China: Country profile

The world’s most populous country has a rich history and one of the longest documented civilisations.

Over the centuries China’s cultural and social impact has been huge, producing some of the world’s most influential technological developments – namely paper, printing, the compass, gunpowder and, according to some archaeologists, toilet paper.

China’s unique identity lies in its longevity and resilience as a distinct politico-cultural unit, despite periods of civil unrest,  famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation that have engulfed the country.

In the initial decades after the communist takeover in 1949, China’s economy stagnated.

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Chinese civilisation is documented
over thousands of years

But since the introduction of the so-called “open door policy” China has transformed itself into an industrial powerhouse with the world’s fastest-growing economy.

Internationaly China’s growing wealth and appetite for natural resources – especially oil – has given it increasing diplomatic clout on the world stage.

On the domestic front, worries over the country’s growing wealth gap, unemployment and unrest over corruption are fast becoming the biggest challenges facing the country’s rulers.

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According to the latest version of the constitution, adopted in 1982, the People’s Republic of China is a “socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship”.

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Hu Jintao was named president
in March 2003

Effectively this means that China is a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC), although there are other “democratic parties” which are represented at annual meetings of the country’s legislature.

Since March 2003, the country’s president has been Hu Jintao. He also holds the post of chairman of the CPC.

Since his appointment Hu has pledged to tackle corruption and given warning of the dangers posed by the fast-growing rural-urban wealth gap.

However, he has firmly rejected introducing any Western-style political reforms to China, saying that this would lead the country down a “blind alley”.

WHO’S HU

President and chairman of CPC: Hu Jintao
Vice-president: Zeng Qinghong
Prime minister: Wen Jiabao
Foreign minister: Li Zhaoxing

To date the only slight moves toward political liberalisation have been the opening of elections at the town and village levels.

The government retains tight control of the country’s media while online activity is also tightly regulated. Many websites deemed unsuitable are blocked by government-controlled internet service providers. An internet police force, reportedly numbering several thousand, keeps tabs on activity deemed against the national interest.

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China’s sprawling mass covers a
vast range of landscapes

Stretching for more than 5,000 kilometres from the deserts and mountains of Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean, China covers a vast range of landscapes.

Chinese territory includes the highest point on Earth, at the summit of Mount Everest, to the planet’s second-lowest point in the Turpan Basin, in the deserts of the country’s northwest.

The bulk of the population is concentrated in the eastern half of the country, home to China’s largest cities and its most fertile land.

China borders directly with 14 countries.

Its land frontier is about 20,000 kilometres in length, and its coastline extends for some 14,500 kilometres.

Area (Including Manchuria and Tibet): 9,596,960 sq km

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Population: 1,313,973,713 (July 2006 est.)
Growth rate: 0.6%

Languages: Standard Chinese (Mandarin/Putonghua), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages

Religions: Officially atheist; Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%–4%, Muslim 1%–2%

Ethnic diversity: Han Chinese 91.9%, Zhuang, Uighur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.1%
Officially the government recognises 56 distinct ethnicities within China’s borders.

Literacy rate: 86% (2003 est.)

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China’s economy has become the
workshop of the world

China now has the world’s fastest-growing economy and is on track to become the biggest consumer of energy and natural resources – as well as the biggest polluter.

The country’s role in world trade has steadily grown since the late 1970’s, when the government, headed by reformer Deng Xiaoping, decided to open China’s door to the global economy.

Despite being officially a communist country, privatisation of state-owned industries means that currently about three-quarters of the national economy is held in private ownership.

China’s foreign trade has since grown more quickly than its gross national product (GNP).

The government’s decision to let China be used by Western firms as an export platform is making the country an increasingly competitive threat to its regional neighbours such as South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Currency: China Yuan Renminbi (CNY) – 1 USD = (app.) 8.19 CNY

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world’s largest).

Major industries: mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilisers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites.

GDP: $2.305 trillion (2005 – source Chinese National Bureau of Statistics)

Real growth rate: 10.2% (2005 – source Chinese National Bureau of Statistics)

Per capita GDP: $1,702 (2005 – source IMF)

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China has the world’s largest
armed forces

China has the world’s largest standing military and since 1949 has fought wars with South Korea, India and Vietnam.

Nuclear forces: China detonated its first atomic weapon in 1964 and since then has developed thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs) and a neutron bomb.

China is thought to have about 400 strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, and stocks of fissile material sufficient to produce a much larger arsenal.

Military budget: $35.4 bn (2004 est.) 
Army size: 2,810,000 personnel

Source: Al Jazeera