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China is one of the world's oldest civilizations with a chronicled history of more than 5,000 years. China has gone over a long history of primitive society, slavery society, feudal society and semi-feudal semi-colonial society and the present socialist society. In 221 BC, Qinshihuang established the Qin Dynasty, the first feudal autocracy in Chinese history, thereby unveiling a 2,000-year period of feudalism which was to last through a succession of dynasties such as the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, a period which finally met its demise in the bourgeois democratic Revolution of 1911 by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. October 1, 1949 saw the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Population
China, the most populous country in the world, had a total population of 1,292.27 million at the end of 2003, according to the "Statistical Communiqué on National Economic and Social Development in 2003" published by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Moreover, the population density was high, with 135 people per sq km but unevenly distributed. Along the densely populated coastal areas in the east, there were more than 400 people per sq km; in the central areas, over 200; and in the sparsely populated plateaus in the west, there were less than 10 people per sq km.
The following table gives an overall view of the composition of the population of China as of the 2000 national census:
When the PRC was founded in 1949, China had a population of 541.67 million. With a stable society, production development, improvement of medical and health conditions as well as a lack of awareness of the importance of birth control, China witnessed a rapid population increase, reaching 806.71 million in 1969. In the 1970s, China began to implement a policy of family planning to control population growth, which brought the beginning of a decrease in birth rate. By the end of 2003, the birth rate stood at 12.41 per thousand with a mortality rate at 6.4 per thousand, leaving a natural growth rate of 6.01 per thousand, according to the National Statistics Bureau.
In line with the requirements of the Outline of National Economic and Social Development during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, adopted at the Fourth Session of the Ninth NPC in March 2001, in the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) the goal is for the average annual natural increase rate of China's population not to exceed 9 per thousand and for the population by 2005 to be less than 1.33 billion. By 2010 the population of China is expected not to exceed 1.4 billion.
Administrative Division System
China's administrative units are currently based on a three-tier system, dividing the nation into provinces, counties and townships: 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.
Municipalities directly under the Central Government and large cities are subdivided into districts and counties; autonomous prefectures are subdivided into counties, autonomous counties and cities. Autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties are all ethnic autonomous areas. The Constitution specifically empowers the state to establish special administrative regions when necessary. A special administrative region is a local administrative area directly under the Central Government.
The People's Republic of China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 centrally administered municipalities and 2 special administrative regions.
Land Area
Located in the east on 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.
From north to south, the territory of China stretches from the center of the Heilong River north of the town of Mohe to the Zengmu Reef at the southernmost tip of the Nansha Islands, covering a distance of 5,500 km. From east to west, the nation extends from the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers to the Pamirs, covering a distance of 5,200 km.
With a land boundary of some 22,800 km, China is bordered by Korea to the east; Mongolia to the north; Russia to the northeast; Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the northwest; Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan to the west and southwest; and Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam to the south. Across the seas to the east and southeast are the Republic of Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.
China's mainland coastline measures approximately 18,000 km, with a flat topography, and many excellent docks and harbors, most of which are ice-free all year round. The Chinese mainland is flanked to the east and south by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas, with a total maritime area of 4.73 million sq km. The Bohai Sea is China's continental sea, while the Yellow, East China and South China seas are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean.
Some 5,400 islands dot China's territorial seas. The largest of these, with an area of about 36,000 sq km, is Taiwan, followed by Hainan with an area of 34,000 sq km. The Diaoyu and Chiwei islands, located to the northeast of Taiwan Island, are China's easternmost islands. The many islands, islets, reefs and shoals in the South China Sea, known collectively as the South China Sea Islands, are the southernmost island group of China. They are called the Dongsha (East Sandbar), Xisha (West Sandbar), Zhongsha (Middle Sandbar) and Nansha (South Sandbar) island groups according to their geographical locations. |
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