, 11
refrigerated cargo, 70 container, 17 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 2
multifunction barge carrier, 181 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL)
tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 250 bulk, 2 liquefied gas, 2 vehicle carrier,
9 combination bulk; note--China beneficially owns an additional 183 ships
(1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 5,921,000 DWT that operate
under Maltese and Liberian registry
Airports: 330 total, 330 usable; 260 with permanent-surface
runways; fewer than 10 with runways over 3,500 m; 90 with runways
2,440-3,659 m; 200 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: domestic and international services are
increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed internal
system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and most townships;
11,000,000 telephones (December 1989); stations--274 AM, unknown FM,
202 (2,050 relays) TV; more than 215 million radio receivers; 75 million
TVs; satellite earth stations--4 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean
INTELSAT, 1 INMARSAT, and 55 domestic
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA), CPLA Navy
(including Marines), CPLA Air Force, Chinese People's Armed Police
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 335,382,062; 187,046,680 fit
for military service; 10,967,622 reach military age (18) annually
