China

Communist Party-led state

China as the 1991 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 70 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalBeijing

Area9,596,960 km2

Populationas each edition published it

1.15 billion July 1991 · 1.12bn in 1990

Population growth% a year

Not in this edition 1.1% in 1993

Median ageyears

Not in this edition 31.5 yrs in 2003

Life expectancyyears at birth

Not in this edition 67.74 yrs in 1993

Fertility ratechildren per woman

2.3 children per woman 1991 · 2.3 in 1990

Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births

33 deaths per 1,000 live births 1991 · 34 in 1990

GDP per capitaeach edition's own dollars

Not in this edition $2,200 in 1994

GDP real growth% a year

Not in this edition 12.8% in 1993

Geography

11 fields

Total area

9,596,960km2

land area: 9,326,410 km2Comparative 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 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

Natural resources

coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, world's largest hydropower potential

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

14 fields

Population

1,151,486,981

(July 1991), growth rate 1.6% (1991)

Per 1,000 population(1991)

Birth

22Death

7Net migration

Literacy

73%

(male 84%, female 62%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)

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)

Nationality

noun--Chinese (sing., pl.); adjective--Chinese

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)

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

Communist Party-led state

18 fields

National People's Congress, 2,976 seats, elected NA March 1988seats by party

(2,976 total) CCP and independents (indirectly elected at county or xian level) 2,976

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 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 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

16 fields

Inflation, consumer prices

2.1%

(1990)

Unemployment rate

2.6%in urban areas

(1990)

External debt

$51billion

(1990 est.)

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)

Budget

revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports

$62.1 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities--textiles, garments, telecommunications and recording equipment, petroleum, minerals;
partners--Hong Kong, US, Japan, USSR, Singapore, FRG (1989)

Imports

$53.4 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities--specialized industrial machinery, chemicals, manufactured goods, steel, textile yarn, fertilizer;
partners--Hong Kong, Japan, US, FRG, USSR (1989)

Industrial production

growth rate 7.6% (1990); accounts for 45% of GNP

Electricity

117,580,000 kW capacity; 585,000 million kWh produced, 520 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries

iron, steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, consumer durables, food processing

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

Currency

yuan (plural--yuan); 1 yuan (3) = 10 jiao

Exchange rates

yuan (3) per US$1--5.31 (April 1991), 4.7832 (1990), 3.7651 (1989), 3.7221 (1988), 3.7221 (1987), 3.4528 (1986), 2.9367 (1985)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Communications

8 fields

Merchant marine, 1,421 ships by type

passenger 24short-sea passenger 42passenger-cargo 19cargo/training 7cargo 776refrigerated cargo 11container 70roll-on/roll-off cargo 17multifunction barge carrier 2petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker 181chemical tanker 9bulk 250liquefied gas 2vehicle carrier 2combination 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 91,421 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 14,010,317 GRT/21,223,170 DWT

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

Pipelines

crude, 6,500 km;
refined products, 1,100 km;
natural gas, 6,200 km

Ports

Dalian, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Xingang, Zhanjiang, Ningbo, Xiamen, Tanggu, Shantou

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