GeodlyAsia
China
China covers a vast area of East Asia, from the Pacific coast to the deserts and mountains of Central Asia. It is one of the largest countries in the world by area and has about 1.4 billion people. China shares land borders with fourteen countries, as many as any other country. The capital is Beijing, while Shanghai is its largest city.
Chinese civilisation is one of the oldest in the world, with a written history going back more than three thousand years. For most of that time China was ruled by a succession of imperial dynasties, until the last emperor gave up the throne in 1912. The People’s Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949 and is governed by the Communist Party. Since the late 1970s China has become one of the world’s largest economies and a centre of global manufacturing.
The flag of China
The flag is red with five yellow five-pointed stars in the upper corner by the flagpole: one large star and four smaller stars arranged in an arc beside it.
The flag was adopted when the People’s Republic was founded in 1949. Red stands for the communist revolution, and yellow was chosen to stand out against it. The large star represents the leadership of the Communist Party, and the four smaller stars, each with one point aimed at the centre of the large star, represent the unity of the people around it.
Landscape and geography
China’s land drops in steps from west to east. In the south-west rises the Tibetan Plateau, the highest and largest plateau on Earth, bordered by the Himalayas, where Mount Everest stands on the border with Nepal. The north-west holds the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. Most people live in the lower, fertile east, along the coast and in the valleys of the great rivers.
The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia and flows from Tibet to the sea at Shanghai. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. In the north, the Yellow River gets its name from the yellow silt it carries.
Did you know?
- Despite stretching across about five geographical time zones, all of China officially uses a single time, Beijing Time.
- The Great Wall is not one wall but many, built over centuries. A national survey put the total length of all its sections at more than 20,000 kilometres.
- Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder are traditionally known as the Four Great Inventions of ancient China.
- Giant pandas live in the wild only in the mountains of central China.
Key facts
- Capital
- Beijing
- Continent
- Asia
- Population
- About 1.41 billion
- Land neighbours
- 14
- Coast
- Has a coastline
- European Union
- Not a member
- NATO
- Not a member
- Language in GeoLingo
- Chinese
Land neighbours
- Afghanistan
- Bhutan
- India
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Tajikistan
- Vietnam
China in numbers
| Population | 1,411,750,000 people |
|---|---|
| Land area | 9,388,211 km² |
| Population density | 150 people/km² |
| Total GDP | $17,790,000,000,000 |
| GDP per capita | $12,600 |
| Life expectancy | 78.2 years |
| Unemployment rate | 5.2% |
| Coastline | 14,500 km |
| Forest coverage | 23.3% |
| Human Development Index | 0.788 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites | 57 sites |
| Airports | 507 airports |
These are the figures used in GeoDecide. They are rounded and can lag behind the latest official statistics.
World rankings
Geo Sort asks you to place countries by rank. A lower number means a higher place in that category.
| Land Area | #3 |
|---|---|
| Coastline | #10 |
| FIFA Ranking (M) | #88 |
| Military Strength | #3 |
| Avg Annual Temperature | #112 |
| UNESCO Sites | #4 |
| Population Density | #75 |
| Highest Point | #1 |
Say it in Chinese
GeoLingo shows these four phrases and asks which country they belong to.
- Hello
- 你好 (Nǐ hǎo)
- Thank you
- 谢谢 (Xièxie)
- Yes
- 是 (Shì)
- Goodbye
- 再见 (Zàijiàn)
Practise China on Geodly
- Flag Drawing: The flag of China is in the Easy set. Draw it from memory and compare your drawing with the real design.
- Border Clash: Draw the border between China and Mongolia on a blank map.
- Geo Click: Find China on the map, or locate its capital, Beijing, in the capital modes.
- Geo Chain: Link countries through shared land borders. Knowing the 14 neighbours of China gives you more routes.
- GeoDecide: Compare China with other countries on the statistics listed above.
- Geo Sort: Place China in the category where its world rank is strongest.
- GeoLingo: Recognise Chinese from four short phrases and match it to China.
- Terra Tac Toe: Use China as an answer when its facts fit both the row and the column of a square.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica: China · CIA World Factbook: China