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Country Briefing : China

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Full country name:

People's Republic of China

Area:

9,596,960 sq km (mainland)

Population:

1,307,560,000 ( 2005 est.)

Capital city:

Beijing

People:

Han Chinese (93%), plus Mongol, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur minorities

Language:

Putonghua (Beijing dialect Mandarin)

Electricity:

220V, 50 AC; plugs can be three-pronged angled, three-pronged round, two flat pins or two narrow round pins.

Religion:

Officially atheist; Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no stats available); Muslim (14 million), Christian (7 million)

Government:

Communist republic

Chancellor:

HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003)

Labor Force:

758 million (2005 est.)

Currency:

Ren Min Bi (RMB : USD = 8 : 1 approx.)

Traveller's Cheques & Credit Cards:

Travellers' cheques are useful because the exchange rate is more favourable than that for cash; Thomas Cook, American Express and Bank of America are most commonly accepted. Credit cards are gaining ground in China, with Visa, MasterCard, American Express (branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen), JCB and Diners Club the most common. Cards can be used in most mid to top-range hotels, Friendship and department stores, but cannot be used to finance your transportation costs. Cash advances can be made at head branches of the Bank of China (for 4% commission).

Note:

Tipping is not really expected in mainland China - but bargaining is definitely OK. You can bargain in shops, street stalls, and hotels - but not in large stores.

Environment:

The third-largest country in the world, China is bounded to the north by the deserts of Mongolia, to the west by the inhospitable Tibetan plateau and Himalaya, and to the east by the East and South China seas. China's 22 provinces and five autonomous regions are governed from Beijing, along with some 5000 islands. Hong Kong has now returned to the fold as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Macau will do the same in 1999. Disputed territories are dotted near and far around China's south-east coast. Taiwan - which is bound to be next on China's shopping list - is the best known. Then there's the oil-rich Spratly Island group which every country in the region wants to suck dry, the Diaoyutai Islands (known as Senkaku to the Japanese), the Paracels (or Xisha, if China gets its way), and the Pescadores (or Penghu).

The topography included in China's vast panorama runs the gamut from towering mountains to featureless plains, the terrain descending across the planet from Tibet's `roof of the world' in the west, down through the Inner Mongolia Plateau and east to the plains of the Yangzi River valley. In the south-west, the Yunnan-Guizhbou Plateau has a lacerated terrain with numerous gorge rapids, waterfalls, underground caverns and limestone pinnacles, making it one of the country's most spectacular regions. Inland features include the Taklamakan Desert shifting salt lakes and the Turpan Depression (China's hottest region, and known as the Oasis of Fire). Melting snow from the mountains of western China and the Tibetan Plateau provides the headwaters for many of the country's major trade routes: the Yangzi, Yellow, Mekong and Salween rivers. Given China's size, it's only to be expected that its plant and animal life are diverse. Unfortunately, much of the country's rich natural heritage is rare, endangered or extinct, largely due to the destruction of habitat caused by agriculture, urbanisation and industrial pollution. Magnificent animals endemic to China - but found in increasingly low numbers - include pandas, snow leopards, elephants, argali sheep, wild yaks, reindeer, moose, musk deer, bears, sables and tigers. Bird-watchers can spot cranes, ducks, bustards, egrets, swans and herons in the country's lakes and nature reserves (of which there are more than 300). China's plant life has fared a little better under the crunch of a billion people, but deforestation, grazing and intensive cultivation have all taken their toll. The last great tracts of forest are in the subarctic north-eastern region near the Russian border, while the tropical south is home to the country's most diverse plant life, including rainforest. China's many useful plants include bamboo, ginseng, angelica and fritillary.