CHINA                                                                           
(also see separate Taiwan entry)                                                
GEOGRAPHY                                                                       
Total area: 9,596,960 km2; land area: 9,326,410 km2                             
                                                                                
Comparative 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                                                            
                                                                                
Maritime claims:                                                                
                                                                                
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                                                                          
Population: 1,151,486,981 (July 1991), growth rate 1.6% (1991)                  
                                                                                
Birth rate: 22 births/1,000 population (1991)                                   
                                                                                
Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1991)                                    
                                                                                
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)                          
                                                                                
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)                                       
                                                                                
Literacy: 73% (male 84%, female 62%) age 15 and over can                        
read and write (1990 est.)                                                      
                                                                                
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                                                                      
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                                         
                                                                                
Leaders:                                                                        
                                                                                
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                                                   
                                                                                
Elections:                                                                      
                                                                                
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                                                                         
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)                                                      
                                                                                
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.1% (1990)                                   
                                                                                
Unemployment rate: 2.6% in urban areas (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)                                
                                                                                
External debt: $51 billion (1990 est.)                                          
                                                                                
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 (Y) = 10 jiao                             
                                                                                
Exchange rates: yuan (Y) 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                                                                  
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                             
                                                                                
Merchant marine: 1,421 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling                       
14,010,317 GRT/21,223,170 DWT; includes 24 passenger, 42 short-sea              
passenger, 19 passenger-cargo, 7 cargo/training, 776 cargo, 11                  
refrigerated cargo, 70 container, 17 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 2                  
multifunction barge carrier, 181 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL)          
tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 250 bulk, 2 liquefied gas, 2 vehicle carrier,        
9 combination 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                                             
                                                                                
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                                           
                                                                                
DEFENSE FORCES                                                                  
Branches: Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA), CPLA Navy                    
(including Marines), CPLA Air Force, Chinese People's Armed Police              
                                                                                
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 335,382,062; 187,046,680 fit                
for military service; 10,967,622 reach military age (18) annually               
                                                                                
Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GNP                                           
                                                                                
