China

China Country Facts At-a-Glance

Geography: China is located in Eastern Asia between North Korea and Vietnam. It borders the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea. China is slightly smaller than the U.S., and its terrain consists of mountains and high plateaus.

Capital City: Beijing

Population: 1.42 billion (2023 est.)

Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and several minority languages.

Religions: Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, folk religion 21.9%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.2%

Ethnic Groups: Han Chinese 91.1%, Zhuang 1.3%, other (includes Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai and other nationalities) 7.6% (2020 est.)

Life Expectancy: 78 years

Literacy Rate: 97%

Government: Communist Party-led state

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Current Head of State: President Xi Jinping (since March 14, 2013) and Premier Li Qiang (since March 11, 2023). The president and vice president are elected by the National People’s Congress for a five-year term and are eligible for a second term. The premier is nominated by the president and confirmed by the National People’s Congress.

Independence: October 1, 1949 (People’s Republic of China established)

Currency: Renminbi Yuan (RMB)

GDP per Capita: $19,200 USD (2023 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 5.3% (2023 est.)

GDP – Composition by Sector:

• Agriculture: 7.9% – rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed, pork, fish
• Industry: 37.8% – mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal, machine building, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, consumer products, food processing, transportation, and telecommunications equipment
• Services: 54.3%

Source: CIA World Factbook

Country Basics

China, officially known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is a vast country in East Asia. With a rich history spanning thousands of years, China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

China is the fourth-largest country in the world by land area and covers many diverse landscapes. It shares borders with 14 countries, including Russia, India, and several Southeast Asian nations. The country’s geography includes mountain ranges, plateaus, fertile plains, and a lengthy coastline along the Pacific Ocean.

Beijing, one of China’s most populous and historic cities, serves as the capital and the political center of the nation. China is the most populous country on Earth, with over 1.4 billion people living within its borders.

The country is home to the Great Wall of China, one of the most iconic symbols of China and human engineering. Other popular sights include the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Terracotta Army in Xi’an.

Brief History 

China is one of the oldest civilizations on earth and for centuries outpaced the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. It was ruled by several dynasties, beginning with the Shang in 1700 B.C. Following the Shang, China was ruled by the Zhou, the Qin, and then the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty established the first enduring state to govern China and fostered a cultural “golden age” in which the economy grew and Confucianism became the state philosophy.

Next came the Sui, the Tang (who began building the Great Wall of China), and the Song dynasties. Mongols conquered China in 1271 and were overthrown in 1368 by the Ming Dynasty which established sophisticated agricultural systems and a strong central bureaucracy. The Qing replaced the Ming in the mid-17th century and ruled as the last imperial dynasty of China.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, China was wracked by civil unrest, famines, and military defeats. In 1911, the last emperor (Xuantong) was overthrown and China became a republic. Between 1911 and World War II, China had a major civil unrest between the National Government, various warlords, and the Communist Party of China. During WWII, China was invaded by Japan. Japan left China after Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Ally Powers.

After WWII, the communists under Mao Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that imposed strict controls over everyday life and caused a widespread famine. After 1978, Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, focused on encouraging the development of the private sector and foreign investment. In opening Chinese markets to the world, Deng Xiaoping paved the way for China to become one of the largest economies in the world.

Cultural Expectations

While in China, you can expect…
the local people to treat you with interest, curiosity, and kindness. They might request a photo with you!

While in China, locals will expect you…
to make an effort to be polite, understand their culture, bargain at the markets, and try out a few phrases in the local language.

Cultural Icon:
The panda (aka the giant panda) is an endangered species (about 1,600 live in the wild), found exclusively in China and considered a national treasure.

Food

When in China, you will feast on…

• Tang tsu li ji (sweet and sour pork)
• Gong bao ji ding (chicken)
• Ma po dou fu (tofu)
• Hun tun (wontons)
• Jiao zi (dumplings)
• Chun juan (spring rolls)
• Chao mian (chow mein)
• Bei jing kao ya (Peking duck)
• Lots of rice!

Hot Topics in China

• Human rights reports on China continue to point out widespread violations. The government has been known to censor press and access to sites such as Facebook and YouTube. Human rights activists continue to criticize China’s treatment of political dissidents and ethnic minorities, particularly in the country’s diverse Western regions. There is also controversy over working conditions in factories for products such as Apple computers. International interest in these controversies and a new government in China may lead to improvements over the next few years.
• As travel has rapidly grown through China, some citizens question their cultural future. There has been an influx of Western influences and China has seen an increase in the homogenization of culture in the bigger cities. With China growing as a world power, the question remains as to how it will transform the country, its people, and the ideas that develop.
• China is at the forefront of environmental management. Widely known as one of the most polluted countries in the world, China has quietly become the world’s largest producer and purchaser of renewable energy. This has resulted in more widespread access to energy across the country and has also been credited with stimulating the economy. Recent estimates indicate that China could be running on 70 percent renewable energy by 2050.

Language

The official dialect of China is Mandarin, also called “Putonghua”. More than 70% of the Chinese population speaks Mandarin, but there are also several other major dialects in use in the country. These include Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and other minority languages.

Here’s some Mandarin phrases that are helpful when traveling.

Greetings:

• Hello / 你好 (Nǐ hǎo)
• How are you? / 你好吗? (Nǐ hǎo ma?)
• Good / 好 (Hǎo)
• Good morning / 早上好 (Zǎo shàng hǎo)
• Good evening / 晚上好 (Wǎn shàng hǎo)
• Good night / 晚安 (Wǎn ān)
• Welcome / 欢迎 (Huān yíng)
• Goodbye / 再见 (Zài jiàn)

Etiquette:

• Please / 请 (Qǐng)
• Thank you / 谢谢 (Xiè xiè)
• Excuse me (to ask a question) / 请问 (Qǐng wèn)
• Sorry / 对不起 (Duì bù qǐ)

Pronouns:

• I / 我 (Wǒ)
• You / 你 (Nǐ)
• He/she / 他/她 (Tā)
• We / 我们 (Wǒ men)
• You (plural) / 你们 (Nǐ men)
• They / 他们 (Tā men)

Conversational:

• What is your name? / 你叫什么名字? (Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?)
• My name is . / 我叫. (Wǒ jiào ___.)
• Where are you from? / 你从哪里来? (Nǐ cóng nǎlǐ lái?)
• I am from ___. / 我从___来. (Wǒ cóng ___ lái.)
• How old are you? / 你多大? (Nǐ duō dà?)
• I am ___ years old. / 我___岁. (Wǒ ___ suì.)
• Do you speak English? / 你会说英文吗? (Nǐ huì shuō yīngwén ma?)
• I speak a little Chinese. / 我会说一点中文. (Wǒ huì shuō yīdiǎnr zhōngwén.)

Useful:

• Could you repeat that please? / 请再说一次? (Qǐng zài shuō yī cì?)
• How do you say ___ in Chinese? / 中文怎么说___? (Zhōngwén zěnme shuō ___?)
• I don’t understand. / 我不懂. (Wǒ bù dǒng.)
• I want to go to . / 我要去. (Wǒ yào qù ___.)
• Where is _? / ___ 在哪里? (zài nǎlǐ?)
• I would like . / 我要. (Wǒ yào ___.)
• How much is it? / 多少钱? (Duō shǎo qián?)

Present tense:

• To want / 要 (Yào)
• I want / 我要 (Wǒ yào)
• You want / 你要 (Nǐ yào)
• He/she wants / 他/她要 (Tā yào)
• You (plural) want / 你们要 (Nǐ men yào)
• They want / 他们要 (Tā men yào)

Feelings:

I am . / 我很. (Wǒ hěn___.)

• cold / 冷 (lěng)
• hot / 热 (rè)
• sleepy / 累 (lèi)
• hungry / 饿 (è)
• thirsty / 渴 (kě)
• angry / 生气 (shēngqì)
• happy / 高兴 (gāoxìng)
• sad / 不高兴 (bù gāoxìng)
• tired / 困 (kùn)

Ethnic Groups

91 percent of the population are Han Chinese. Other minority groups include Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities.

The People’s Republic of China officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups.

Religion

The country is officially an atheist state. The government formally recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism are recognized separately), and Islam. The breakdown in the country is as follows:

52.1 percent unaffiliated, 21.9 percent folk religion, 18.2 percent Buddhist, 5.1 percent Christian, 1.8 percent Muslim and a smaller number of other faiths.

Currency

The renminbi (RMB) is the official currency of China. However most people internationally know the currency as yuan (CNY). Essentially, the yuan is the basic unit of the renminbi, but the word is also used to refer to the Chinese currency in general.

Did You Know?

• Fortune cookies are not native to China. A worker in the Key Heong Noodle Factory in San Francisco invented them in 1920.
• Millions of acres of Chinese forest are lost each year due to chopstick production.
• In 2008, China hosted the Beijing Olympic Games and was the  first country in 112 years to fully sell out at 6.8 million tickets.
• Toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s and was for emperors only.
• The most popular hobby in China is stamp collecting.
• There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
• A full Zodiac is 12 years and a calendar cycle is 60 years.
• When you write your name in Chinese, you put your family name before your first name.
• Many historians believe soccer evolved from the ancient  Chinese game of t’su chu.
• Red symbolizes happiness and good fortune for the Chinese.
• China holds about one-fifth of the world’s population.
• Despite its size, all of China is in the same time zone.
• The Great Wall of China is longest man made structure in the world, totaling 21,196 kilometers (13,171 miles). That means it would take three to six months just to walk along the main section of the wall!