Geography and Climate
Located in Eastern Asia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sprawls over nearly 3.7 million square miles, making the country the fourth largest in the world by land area. Its eastern border touches the East China Sea, Yellow Sea and the South China Sea. Although the country’s east coast is bordered entirely by water, its land borders are ringed by 14 countries, including: North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
A country of China’s size expectedly has a wide range of topographies. The arid north and northwest near Mongolia and Central Asia are primarily forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts. The southeast of the country is mostly subtropical forests. Western China is very mountainous with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separating China from South and Central Asia. Mighty rivers flow from the Tibetan Plateau to China’s eastern seas. The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world and the Yellow River is the world’s sixth longest.
China’s diverse topography produces a wide variety of climates, similar to the United States. Tropical in the south and subarctic in the north, monsoon winds tend to dominate the country’s climate. Monsoons influence the timing of the rainy season and the amount of rainfall throughout the country. Major differences in latitude, longitude and altitude impact regional climates and precipitation amounts throughout China. For example, parts of China’s northernmost province, Heilongjiang, have a subarctic climate, while the southernmost region, Hainan Island, has a tropical climate. Central China generally has a more temperate climate.
All of China is on China Standard Time (CST), which is 16 hours ahead of the U.S. Pacific Standard Time zone. The country does not observe daylight saving time.
Be aware that when you live in China, natural disasters occur regularly. The country has had five of the world’s top 10 deadliest natural disasters in history, including the top three. In 2012, disasters affected nearly 300 million people, destroyed over 900,000 houses, severely damaged 1.5 million houses and caused direct economic losses of over US$66 billion. The main disasters were floods, typhoons, drought, earthquakes, snowstorms, sandstorms and forest fires. China also has several volcanoes, but has not had reported eruptions.
People and Culture
China is the most populous country in the world with over 1.3 billion people, but a population density of only 143 people per square kilometer. It has become more urbanized, educated and older, which has helped slow population growth to 0.5 percent, about half the rate of growth in the previous decade. Although nearly 92 percent of China’s population is Han Chinese, China is very diverse - 55 other recognized ethnic groups also live in China. Other major ethnicities are: Zhuang, Uigur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi and Korean.
The Communist Party of China governs the country from its capital Beijing. China is divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities and two Special Administrative Regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau. Both have their own currency, legal system and parliamentary system. The largest metropolitan area in China is Shanghai with a population of nearly 21 million. China’s capital, Beijing, has over 17 million people in its metro area. Other large metropolitan areas are Guangzhou-Foshan, GD with nearly 17 million and Shenzhen, GD with almost 12 million people.
China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with more than 4,000 years of recorded history. China’s successive dynasties developed a system of bureaucratic control that gave the Chinese an advantage over neighboring cultures and helped to establish China as a leader in arts and science. The country’s Confucian state ideology and a common written language helped to unify China and create an economic and cultural environment that flourished. China’s last dynasty was established in 1644 when the Manchus established the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty with Beijing as the country’s capital. During the nineteenth century, the Taiping and Nian rebellions, along with a Russian-supported Muslim separatist movement in Xinjiang, drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty. In 1840, an opium war broke out between Britain and China, which China lost. Following the war, Britain, the United States and other Western countries forcibly occupied parts of China, which gave them special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking, but was returned to China in 1997.
By 1911, the Qing Dynasty ended and Yuan Shikai was chosen as the republic’s first president, which lasted only until he tried to proclaim himself emperor of China. A civil war broke out in 1927 between forces loyal to the government of the Republic of China led by the Kuomintang and forces of the Communist Party of China. The conflict ended in 1950 and resulted in two states: the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China, both claiming to be the legitimate government of China. The Communists under Mao Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that imposed strict controls over everyday life in China, but cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, Mao’s successor Deng Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. Since the 1990s, China has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations. The country has become a global economic power, second only to the United States.