Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam Area: total: 9,596,960 sq km land: 9,326,410 sq km water: 270,550 sq km Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateau, desert in west; plains, deltas and hills in east Capital: Beijing Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural) : provinces: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang : autonomous regions: Guangxi, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Xizang (Tibet) : municipalities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin note: China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau Population: 1,306,313,812 (2005 est.) Ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other 8.1% Nationality: noun: Chinese (singular and plural) adjective: Chinese Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin, Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan, Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, other languages (see Ethnic groups entry) Religions: Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 1%-2%, Christian 3%-4% note: officially atheist (2002 est.) Literacy: 90.9%

Government type: Communist state Executive branch: � chief of state: President HU Jintao (since March 2003) � head of government: Premier WEN Jiabao (since March 2003) ; Vice Premiers HUANG Ju (since 17 March 2003), WU Yi (since March 2003), ZENG Peiyan (since March 2003), and HUI Liangyu (since March 2003) � cabinet: State Council appointed by the National People's Congress (NPC) � elections: president and vice president elected by the National People's Congress for five-year term National Holiday: Aniversary of the Founding of the People�s Republic od China, 1 October (1950) ACD Member: ACD Member Since 2002 Prime Mover (PM) on Working Group: None Co-Prime Mover on Working Group: Energy Security

Currency (code): yuan (CNY) GDP: $8.158 trillion (2005 est.) GDP per capita: $6,200 (2005 est.) Exports - commodities: Electronic integrated circuits & microassemblies, motor vehicles and chassis, furniture, textile garments, footware and parts, toy, etc. Exports - partners: Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Germany Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, oil and mineral fuels, plastics, optical and medical equipment, organic chemicals, iron and steel Imports - partners: Japan , Taiwan , South Korea , US , Germany Agriculture - products: rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, aplles, cotton, oil seed, pork, fish Industries: mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals; coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footware, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles and sattlelites Source : The World Fact Book 2005 (www.cia.gov)