About ChinaChina Located in the east on the Asian continent on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, the Capital City of Beijing (peking) city, 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.China BeijingFive-star red flag, length and width proportion: 3:2. March of the Volunteers (lines: Arise, those who do not want to be slaves! We will use our flesh and blood to build another Great Wall. China has reached the brink of national collapse. All the people have been making their last outcry. Arise! Arise! Arise! All our hearts become one. Let us face the angry guns. March on! Let us face the angry guns. March on! March on! March on! On!) October 1, the country was founded in 1949.
High in its west and low in its east: mountain areas 33.3%, plateaus 26%, basins 18.8%, plains 12% and hills 9.9%. Most of the country in the temperate zone, although geographically the country stretches from the tropical and subtropical zones in the south to the frigid zone in the north. China has a great variety of wildlife, over 4,400 vertebrates, more than 100 rare species of the world: the giant panda, the golden monkey, the white-lipped deer, the South China Tiger, Crossoplilon mantchuricum, the white-flag dolphin, the Chinese alligator, and the crowned crane. China has a great variety of plants, 32,000 species of higher plants, including nearly all the major kinds of vegetation found in the frigid and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere. China carried out its fifth national population census on November 1, 2000. It has a population of 1,295.33 million. Of which: the total population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (excluding Jinmen and Mazu islands of Fujian Province hereafter) and of servicemen on the mainland of China was 1,265.83 million; the population of Hong Kong SAR was 6.78 million; the population of Macao SAR was 440 thousand; the population of Taiwan Province and of Jinmen, Mazu and a few other islands of Fujian Province was 22.28 million. Compared with the population of 1,133.68 million from the 1990 population census (with zero hour of July 1, 1990 as the reference time), the total population of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and the servicemen of the mainland of China increased by 132.15 million persons, or 11.66 percent over the past 10 years and 4 months. The average annual growth was 12.79 million persons, or a growth rate of 1.07 percent. 71 years old by the end of 2000. The males: 51.63%, the females: 48.37%; people aged below 14: 22.89%; people aged 15-64: 70.15%; people aged above 65: 6.96%; urban population: 36.09%; rural population: 63.91%. Of the 56 ethnic groups in China, the Hui and Manchu use the same languages as Han people, while the rest of groups have their own spoken and written languages. New Year's Day (January 1), the Spring Festival (the New Year's Day by Chinese lunar calendar), International Labor Day (May 1), and the National Day (October 1). Among the 5,400 islands, Taiwan Island (about 36,000 square km) is the largest, Hainan Island (about 34,000 square km) the second. Among the 19 mountains over 7,000 meters high in the world, seven are in China. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world", has many high mountains. The Himalayas, with an average elevation of 6,000 meters, have the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, 8,848 meters above sea level. The canyon on the Yalu Tsangpo River, the world's largest, 504.6 km in length and 6,009 meters in depth.
The Grand Canal, 1,801 km long, the longest man-made river in the world. Its cutting began in the fifth century BC. The Poyang Lake on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is China's largest freshwater lake; the Qinghai Lake on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the country's largest salt lake. Agriculture IntroductionIn 1949, China’s grain output was 113.18 million tons, and that of cotton 444,000 tons; the agricultural foundation was fragile. Between 1950 and 1953, the Chinese government carried out a wide-ranging land reform in the rural areas. Peasants with little or no land were given land of their own, greatly arousing their enthusiasm for production. During the period of the First Five-Year Plan (1953-57), the yearly gross output of agriculture increased by 4.5 percent, on average. This period was the first “golden time” for China’s agricultural development. From 1958 to 1978, China’s agriculture developed slowly. During this period, China practiced the cooperative and people’s commune systems in rural areas successively, which emphasized the effectiveness of centralized and unified management, but reduced the efficiency of resource utilization and allocation. As a result, the peasants’ enthusiasm for production was greatly dampened. In this period, the gross agricultural output value increased by only 2.3 percent, on average, every year. The rise of township enterprises has promoted the all-round development of the agricultural economy. In 1987, the gross output value of township enterprises exceeded that of farming; in 1990, the township enterprises earned 13 billion US dollars from exports, about 23.8 percent of the national gross value of foreign exchange earned from exports. Thousands of towns are playing an important role in eliminating the differences between urban and rural areas, and promoting the integration of urban and rural areas. The per capita net income of farmers increased from 134 yuan in 1978 to 2,210 yuan in 1999.
Culture & Art IntroductionThe Chinese government has spared no effort to promote economic, cultural and educational progress in the areas inhabited by minority people, and to improve the material, cultural and living standards of the broad masses of the minority people while attaching great importance to respecting their religious beliefs and customs, and protecting their cultural legacy.
|
|
|