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China at a
Glance
Name
People’s Republic of China
(Zhonghua
Renmin Gongheguo)
Climate
Continental
in the north; sub-tropical in the south
Location
East
Asia, latitude 18 - 53 degrees N, longitude 73 - 135 degrees E
Area
9,597,995
sq km (incl. Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao)
Capital
Beijing,
metropolitan area: 13.82 million inhabitants, plus roughly three
million migrant workers
Population
Estimated to be 1.28 billion (close of 2002), approx. 92% Han
Chinese, plus 55 minority groups (Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao,
Uighur, Yi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Buyi, Korean, et cetera);
Annual population growth: 1.1%
Language
Modern
standard Chinese (Putonghua), Chinese dialects; various
minority languages (Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur, Turkic languages,
Korean)
Religions/churches
Atheist
state ideology; Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Protestant and
Roman Catholic churches
National day
1
October
Independence
Establishment of the People’s Republic of China on
October 1
1949
System of Socialist
People’s
Republic
government
Head of State President Hu Jintao (since 2003, term of
office five years), simultaneously Secretary of the Communist
Party of China
Head of government
Prime Minister (Chairman of the State Council) Wen Jiabao (since
2003, term of office five years), member of the Politburo of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, since 2003, member of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Parliament
National People’s Congress: unicameral, 2,989 deputies, elected by
the People’s Congresses of the Provinces in 2003 for a period of
five years;
Chairman
Wu
Bangguo (member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China);
The National People’s Congress elects the State President,
Vice-President, and the Prime Minister, among others.
Governing party
Communist Party of the People’s Republic of China: Central
Committee (193 members) with the Politburo (22 members) and its
Standing Committee (7 members); eight other parties (in practice
insignificant) are joined with representatives of the mass
organisations and the minorities in the Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference as a so-called front of unity under the
leadership of the Communist Party of China.
Opposition
There is no parliamentary opposition.
Administrative Central Government in Beijing, 22 provinces, five
autonomous
structure: regions and four municipalities directly administered
by the Government (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing), two
Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong, Macao)
Trade union
One
single communist trade union, the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions
Memberships
United
Nations, World Bank, IMF,
WTO,
many specialised international organizations
Principle media
Television:
China Central Television (CCTV)
Radio
People’s Radio
Press
People’s,
business, legal, labour, and youth papers, Guangming Ribao and
China Daily (English)
GDP 2001
USD 1237 billion (without Hong Kong)
Per-capita GDP
Approx.
USD 970
Currency
Renminbi (RMB):
1 yuan = 10 jiao; 1 jiao = 10 fen
Current Exchange rate with U.S. dollar
$100 USD
=
about 830 yuan RMB;
currency pegged on value of US dollar
Denominations include 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1 yuan
Note: In Chinese ‘Renminbi’ means ‘People’s Currency’
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