China Travel Podcast with Wei Chen

Location

Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Terrain

Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Climate

Extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Elevation

Highest point

Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m

Lowest point

Turpan Pendi (Turfan Depression) -154 m

Mean elevation

1,840 m

Area

Total

9,596,960 sq km

Land

9,326,410 sq km

Water

270,550 sq km

Size comparison

Slightly smaller than the US

Coastline

14,500 km

Land borders

Total

22,457 km

Border countries

Afghanistan 91 km; Bhutan 477 km; Burma 2,129 km; India 2,659 km; Kazakhstan 1,765 km; North Korea 1,352 km; Kyrgyzstan 1,063 km; Laos 475 km; Mongolia 4,630 km; Nepal 1,389 km; Pakistan 438 km; Russia (northeast) 4,133 km and Russia (northwest) 46 km; Tajikistan 477 km; Vietnam 1,297 km

Natural resources

Coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest), arable land

Land use

Agricultural land

55.3% (2023 est.)

Arable land

11.6% (2023 est.)

Permanent crops

2.1% (2023 est.)

Permanent pasture

41.7% (2023 est.)

Forest

23.8% (2023 est.)

Other

20.6% (2023 est.)

Natural hazards

Frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Volcanism: China contains some historically active volcanoes including Changbaishan (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or P'aektu-san), Hainan Dao, and Kunlun although most have been relatively inactive in recent centuries

Note

Note 1: world's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and the US) and largest country situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest, on the border with Nepal, is the world's tallest peak above sea level

Note 2: the largest cave chamber in the world is the Miao Room, in the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park, which encloses about 10.78 million cu m (380.7 million cu ft); the world's largest sinkhole is the Xiaoxhai Tiankeng sinkhole in Chongqing Municipality, which is 660 m deep, with a volume of 130 million cu m

Population

Total

1,407,181,209 (2025 est.)

Male

716,908,592

Female

690,272,617

Nationality

Noun

Chinese (singular and plural)

Adjective

Chinese

Ethnic groups

Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) (2021 est.)

Languages

Languages

Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages; note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet)

Major-language sample(s)

世界概況 – 不可缺少的基本消息來源 (Standard Chinese)

Religions

Folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.1% (2021 est.)

Median age

Total

40.8 years (2025 est.)

Male

39 years

Female

41.5 years

Life expectancy

Total population

78.7 years (2024 est.)

Male

76 years

Female

81.7 years

Urbanisation

Urban population

64.6% of total population (2023)

Rate of urbanization

1.78% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Where people live

Overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated; though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than that of many Asian and European countries; high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang

Largest cities

29.211 million Shanghai, 21.766 million BEIJING (capital), 17.341 million Chongqing, 14.284 million Guangzhou, 14.239 million Tianjin, 13.073 million Shenzhen (2023)

Background

China's historical civilization dates to at least the 13th century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1046-221 B.C.) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 221 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from overextension by territorial conquest, insolvency, civil war, imperialism, military defeats, and foreign expropriation of ports and infrastructure. It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism, and continued foreign intervention. In the late 1920s, a civil war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government, led by CHIANG Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s, and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time of Japan’s defeat in 1945. The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity after the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949, under the leadership of MAO Zedong.

MAO and the CCP established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring the PRC's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and launched agricultural, economic, political, and social policies -- such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) -- that cost the lives of millions of people. MAO died in 1976. Beginning in 1978, leaders DENG Xiaoping, JIANG Zemin, and HU Jintao focused on market-oriented economic development and opening up the country to foreign trade, while maintaining the rule of the CCP. Since the change, China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies, with real gross domestic product averaging over 9% growth annually through 2021, lifting an estimated 800 million people out of poverty and dramatically improving overall living standards. By 2011, the PRC’s economy was the second largest in the world. Current leader XI Jinping has continued these policies but has also maintained tight political controls. Over the past decade, China has increased its global outreach, including military deployments, participation in international organizations, and a global connectivity plan in 2013 called the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI). Many nations have signed on to BRI agreements to attract PRC investment, but others have expressed concerns about such issues as the opaque nature of the projects, financing, and potentially unsustainable debt obligations. XI Jinping assumed the positions of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012 and President in 2013. In 2018, the PRC’s National People’s Congress passed an amendment abolishing presidential term limits, which allowed XI to gain a third five-year term in 2023.

Government

Communist party-led state

Capital

Beijing

Time zone

UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

Local name

Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo

Independence

1 October 1949 (People's Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China)

National day

National Day (anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949)

Overview

World’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP; global leader in exports and manufacturing; historically strong growth slowing; challenges of aging workforce, weak productivity, rising youth unemployment, struggling property sector, and public debt; state-sponsored economic controls and infrastructure investments

GDP per capita

Real GDP per capita 2024

$23,800 (2024 est.)

Real GDP per capita 2023

$22,700 (2023 est.)

Real GDP per capita 2022

$21,500 (2022 est.)

Inflation

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2024

0.2% (2024 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2023

0.2% (2023 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2022

2% (2022 est.)

Unemployment

Unemployment rate 2024

4.6% (2024 est.)

Unemployment rate 2023

4.7% (2023 est.)

Unemployment rate 2022

5% (2022 est.)

Exchange rate

Currency

Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar -

Exchange rates 2024

7.197 (2024 est.)

Exchange rates 2023

7.084 (2023 est.)

Exchange rates 2022

6.737 (2022 est.)

Exchange rates 2021

6.449 (2021 est.)

Exchange rates 2020

6.901 (2020 est.)

Main industries

World leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites

Agriculture

Maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, cucumbers/gherkins, tomatoes, watermelons, pork (2023)

Airports

552 (2025)

Railways

Total 150,000 km (2021) 1.435-m gauge (100,000 km electrified); 104,0000 traditional, 40,000 high-speed

Ports

Total ports

66 (2024)

Large

5

Medium

9

Small

25

Very small

27

Ports with oil terminals

48

Key ports

Chaozhou, Dalian, Fang-Cheng, Guangzhou, Hankow, Lon Shui Terminal, Qingdao Gang, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shekou, Tianjin Xin Gang, Weihai, Wenzhou, Xiamen

Internet domain

.cn

Internet users

Percent of population 78% (2023 est.)

Mobile subscriptions

Total subscriptions

1.87 billion (2024 est.)

Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

132 (2024 est.)

Environmental issues

Air pollution and acid rain from reliance on coal; carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; coastal destruction due to land reclamation, industrial development, and aquaculture; deforestation and habitat destruction; poor land management leading to soil erosion, landslides, floods, droughts, dust storms, and desertification; trade in endangered species

Fresh water

2.84 trillion cubic meters (2022 est.)

UNESCO Global Geoparks

Total global geoparks and regional networks

49 (2025)

Global geoparks and regional networks

Alxa; Arxan; Dali-Cangshan; Danxiashan; Dunhuang; Enshi Grand Canyon-Tenglongdong; Fangshan; Funiushan; Guangwushan-Noushuihe; Hexigten; Hong Kong; Huanggang Dabieshan; Huangshan; Jingpohu; Jiuhuashan; Kanbula; Keketuohai; Leiqiong; Leye Fengshan; Linxia; Longhushan; Longyan; Lushan; Mount Changbaishan; Mount Kunlun; Ningde; Qinling Zhongnanshan; Sanqingshan; Shennongjia; Shilin; Songshan; Taining; Taishan; Tianzhushan; Wangwushan-Daimeishan; Wudalianchi; Wugongshan; Xiangxi; Xingwen; Yingyi; Yandangshan; Yanqing; Yimengshan; Yuntaishan; Yunyang: Zhangjlajle; Zhangye; Zhijingdong Cave; Zigong (2025)