China, (People's Republic of China), is situated in
eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in
the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square
kilometers, or one-fifteenth of the world's land mass. It begins from the
confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers in the east to the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region in the west, about
5,200 kilometers apart; and from the midstream of the Heilong River north of
Mohe in the north to the southernmost
island Zengmu'ansha in the South China Sea about 5,500 kilometers apart.
China isn't a country - it's a different world. Unless you have a
couple of years and unlimited patience, it's best to follow a loose itinerary
here, such as following the Silk Road route, sailing down the Yangzi River, or
exploring the Dr Seuss landscape of Guangxi Province.
China, a land of beauty and fascination, tempts adventurous
travelers all over the world. She is a massive country, covering 6,000,000
square miles and spanning 60 longitudinal degrees. She has such an infinite
variety of people, enchanting natural landscape, brilliant history, a culture
that is among the most ancient in the world and fascinating destinations that a
visitor can be almost as bewildered as he is bewitched.
From shop-till-you-drop metropolises to the epic grasslands of Inner
Mongolia, China is a land of cultural and geographic schisms. It's not that it
has completely done away with its Maoist past - it's more that the yin of
revolutionary zeal is being balanced by the yang of economic pragmatism.
The border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and the
coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the
Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China seas. The Bohai Sea is
the inland sea of China.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square meters, the
largest is Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, and the
second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands are the southernmost island group of
China.
Mandarin Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo [central
glorious people's united country; i.e., people's republic], officially People's
Republic of China, country (2000 pop. 1,295,000,000), 9,561,000
sq km. The most populous country in the world, China has a 6,400-km coast that fronts on the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the
South China Sea. It is elsewhere bounded on the east by Russia and North Korea,
on the north by Russia and Mongolia, on the west by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and on the south by India, Nepal, Bhutan,
Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. China's capital is Beijing; Shanghai is its largest
city.
China may be divided into the following geographic regions: the
12,000-ft-high (3,660-m) Tibetan plateau, bounded in the N by the Kunlun
mountain system; the Tarim and Dzungarian basins of Xinjiang, separated by the
Tian Shan; the vast Inner Mongolian tableland; the eastern highlands and central
plain of Manchuria; and what has been traditionally called China proper. This
last region, which contains some four fifths of the country's population, falls
into three divisions. North China, which coincides with the Huang He (Yellow
River) basin and is bounded in the S by the Qingling Mts., includes the loess
plateau of the northwest, the N China plain, and the mountains of the Shandong
peninsula. Central China, watered by the Chang (Yangtze) River, includes the
basin of Sichuan, the central Chang lowlands, and the Chang delta. South China
includes the plateau of Yunnan and Guizhou and the valleys of the Xi and Pearl
rivers.
To the extent that a general statement about the climate of such a large
country can be made, China may be described as wet in the summer and dry in the
winter. Regional differences are found in the highlands of Tibet, the desert and
steppes of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, and in China proper. There the Qingling
Mts. are the major dividing range not only between semiarid N China and the more
humid central and S China but also between the grain-growing economy of the
north and the rice economy of the south.
China's climate varies from bitter cold in winter to unbearable
heat in summer. The Yangtze River serves as China's official dividing line
between north and south. Given the size and varied landscape of the country,
there is no one time in the year when Chinese weather is ideal. Of course, the
warmest areas in winter are to be found in the South and Southwest, such as
Sichuan, Banna in Yunnan, and Hainan Island. In summer the coolest spots are in
the far northeast.