FACTS AND FIGURES

Occupying nearly the entire East-Asian landmass, China stretches for about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles from north to south and covers an area of about 3,696,100 square miles (9,572,900 square km), which is approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of the Earth. Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area only by Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe.

It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the most numerous population than any country in the world. China's land frontier is about 12,400 miles in length, and its coastline extends for some 8,700 miles. The country is bounded by Mongolia to the north; Russia and North Korea to the northeast; the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east; the South China Sea to the southeast, in the seas there are approximately more than 4,500 isles and islands; The country also borders on Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal to the south; Pakistan to the southwest; and Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakstan to the west, as well as Sikkim. In addition to the 15 countries that border directly on it, China also faces 6 countries across the sea waters : South Korea and Japan, across the Yellow Sea, and the Philippines, which lie beyond the South China Sea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Two thirds of the whole of Chinese territory are covered by mountainous ridges and massifs; some 58 percent of the land are 1,000 meters above the sea level and only 12 percent of the territory constitute the lowlands. Chinese Ch'ing-hai, (Pinyin) Qinghai, located in the Tibetan Highlands, has an average elevation of 13,000 feet (4,000 metres). One often calls it "The Roof of the World". There are more than 10 peaks there, some exceeding the height of 13,000 miles. Among them the most famous high peak in the region, Mount Everest; its most common Tibetan name, Chomolungma, means "Goddess Mother of the World" or "Goddess of the Valley." Its height is 29,028 feet (8,848 meters), plus or minus a fraction. Some 1,600 rivers run through the territory of China.

The greatest rivers are Yangtze (some 6,300 km long, the world top third in length after Amazon and the Nile), Huang Ho, Chu Chiang.The mountains of the western China give birth to other greatest rivers of the world - Inda, Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mekong. There are more than 370 major lakes in China. The atmospheric precipitations' distribution varies a great deal: in the eastern and coastline regions the annual fallout reaches 1,600mm, and in the inland regions, in the North-West - only 50 mm.

Junks (Chinese boats). China. End of the 19th century.		River coast tea plantations. Southern China. The end of the 19th century.		China. Solovieva T.