Formal name : People's Republic of China (PRC)
Capital : Beijing
Constitution: After the founding of the PRC, four Constitutions have been formulated successively in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1982. The present Constitution was adopted in 1982 and amended four times, most recently on March 14, 2004.

Top legislative power : The National People's Congress ("NPC") and its Standing Committee. Representing the people and all levels of people's congresses in China, the NPC supervises all state-level institutions. Its powers include electing the President of China.

Head of State : President Hu Jintao elected March 15, 2003.

Top administrative body : The State Council, which is the cabinet or chief administrative body of the PRC that includes the heads of all governmental agencies. Headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Military : The People's Liberation Army ("PLA") includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Second Artillery Force. Hu Jintao is chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, the country's top military agency and commander of its armed forces.

National flag: Red flag with five stars.
National emblem : Tian'anmen Gate tower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below.
Other Symbols:

Animal: The giant Panda is considered a Chinese national treasure. Just over 1,000 survive in the wild, most of them in Sichuan Province. The giant panda is one of more than 100 species of wild animals found only in China.

Flower: China does not have an "official" national flower, but the Tree Peony can be regarded as a national favorite. The tree peony (mudan) received the most votes in an unofficial survey conducted in 1994 in every district in China asking people to select a national flower.

Bird: More bird species live in China than any other place in the world. Shaanxi Province's Red Ibis is also a national treasure. Only some 1,500 of this highly endangered bird species exist.

Tree: The oldest tree in the world is China's Gingko, which first appeared during the Jurassic Age some 160 million years ago.

National Day: Chinese celebrate October 1 as National Day in honor of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Other national holidays: Spring Festival (the celebration of Chinese New Year, generally between the last 10-day period of January and mid-February) and International Labor Day (May 1).

Land size: China has a landmass of 9,600,000 sq km , making it roughly the same area as the continental United States.

Location: In the east of the Asian continent, on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Border countries: Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

Climate: Extremely diverse; tropical in the south to subarctic in the north.

Geography: Mountains, high plateaus, and deserts in the west; plains, deltas, and hills in the east. The highest mountain in China is the highest mountain in the world: Mount Qomolangma. The mountain towers above all others at 8,848 m or 29,035 feet.

Population: China is the world's most populous country with a population estimated at about 1.3 billion by the end of 2004, one-fifth of the world's total. This figure does not include the Chinese living in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, and Taiwan Province. 

Population ethnicity: 91.6 percent of Chinese people are Han . The non-Han population includes 55 ethnic minorities, of which the major groups are the Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, Yi, Tujia, Mongolian, and Tibetan.

Religions: The number of religious worshippers in China is estimated at well over 100 million, most of whom follow Buddhism. Other major religions are Daoism, Islam and Christianity in both its Catholic and Protestant forms.

Languages: Standard and official Chinese is Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese) as well as minority languages.

Health: China provides wide access to primary health care and child immunizations. Average life expectancy was 71.8 years in 2002.

Economy: China's economy has boomed since 1978, as a result of sweeping economic reforms. GNP grew from $128 billion in 1980 to $745 billion in 1998. China's economy continues to grow rapidly, with a GDP real growth rate of 8 percent in 2002, and an annual industrial production growth rate of 11.6 percent between 1979 and 2000.

Political parties: The Communist Party of China ("CPC") is the country's sole political party in power. Hu Jintao became general secretary of the CPC at its 16th National Congress in November 2002. Founded in July 1921, the CPC today has more than 67 million members. There are eight other parties.

Top advisory body: The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC"). Representing all ethnic groups and a broad range of political and special interest groups, the CPPCC provides advice on social issues and exercises democratic supervision over the government.

Administrative divisions: China is made up of 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.  

Currency: Renminbi (RMB)/yuan