km2
Land area:
9,326,410 km2
Comparative area:
slightly larger than the US
Land boundaries:
22,143.34 km; Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30
km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan
858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km,
Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km,
Tajikistan 414 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 Russia; boundary with Tajikistan
under dispute: a short section of the boundary with North Korea is
indefinite; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with
Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; 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, as does Taiwan, (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu
Tai)
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 Russia and Canada)

:China People

Population:
1,169,619,601 (July 1992), growth rate 1.6% (1992)
Birth rate:
22 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
7 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
0 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
32 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
69 years male, 72 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate: