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(Back to China)
Contents:
- History of China
- About China: geography, population, languages, religion, ...
Summary:
China is a country with a very early civilization and a long and rich
history. The compass, gunpowder, the art of paper-making and block printing
invented by the ancient Chinese have contributed immensely to the progress
of mankind. The Great Wall, Grand Canal and other projects built by the
Chinese people are regarded as engineering feats in the world.
With a landmass of 9,600,000 sq km, China is the third largest country
in the world. Located in the east of the Asian continent, on the western
shore of the Pacific Ocean, the People's Republic of China has a land area
of about 9.6 million sq km, and is the third-largest country in the
world, next only to Russia and Canada.
The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the Central Government. A province or an
autonomous region is subdivided into autonomous prefectures, counties,
autonomous counties and /or cities. A county or an autonomous county is
subdivided into townships, ethnic townships and/or towns.
The natural growth rate of population continued to decline. At the end of
2003, China's total population in the mainland amounted to 1,292.27
million. The natural growth rate of population was - 0.1 per thousand in
Beijing and it was - 1.35 per thousand in Shanghai. At the end of 2003,
China has 96.92 million of seniors above age of 65.
China is a united multi-ethnic nation of 56 ethnic groups. As the
majority (91.6 percent) of the population is of the Han ethnic group,
China's other 55 ethnic groups are customarily referred to as ethnic
minorities. According to the fifth national census in 2000, 18 ethnic
minorities have a population of over one million.
The main religions are Buddhism, Islam, Roman Catholic and Protestant
Christianity, China's indigenous Taoism, Shamanism, Eastern Orthodox
Christianity and the Naxi people's Dongba religion.
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