BEIJING (BP)–Following are several basic facts about China:
Name of Country: People’s Republic of China
Capital city: Beijing
Size: About 3.7 million square miles
Population: 1.3 billion
24: Number of people added to China’s population every minute
223: Number of cities with more than 1 million people
Life expectancy: 72.88 years
Ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.9 percent; Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, Yi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Buyi, Korean and other 8.1 percent
Language: 70 percent speak Mandarin; others speak dialects or sub-dialects
Literacy: 90.9 percent
Religions: Officially atheist; Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, ancestor worship, shamanism
7.4 million: Number of people who will die in China this year without hearing about Jesus
Terrain: Plains, deltas and hills in east; mountains, high plateaus and deserts in west
Climate: Tropical in south to subarctic in north
Government: Communist party-led state
President: Hu Jintao
Branches of government: Executive — president, vice president, State Council, premier. Legislative — unicameral National People’s Congress. Judicial — Supreme People’s Court
Political parties: Chinese Communist Party, 70.8 million members; eight minor parties under communist supervision
Suffrage: Universal at 18
GDP (2006): $2.68 trillion
Work force (2006, 798 million): Agriculture and forestry 45 percent; industry 2 percent; services 31 percent
Currency: Yuan
Exchange rates: Yuan per U.S. dollar — 6.99 (May 2008)
Telephone country code: 86
Internet country code: .cu
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Compiled by The Alabama Baptist newsjournal from information obtained through the U.S. Department of State and easia.imb.org.
