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了解中国 Learn More About China
| Introduction |
Located in East Asia, on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has a land area of about 9.6 million sq km, and is the third-largest country in the world, next only to Russia and Canada.
From north to south, the territory of China measures some 5,500 km, stretching from the center of the
Heilongjiang River north of the town of Mohe to the Zengmu Reef at the southernmost tip of the Nansha Islands. When north China is still covered with snow, people in south China are busy
with spring plowing. From west to east, the nation extends about 5,200 km from the Pamirs to the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers , in four different time zones. When the Pamirs are cloaked
in night, the morning sun is shining brightly over east China. China has
land borders 22,800 km long, with 15 contiguous countries: Korea to the
east; the People's Republic of Mongolia to the north; Russia to the northeast; Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan
and Tajikistan to the northwest; Afghanistan,Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan to the west and southwest; and Vietnam, Laos and
Myanmar to the south. Across the seas to the east and southeast are the Republic of Korea, Japan, the
Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Chinese mainland is flanked to the east and south by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China Seas, with a total maritime area of 4.73 million sq km. The Bohai Sea is China's continental sea, while the Yellow, East China and South China Seas are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. A total of 5,400 islands dot China's vast territorial waters. The largest of these, with an area of about 36,000 sq km, is Taiwan, followed by Hainan with an area of 34,000 sq km. Diaoyu and Chiwei islands, located to the northeast of Taiwan Island, are China's easternmost islands. The many islands, islets, reefs and shoals on the South China Sea, known collectively as the South China Sea Islands, are subdivided into the Dongsha, Xisha,
Zhongsha and Nansha island groups. |
| Climate |
China has a marked continental monsoonal climate characterized by great variety. Northerly winds prevail in winter, while southerly winds reign in summer. The four seasons are quite distinct. The rainy season coincides with the hot season. From September to April the following year, the dry and cold winter monsoons from Siberia and Mongolia in the north gradually become weak as they reach the southern part of the country, resulting in cold and dry winters and great differences in temperature. The summer monsoons last from April to September.
The warm and moist summer monsoons from the oceans bring abundant rainfall and high temperatures, with little difference in temperature between the south and the north. China's complex and varied climate results in a great variety of temperature belts, and dry and moist zones. In terms of temperature, the nation can be divided from south to north into equatorial, tropical, sub-tropical, warm-temperate, temperate, and cold-temperate zones; in terms of moisture, it can be divided from southeast to northwest into humid (32 percent of land area), semi-humid (15 percent), semi-arid (22 percent) and arid zones (31 percent). |
| Population |
China is the most populous country in the world, with 1.25909 billion people at the end of 1999, about 22 percent of the world's total. This figure does not include many Chinese in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Taiwan Province and Macao Special Administrative Region.
The population density in China is 130 people per sq km. This population, however, is unevenly distributed. Along the densely populated east coast there are more than 400 people per sq km; in the central areas, over 200; and in the sparsely populated plateaus in the west there are less than 10 people per sq km.
When New China was founded in 1949, China had a population of 541.67 million. Owing to China's stable society, rapid production development, improvement of medical and health conditions, insufficient awareness of the importance of population growth control and shortage of experience, the population grew rapidly, reaching 806.71 million in 1969. In the early 1970s, the Chinese government realized that the over-rapid population growth was harmful to economic and social development. The government knew over population would cause great difficulties in employment, housing, communications and medical care, and further that if China did not effectively slow population growth and alleviate the tremendous pressure it was exerting on land, forests and water resources, the worsening of the ecology and the environment in the coming decades would be disastrous. It would endanger the necessary conditions for the very survival of humanity and sustainable social and economic development. Therefore, so as to ensure coordinated development of the economy, society, resources and environment, the government began implementing a family planning, population control and population quality improvement policy in accordance with China's basic conditions--a large country with a poor economic foundation, a large population and little cultivated land. Since then birthrates have steadily declined. China's birth rate dropped from 34.11 per thousand in 1969 to 15.23 per thousand at the end of 1999; the natural growth rate decreased from 26.08 per thousand to 8.77 per thousand, thus basically realizing a change in the population reproduction to one characterized by low-birth, low-death and low-increase rates. |
| Fifty-six Ethnic Groups |
China is a united multi-ethnic nation of 56 ethnic groups. According to the fourth national census, taken in 1990, the Han people made up 91.96 percent of the country's total population, and the other 55 ethnic groups, 8.04 percent. As the majority of the population is of the Han ethnic group, China's other ethnic groups are customarily referred to as the national minorities.
The Han people live throughout the country, though mainly on the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Pearl River valleys, and the Northeast Plain. The national minorities, though fewer in number, are also scattered over a vast area (see the attached table, and can be found in approximately 64.3 percent of China, mainly in the border regions from northeast China to north, northwest and southwest China. Yunnan Province, home to more than 20 ethnic groups, has the greatest diversity of minority peoples in China. In most of China's cities and county towns, two or more ethnic groups live together. Taking shape over China's long history, this circumstance of different ethnic groups "living together in one area while still living in individual compact communities in special areas" continues to provide the practical basis for political, economic and cultural intercourse between the Han and the various minority peoples, and for the functioning of the autonomous national minority areas system.
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| Administrative Division System |
China's administrative units are currently based on a three-level system dividing the nation into provinces, counties, and townships:
--The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
--A province or an autonomous region is subdivided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, and cities;
--A county or an autonomous county is subdivided into townships, national minority townships, and towns.
Municipalities directly under the Central Government and large cities are subdivided into districts and counties; autonomous prefectures are subdivided into counties, autonomous counties, and cities. Autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures, and autonomous counties are all autonomous national minority areas.
The Constitution specifically empowers the state to establish special administrative regions when necessary. A special administrative region is a local administrative area directly under the Central Government.
At present, China was divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government, and 2 special administrative region (see the following table).
China's Provinces, Autonomous Regions, Centrally Administered Municipalities and Special Administrative Regions
|
Name |
Seat of Government |
Area(100,000 Sq.Km) |
Population(100,000) |
| Beijing Municipality |
Beijing |
0,168 |
125.7 |
| Tianjin Municipality |
Tianjin |
0.113 |
95.9 |
| Shanghai Municipality |
Shanghai |
0.062 |
147.4 |
| Chongqing Municipality |
Chongqing |
0.820 |
307.5 |
| Inner Mogolia Autonomous Region |
Hohhot |
11.830 |
236.2 |
| Guangxi Autonomous Region |
Nanjing |
2.363 |
471.3 |
| Tibet Autonomous Region |
Lhasa |
12.200 |
25.6 |
| Ningxia Autonomous Region |
Yichuan |
0.664 |
54.3 |
| Xinjiang Autonomous Region |
Urumqi |
16.000 |
177.4 |
| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region |
Hong Kong |
0.01092 |
68.4 |
| Macao Special Administrative Region |
Macao |
0.00024 |
4.3 |
| Liaoning Province |
Shenyang |
1.457 |
417.1 |
| Jilin Province |
Changchun |
1.870 |
265.8 |
| Heilongjiang Province |
Harbin |
4.690 |
379.2 |
| Jiangsu Province |
Nanjing |
1.026 |
721.3 |
| Zhejiang Province |
Hangzhou |
1.018 |
447.5 |
| Ningxia Autonomous Region |
Yichuan |
0.664 |
54.3 |
| Xinjiang Autonomous Region |
Urumqi |
16.000 |
177.4 |
| Anhui Province |
Hefei |
1.390 |
623.7 |
| Fujian Province |
Fuzhou |
1.200 |
331.6 |
| Jiangxi Province |
Nanchang |
1.666 |
423.1 |
| Shandong Province |
Jinan |
1.530 |
888.3 |
| Henan Province |
Zhengzhou |
1.670 |
938.7 |
| Hubei Province |
Wuhan |
1.874 |
593.8 |
| Hunan Province |
Changsha |
2.100 |
653.2 |
| Guangdong Province |
Guangzhou |
1.860 |
727.0 |
| Hainan Province |
Haikou |
0.340 |
76.2 |
| Sichuan Province |
Chengdu |
4.880 |
855.0 |
| Guizhou Province |
Guiyang |
1.700 |
371.0 |
| Yunnan Province |
Kunming |
3.940 |
419.2 |
| Shanxi Province |
Xi'an |
2.050 |
361.8 |
| Gansu Province |
Lanzhou |
4.500 |
254.3 |
| Qinghai Province |
Xining |
7.200 |
51.0 |
| Taiwan Province |
Taipei |
0.360 |
217.4 |
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| Chinese Language |
The Chinese languages are the languages of the Han people, the major ethnic group of China, including both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. The Chinese languages are spoken by over one billion people. Approximately 95 percent of the Chinese population speaks Chinese, as opposed to the non-Chinese languages such as Tibetan, Mongolian, Lolo, Miao, and Tai spoken by minorities. The vast majority of the Chinese-speaking population is in China (over 980 million), Hong Kong, and Taiwan (19 million), but substantial numbers are also found throughout the whole of southeast Asia, especially in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Important Chinese-speaking communities are also found in many other parts of the world, especially in Europe, North and South America, and the Hawaiian Islands.
Chinese, together with Tibetan and Myanmar (formerly known as Burmese) and the many tribal languages of South and Southeast Asia, belongs to the family of Sino-Tibetan languages. Besides a core vocabulary and sounds, Chinese and most related languages share features that distinguish them from most Western languages: they are monosyllabic, have little inflection, and are tonal. In order to indicate differences in meaning between words similar in sound, tone languages assign to words a distinctive relative pitch-high or low-or a distinctive pitch contour-level, rising, or falling.
Spoken Chinese comprises many regional variants, generally referred to as dialects. However, the mutual unintelligibility of the subvarieties is the main ground for classifying them as separate languages or dialect groups. Each dialect group consists of a large number of dialects, many of which may themselves be referred to as languages. The boundaries between one so-called language and the next are not always easy to define. Because each dialect group preserves different features of Middle Chinese (dating back to early or even pre-T'ang times), they have proven to be valuable research tools in the phonological reconstruction of Middle and even to some extent its ancestor, Old Chinese. Most Chinese speak one of the Mandarin dialects, which are largely mutually intelligible.
In mainland China a simplified writing system is used, whereas in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas regions the traditional script is being used. Starting from the second half of the nineteenth century, there was a growing consensus that the writing system constituted an obstacle to the achievement of a higher literacy rate. The simplified writing system differs in two ways from the traditional writing system: (1) a reduction of the number of strokes per character and (2) the reduction of the number of characters in common use (two different characters are now written with the same character). A large-scale reform was continued after the founding of the PRC. In 1955 1,053 variant characters were eliminated. In 1956, the Scheme of Simplified Chinese Characters, known later as the First Scheme, was promulgated by the PRC government. It was composed of 525 simplified characters and 54 simplified basic components of characters. The Second Scheme of Simplified Chinese Characters was promulgated in 1977 but was repealed in 1986 amid general disapproval.
Although around 56,000 characters have been accumulated in Chinese, only a few thousand are needed to write Modern Chinese. A large part of the 56,000 characters (40 percent) are variants of a same character (yiti).
Mandarin or Guanhua 普通话) is a family of related languages spoken across most of northern and southwestern Mainland China. The Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing (Peking) functions as the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (Standard Chinese or Putonghua), the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (Guoyu), and one of the official languages of Singapore.
The Cantonese language (广州话 and less accurately 粤语) is one of the major languages of the Chinese language group. It is the speech of the Cantonese people in the south-eastern part of Mainland China (especially in the Guangdong province), Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas Chinese of Cantonese origin. The accent as spoken in Guangzhou is considered the standard. Cantonese includes other (sub)dialects such as Taishan dialect or Waitau.
The Hakka language (客家话) is spoken in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, western Fujian, Jiangxi, southern Hunan, Guangxi, southern Guizhou, south-eastern Sichuan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hainan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Surinam, and overseas communities. The accent as spoken in Meixian (Moiyen) is considered as standard. |
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| 中国文化 Chinese Culture |
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China is in itself a nation of many dialects immersed in one culture. Though the native language is Mandarin or Hanyu, several dialects exist within in the country such as Fookinese or Fujianhua, and Cantonese or Guangdonghua, much like our Bisaya, Chabakano and Bicolano. Yet, despite this seeming division, the Chinese people are unified by their culture, and their belief system. Though a lot of Chinese today (including the majority of Chinese-Filipinos or Chinoys) have embraced modern beliefs or those of their new home countries, most Chinese are still rooted in Ancient customs and traditions still upheld to this day in China.
more detailes about Chinese culture
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| 中国旅游 Travel in China |
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Imperial Beijing
Beijing, symbolizing the Great China, is an ideal place to explore magnificent ancient civilization and brilliant culture. Never miss the Beijing tour whenever you trip to China. Definitely you will be impressed by its imperial palaces, historical stateliness, majestic pomp and featured local-flavored food. |
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Mondern Shanghai
Shanghai, reputed as the ’Paris of the Orient’, is one of the most prosperous and modernized Chinese cities. The featured oriental architectural style, cloud-capped modern skyscraper and the large-scale international shopping malls will show you a perfect combination of both Chinese and western cultures. |
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Gorgeous Guilin
Guilin, a city where you can see the best scenery in China, will present you the most beautiful landscape with its elegant mountains and rivers. Enduring memories occur on your Li River cruise with a designed free day allowing you relax yourself and breathe the freshest air in this picturesque city. |
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Historical Xian
Xian, China’s first capital and the start of the old "silk road", offers you a wonderful China trip to the Terracotta Warriors - one of the most stupendous sights in the world. With other 20 important cultural sites crowned in the city, your historical Xian tour will be highlighted much on its profound meaning. |
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Mystical Tibet
Tibet, the most sacred land in the world, is the place where thronged tourists long to go. Challenging visit to Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyangtse and Tsetang will let your savor greatly the religious atmosphere endowed with spiritual pursuit. |
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more details about travelling in China |
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