China Overview
China Brief
China attracted more than 20 million foreign tourists in 2008 with a 2.8% increase compared with that of 2007.Thanks to its brilliant culture and long history China has became the most popular tourist destination in the world and coupled with the promotion of Beijing Olympics, China will be popular with more and more foreign tourists. Trip to China is certain to be one of the most memorable and treasured vacations you've never experienced...
China History
China's culture is one of the oldest of the world.
Legend has it that the three nobles and five emperors (sanhuang wudi 
)were
the first rules of China. They're also considered as the ancestors of the
Chinese people. Of these legendary figures, some taught the Chinese to build
houses, others how to grow grain. All of them were idealized figures during
a time when mankind was first learning how to survive in the world. The
most famous two of these eight semi-deities were the emperors Yan and Huang.
Today the Chinese often refer to themselves as Yan Huang Zisun(Yan Huang
zisun 
)-descendants
of the Yan and Huang emperors.
Despite a lack of written records in prehistoric China, through rich archaeological finds, it's possible to build a picture what life was like during this period. Fossils of an ancient humanoid dating back 1.7million years were found in Yunnan Province. The Yuanmou fossils are earliest trace of homo sapiens in China. Research has shown that during the prehistoric era there were many patches of human inhabitation throughout China. Unearthed jade and pottery show the civilization of that time was technologically advanced.
XIA (22nd-17th CENTURY BC)
The Xia is the first dynasty recorded in China's history. The dynasty was established by Qi, son of Yu the great, the legendary hero who tamed the Yellow River and controlled its perennial floods. The Erlitou ruins, discovered in Henan Province, illustrate the advanced technology of Xia culture, particularly the relics of an ancient palace and point to the rule of one strong figure.
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Chinese Chronology
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China Climate
China has a marked continental monsoon climate characterized by great variety.
Most parts of China are in the northern temperate zone while parts of the
southern area are in the tropical or subtropical zone and parts of the northern
area in the Frigid Zone.
Most of China lies in the north temperature zone, characterized by a warm climate and clear division between seasons, a climate well suited for habitation. In winter, northerly winds from high latitude areas keep the northern parts cold and dry; while in summer, monsoons from eastern and southern coastal areas bring warmness and moisture.
The climate also varies with the extensive territory and various topography from region to region.
In northern China, summer is warm and short, while winter is cold and long. In southern China, summer is long, humid and hot, and the winter short and warm, with temperature rarely below freezing. In central China (the valley area along the Yangtze River), division between seasons is clear -- summer is long, hot and humid while winter, short and cold.
In northwestern China, such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, summer is dry and sweltering and winter is formidably cold. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (about 4,000 meters above sea level) in southwestern China, winter is extremely cold and summer is short and moderately warm, with little precipitation and great difference in temperature between day and night.
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China Development
MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
China is on course to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
by 2015. Already there have been spectacular results in increasing life expectancy,
and decreasing illiteracy rates and poverty. The social security system is
under reform, expanding from local services in cities and rural areas into
a nationwide network.
China's development model has been called the biggest poverty reduction campaign in the world - according to studies conducted by Qingua University, 75% of people across the world who have been lifted out of poverty in the last two decades live in China.
One reason is that the country's poverty alleviation policies preceded the Millennium Declaration. Between 1978 and 2003, 220 million Chinese rose above the poverty line. However, this success is undermined by the fact that, in 2003, the absolute number of Chinese living in poverty increased and that this number is very large - about 200 million earn less $1 per day. Furthermore, achievements on poverty are offset by regional unevenness, gender, HIV/AIDS and environmental issues which lag behind in progress and priority.
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China Geography
Located in the east of the Asian continent, on the western shore of the Pacific
Ocean, the People's Republic of China has a land area of about 9.6 million
square kilometers, and is the third largest country in the world, next only
to Russia and Canada.
From north to south, the territory of China spans over 49 latitudes, stretching from the center of the HeilongjiangRiver north of the town of Mohe to the Zengmu Reef at the southernmost tip of the Nansha. From east to west, the nation extends from the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wusuli rivers to the Pamirs.
China's coastline measures approximately 32,000 kilometers, with a flat topography, and many excellent docks and harbors, most of which are ice-free all year round. The Chinese mainland is flanked to the east and south by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas, with a total maritime area of 4.73 million square kilometers. The BohaiSea is China's continental sea, while the Yellow, East China and South China seas are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean.
A total of 5,400 islands dot China's territorial seas. The largest of these, with an area of about 36,000 square kilometers, is Taiwan, followed by Hainan with an area of 34,000 square kilometers. The Diaoyu and Chiwei islands, located to the northeast of TaiwanIsland, are China's easternmost islands.
China has many mountains, with mountainous areas (traditionally consisting of mountains, hills and rugged plateaus) making up 65% of its total land area. The proportion of various landforms is as follows: Mountains, 33%; plateaus, 26%; basins, 19%; plains, 12%; and hills, 10%.
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China Population
China is the most populous country in the world, with 1.25909 billion people
at the end of 1999, about 22 percent of the world's total. This figure does
not include many Chinese in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, TaiwanProvince
and Macao Special Administrative Region.
The population density in China is 130 people per sq km. This population, however, is unevenly distributed. Along the densely populated east coast there are more than 400 people per sq km; in the central areas, over 200; and in the sparsely populated plateaus in the west there are less than 10 people per sq km.
When New China was founded in 1949, China had a population of 541.67 million. Owing to China's stable society, rapid production development, improvement of medical and health conditions, insufficient awareness of the importance of population growth control and shortage of experience, the population grew rapidly, reaching 806.71 million in 1969. In the early 1970s, the Chinese government realized that the over-rapid population growth was harmful to economic and social development, and would cause great difficulties in the fields of employment, housing, communications and medical care; and that if China could not effectively check the over-rapid population growth, and alleviate the tremendous pressure that the population growth was exerting on land, forests and water resources, the worsening of the ecology and the environment in the coming decades would be disastrous, thus endangering the necessary conditions for the survival of humanity, and sustainable social and economic development. Then the Chinese government began implementing a family planning, population control and population quality improvement policy in accordance with China's basic conditions of being a large country with a poor economic foundation, a large population and little cultivated land, so as to promote the coordinated development of the economy, society, resources and environment. Since then birth rates have steadily declined year by year. China's birth rate dropped from 34.11 per thousand in 1969 to 15.23 per thousand at the end of 1999; and the natural growth rate decreased from 26.08 per thousand to 8.77 per thousand, thus basically realizing a change in the population reproduction type to one characterized by low-birth, low-death and low-increase rates.
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