China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or one-fifteenth of the world's landmass. It begins from the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli Rivers (135 degrees and 5 minutes east longitude) in the east to the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (73 degrees and 40 minutes east longitude) in the west, with about 5,200 kilometers apart. In the north, it starts from the midstream of the Heilong River north of Mohe (53 degrees and 31 minutes north latitude) and stretches south to the southernmost island Zengmu'ansha in the South China Sea (4 degrees and 15 minutes north latitude), with about 5,500 kilometers in between.
The Chinese border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and its coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the Bohai Sea, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China Seas. The Bohai Sea is China’s only inland sea.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square meters, the largest being Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, and the second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands are the southernmost island group of China.
Map is from the CIA World Factbook
Although most of China lies within the temperate zone, climate varies greatly with topography. Minimum winter temperatures range from –27° C (–17° F ) in northern Manchuria to –1° C (30° F ) in the North China Plain and southern Manchuria, 4° C (39° F ) along the middle and lower valleys of the Yangtze, and 16° C (61° F ) farther south. Although summer temperatures are more nearly uniform in southern and central China, with a July mean of about 27° C (81° F ), northern China has a shorter hot period and the nights are much cooler.
Rain falls mostly in summer. Precipitation is heaviest in the south and southeast, with Guangzhou receiving more than 200 cm (80 in), and diminishes to about 60 cm (25 in) in north and northeast China, and to less than 10 cm (4 in) in the northwest. Approximately 31% of the total land area is classified as arid, 22% as semiarid, 15% as subhumid, and 32% as humid.
People & Culture
China is wonderous and awe-inspiring. It has a history of five thousand years. Chinese culture is rich and profound. It has the richest historical records. Chinese have been most historically-minded. The richness of Chinese culture also finds expression in its diversity and pluralism. Hundreds of ethnic groups have existed in China throughout its history. The largest ethnic group in China by far is the Han.
All these peoples have their own legacies, but they share the same legacy as well. They form the Chinese nation.
The diversity and pluralism of Chinese culture is a tremendous asset. Increasing value is attached to this national treasure.
Today there are 56 distinct ethnic groups in China. In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group is the Han Chinese. Throughout history, many groups have been assimilated into neighboring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. At the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and regional cultural traditions. The term Zhonghua Minzu has been used to describe the notion of Chinese nationalism in general. Much of the traditional cultural identity within the community has to do with distinguishing the family name.
Many giant western intellectuals have looked up to Chinese culture. Enlightment fathers drew inspiration from Confucianism. Some contemporary philosophers and psychiatrists have found cures for western ills in Chinese mysticism, Confucian ethics and Taoist non-government.
Confucianism is the cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture. It is a complete ideological system created by Confucius, based on the traditional culture of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Confucianism has dominated a feudal society that in essence has lasted 2000 years and for that reason its influence over the history, social structure and the people of China cannot be overlooked.
Language
Most languages in China belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by 29 ethnicities. There are also several major linguistic groups within the Chinese language itself. The most spoken varieties are Mandarin (spoken by over 70% of the population), Wu, Yue (Cantonese), Min, Xiang, Gan, and Hakka. Non-Sinitic languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Zhuang (Thai), Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur (Turkic), Hmong and Korean.
Classical Chinese was the written standard in China for thousands of years, and allowed for written communication between speakers of various unintelligible languages and dialects in China. Vernacular Chinese or baihua is the written standard based on the Mandarin dialect first popularized in Ming dynasty novels, and was adopted (with significant modifications) during the early 20th century as the national vernacular. Classical Chinese is still part of the high school
curriculum and is thus intelligible to some degree to many Chinese.