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 China| Facts & Figures |
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| President: Hu Jintao
(2003) Prime Minister: Wen Jiabao
(2003)
Land area: 3,600,927 sq mi (9,326,411 sq
km); total area: 3,705,407 sq mi (9,596,960 sq km)1 Population (2009
est.): 1,338,612,968 (growth rate: 0.6%); birth rate: 14/1000;
infant mortality rate: 20.2/1000; life expectancy: 73.4; density per
sq mi: 142
Capital (2003 est.):
Beijing, 10,849,000 (metro. area), 8,689,000
(city proper) Largest cities:
Shanghai, 12,665,000 (metro. area), 10,996,500 (city proper); Tianjin
(Tientsin), 9,346,000 (metro. area), 4,333,900 (city proper); Wuhan,
3,959,700; Shenyang (Mukden), 3,574,100; Guangzhou, 3,473,800;
Haerbin, 2,904,900; Xian, 2,642,100; Chungking (Chongquing) 2,370,100;
Chengdu, 2,011,000; Hong Kong (Xianggang), 1,361,200 Monetary unit: Yuan/Renminbi More Facts & Figures |
GeographyThe greater part of the country is mountainous.
Its principal ranges are the Tien Shan, the Kunlun chain, and the
Trans-Himalaya. In the southwest is Tibet, which China annexed in 1950.
The Gobi Desert lies to the north. China proper consists of three great
river systems: the Yellow River (Huang He), 2,109 mi (5,464 km) long; the
Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), the third-longest river in the world at 2,432
mi (6,300 km); and the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang), 848 mi (2,197 km)
long.
GovernmentCommunist state.
HistoryThe earliest recorded human settlements in what
is today called China were discovered in the Huang He basin and date from
about 5000
B.C.
During the Shang dynasty
(1500–1000
B.C.
), the precursor of modern
China's ideographic writing system developed, allowing the emerging feudal
states of the era to achieve an advanced stage of civilization, rivaling
in sophistication any society found at the time in Europe, the Middle
East, or the Americas. It was following this initial flourishing of
civilization, in a period known as the Chou dynasty (1122–249
B.C.
), that Lao-tse, Confucius, Mo Ti, and Mencius
laid the foundation of Chinese philosophical thought.
The feudal states, often at war with one
another, were first united under Emperor Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, during whose
reign (246–210
B.C.
) work was begun on
the Great Wall of China, a monumental bulwark against invasion from the
West. Although the Great Wall symbolized China's desire to protect itself
from the outside world, under the Han dynasty (206
B.C.–A.D.
220), the civilization conducted
extensive commercial trading with the West.
In the T'ang dynasty (618–907)—often
called the golden age of Chinese history—painting, sculpture, and
poetry flourished, and woodblock printing, which enabled the mass
production of books, made its earliest known appearance. The Mings, last
of the native rulers (1368–1644), overthrew the Mongol, or Yuan,
dynasty (1271–1368) established by Kublai Khan. The Mings in turn
were overthrown in 1644 by invaders from the north, the Manchus.
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