The People's Republic of China (PRC) ( listen), commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.29 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population. It is a socialist republic ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system and has jurisdiction over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two largely self-governing Special Administrative Regions. China's capital is Beijing. At 9.6-million square kilometres, the People's Republic of China is the world's third or fourth largest country by area. Its landscape is diverse with forest steppes and deserts (the Gobi and Taklamakan) in the dry north near Mongolia and Russia's Siberia, and subtropical forests in the wet south close to Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The terrain in the west is rugged and high altitude, with the Himalayas and the Tian Shan mountain ranges forming China's natural borders with India and Central Asia. In contrast, China's eastern seaboard is low-lying and has a 14,500-kilometre long coastline bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea and on the east by the East China Sea beyond which lies Korea and Japan. (via Wikipedia)

About People's Republic of China

Capital: Beijing

Language: Simplified Chinese (written);
Simplified Chinese (written)

As Of: Jan 1, 2006

Largest City: Shanghai

Population Density (sq mi): 363

GDP (nominal): $4.222 trillion

Time Zone: China Standard Time

Area: 3704427

GDP (per capita PPP) Rank: 2nd
99th

GDP (nominal per capita): $3,180

GDP (nominal) Rank: 3rd

GDP (nominal per capita) Rank: 105th

As of: Jan 1, 2008

Legislature: National People's Congress

Government type: Socialist state
Single party communist state

As of: Jan 1, 2008

ccTLD: .cn

Currency (code): CNY

Latitude: N

Longitude: E

Country Calling Code: +86

Currency: Yuan

Latitude (Minutes): 55

Longitude (Minutes): 23

Latitude (Degrees): 39

As of: Jan 1, 2007

HDI Rank: 94th

HDI: 0.762

Gini: 47.0

Longitude (Degrees): 116

Census Date: Jan 1, 2000

As Of: Jan 1, 2007

Ethnic groups: 91.9% Han, 1.30% Zhuang, 0.86% Manchu, 0.79% Uyghur, 0.79% Hui, 0.72% Miao, 0.65% Yi, 0.62% Tujia, 0.47% Mongols, 0.44% Tibetan people, 0.26% Buyei, 0.15% Korean, 1.05% other

Anthem: "March of the Volunteers"

Conventional Long Name: People's Republic of China

Demonym: Chinese

Name: the People's Republic of China

Total Population: 1,321,851,888

Drives On: right, except for Hong Kong & Macau

GDP (per capita PPP): $7.89 trillion