Full country name: the People's Republic of China                                                    
Location: East Asia, on the west coast of Pacific Ocean
Area: 9,596,960 sq km 
Population: 1.3 billion (mainland)
Capital city: Beijing (pop. 14 million)
People: Han Chinese (91.9%), plus 55 ethnic minorities
Population Composition: The males: 51.63%, the females: 48.37%; people aged below 14: 22.89%; people aged 15-64: 70.15%; people aged above 65: 6.96%; urban population: 36.09%; rural population: 63.91%.
Official language: Chinese Putonghua (Beijing Mandarin dialect)
Religion: Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no stats available); Muslim (14 million), Christian (7 million)
Average Life span: 71 years old by the end of 2000
Head of State: Hu Jintao
National Flag: Five-star red flag, length and width proportion: 3:2. 
National Day: October 1, founded in 1949
Currency: Renminbi (RMB) yuan
Weights and Measures: metric system
GDP: 8940.4 billion yuan

The People's Republic of China is situated in the southeastern part of the Eurasian Continent, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, and between North Korea and Vietnam, the total area of China is almost 9,600,000 sq. km.

In addition to over 14,000 km of coastline, China has borders (app. 20,000 km) with Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyz Stan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.

China is mostly mountainous, with high plateaus, deserts in west, plains, deltas, and hills in east.

In the southwest is the Tibetan plateau, often referred to as the 'roof of the world' as it averages 4,000m in altitude. To the North West are a series of highlands and basins, and to the East lowlands, which are subject to widespread flooding. 

The highest point in the world, Mount Everest at 8,848 m, is located on the China/Nepal border.

Rivers flow from west to east into the Pacific Ocean except a few in southwest China that flow to the south. The nation's largest rivers originate on the Qinghai - Tibet Plateau and thus have a high drop. The Yangtze River 6,300 kilometers long is the largest river in China. The Yellow River, the second largest river in China, is also the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization.

The vast territory of China spans nearly 50 latitudinal degrees, and most of it is in the temperate zone, with a small part extending south into the tropical and subtropical zones and the northernmost tip close to the Frigid Zone. There are perennial icy and snowy zones in some alpine regions. China is a world-renowned monsoon region, where most parts are cold and dry in winter and hot and rainy in summer. Diverse temperature belts and arid and humid areas have formed the country's complex climate, a complexity that is enhanced by the country's variegated landform. The northern part of Heilongjiang Province has long winter but no summer, while the Hainan Island has long summer but no winter. The Huai River valley is marked by distinct seasonal changes, but it is spring all year round in the south Yunnan Guizhou Plateau. In the northwest hinterland, the temperature changes strikingly. China's high tundra zone is in the southwest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the temperature is low all year round. Some deserts are perennially dry and rain-poor.

When the Chinese refer to their history, they might be speaking of times that are already legendary. After all, Chinese written history dates back approximately four thousand years. Archaeological material, which has been found, indicates that people were already living in the territory of China today one million years ago. The table below is a Chronological Table of Chinese Dynasties.

Before 221 BC rulers were referred to as kings, after the unification in 221 BC they were proclaimed as emperors. The new Republic was formed in 1912, under president Sun Yatsen, ending the succession of Chinese rulers that we refer to as Dynasties.

Chronological Table of Chinese History 

· Primitive Society ( 600,000 - 4,000 years ago ) 
    · Slavery Society ( c. 2100 - 475 B.C. ) 
     o Hsia ( 2100 - 1600 B.C. ) 
     o Shang ( 1600 - 1100 B.C. ) 
     o Western Chou ( 1100 - 770 B.C ) 
     o Spring and Autumn Period ( 770 - 475 B.C ) 

· Feudal Society ( 475 B.C. - 1840 A.D. ) 
     o Warring States Period ( 475 - 221 B.C. ) 
     o Chin ( 221 - 207 B.C. ) 
     o Western Han ( 206 B.C. - 24 A.D. ) 
     o Eastern Han ( 25 - 220 A.D. ) 
     o Three Kingdoms ( 220 - 265 A.D.) 
     o Western Tsin ( 265 - 316 A.D. ) 
     o Eastern Tsin ( 317 - 420 A.D. ) 
     o Southern and Northern Dynasties ( 420 - 589 A.D. ) 
     o Sui ( 581 - 618 A.D. ) 
     o Tang ( 618 - 907 A.D. ) 
     o Five Dynasties ( 907 - 960 A.D. ) 
     o Sung ( 960 - 1279 A.D. ) 
     o Liao ( 916 - 1125 A.D. ) 
     o Kin ( 1115 - 1234 A.D. ) 
     o Yuan ( 1271 - 1368 A.D. ) 
     o Ming ( 1368 - 1644 A.D. ) 
     o Ching ( 1644 - 1912 A.D. )

   Modern China
     Republic of China ( 1912 - 1949 A. D. )
     People's Republic of China ( 1949 - )

Confucius once said: "Eating is the utmost important part of life."
Food is a central part of the Chinese culture. Chinese cuisine is one of the greatest methods of cooking. Many elements have influenced its development. The Chinese people enjoy eating good food at all levels of society, so cooking has developed into a very sophisticated art.

Chinese cuisine is noted for the following characteristics: 
Vegetables are the main ingredients. 
This explains why most Chinese women are slim and men free of cardiovascular diseases. This is because in China, an agricultural country, there is a traditional respect for land. As the old saying goes, " Live on the mountain if you live in one and live on water if you live by water." The Chinese are meticulous about food preparation. Whether it is pastries or vegetables, they always try to make it tasty and flavorful. For example, beans, a common vegetable, are exquisitely prepared into such delicious dishes as bean sprouts and bean curd. 

The Chinese people like well-prepared food. 
Zealous about food absorption and digestion, they are scrupulous about the temperature while cooking. Undercooked food is unacceptable to them. To the Chinese, the sight of Westerners eating undercooked steaks still oozing blood inside is horrible. In addition, warm soup is very important. Wonton, or dumpling soup, and noodles are popular nationwide. Other hot soups include jellied bean curd, rice porridge and corn porridge. 

Chinese also like to eat together, a tradition that can be traced back a long time ago. 
It reflects the Chinese notion of union versus division---round tables, round dishes, and round bowls all symbolize union and perfection. Dishes are usually placed at the center of the table so that everyone around the table can share them. A hot pot, in particular, adds to the atmosphere of harmony and union. Friends eat and live together. A recent book by an American Sinologist held that the Chinese collective tradition developed out of the practice of eating together. 

Tea drinking is an integral part of Chinese life and the Chinese food experience. Tea is believed to be good for you. The Chinese were the first to discover the tealeaf and have been drinking tea ever since in many varieties.

There are seven major Chinese dialects and many sub dialects. Mandarin (or Putonghua), the predominant dialect, is spoken by over 70% of the population. It is taught in all schools and is the medium of government. Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang), and Korean (in the northeast).

Chinese is the universal language in this country; it is also one of the five working languages of the United Nations. Putonghua is the standard spoken language for the Han people. The Chinese characters, which are the written form of the Chinese language, had their origin in oracle inscriptions more than 6,000 years ago. Most of the 55 ethnic minorities, however, speak their own languages, and some 30 of them have their own written languages.

Chinese is the only major writing system of the world that continued its pictograph-based development without interruption and that is still in general modern use. But not all Chinese characters are simply impressionistic sketches of concrete objects. Chinese characters incorporate meaning and sound as well as visual image into a coherent whole. 

On January 1, 1979, the Chinese Government officially adopted the pinyin system for spelling Chinese names and places in Roman letters. A system of Romanization invented by the Chinese, pinyin has long been widely used in China on street and commercial signs as well as in elementary Chinese textbooks as an aid in learning Chinese characters. Variations of pinyin also are used as the written forms of several minority languages. 
Pinyin has now replaced other conventional spellings in China's English-language publications.

The U.S. Government also has adopted the pinyin system for all names and places in China. For example, the capital of China is now spelled "Beijing" rather than "Peking."