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Serving Students at Santa Ana College and Santiago Canyon College CHINA Map

Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam 

Geographic coordinates: 35 00 N, 105 00 E 

Map references: Asia 

Area: 
total: 9,596,960 sq km 
land: 9,326,410 sq km 
water: 270,550 sq km 

Comparative: slightly smaller than the U.S. 

Land boundaries: 
total: 22,143.34 km 

border countries: 
Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km 

Coastline: 14,500 km 

Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east 

Elevation extremes: 
lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m 
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.) 

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) 

Land use: 
arable land: 10% 
permanent crops: 0% 
permanent pastures: 43% 
forests and woodland: 14% 
other: 33% (1993 est.) 

Irrigated land: 498,720 sq km (1993 est.) 

Natural hazards: frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis;
earthquakes; droughts 

Environment - current issues: air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade in endangered species 

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban 

Geography - note: world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US)

Geography

China is slightly larger in area than the U.S.  Only 10% of all China is suitable for agriculture; the greater part of the country is mountainous.  China is bounded to the north by Russia and Mongolia; to the east by North Korea, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea; to the south by Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal; and to the west by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.  China has a varied terrain ranging from high plateaux in the west to flatlands in the east; mountains take up almost one-third of the land.  The most notable high mountain ranges are the Himalayas, the Altai Mountains, the Tien Shan Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains.  On the border with Nepal is the 8848m-high (29,198ft) Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest).  In the west is the Qinghai/Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation of 4000m (13,200ft), is known as 'the Roof of the World'.  At the base of the Tien Shan Mountains is the Turpan Depression or Basin, China's lowest area, 154m (508ft) below sea level at the lowest point.  China has many great river systems, notably the Yellow (Huang He) and Yangtze Kiang (Chang Jiang).

Size:  Area about 9.6 million square kilometers; east to west distance about 5,000 kilometers, from the Heilong Jiang (Amur River) to Pamir Mountains in Central Asia; north to south distance approximately 4,050 kilometers, from Heilongjiang Province to Hainan Island in south, and another 1,450 kilometers further south to Zengmu Shoal, territorial claim off north coast of
Malaysia. 

Topography:  Main topographic features include Qing-Zang (Qinghai-Tibet) Plateau 4,000 meters above sea level and Kunlun, Qin Ling, and Greater Hinggan ranges.  Longest of country's numerous rivers, Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and Huang He (Yellow River), extend for some 6,300 and 5,400 kilometers, respectively.

Capital: Beijing, 8,450,000 (metropolitan area) (2000 est.)

Largest cities: (1990 est.)
Shanghai (2000 est.)  11,800,000 (metropolitan area)
Hong Kong (Xianggang) (2000 est.)  6,750,000 (metropolitan area)
Tianjin (Tientsin) (2000 est.)  5,350,000 (metropolitan area)
Shenyang (Mukden)  4,669,737
Wuhan  4,040,113
Guangzho  3,935,193
Chungking (Chongquing)  3,127,178
Haerbin  2,990,921
Chengdu  2,954,872
Xian  2,872,539

Map

Sources: 
Central Intelligence Agency