China is one of the biggest countries in the world. It has an area of about 9.6 million square kilometers which comprises about 6.5 per cent of the world total land area, and its population of 1.24 billion accounts for more than twenty per cent of the world's population.

China has the world's oldest continuous civilization, and many of the world's most revered treasures, such as the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and Terra-Cotta Warriors.World Travel Organization(WTO) predicts that by year 2020, China will be the number one travel destination in the world.

The following offers a fast and ready reference of basic China facts as a guide for visitors and others.

Full Country Name: The People's Republic of China
Population: 1.24 billion
Area: 9,600,000 million square km
Language: Mandarin Chinese(Putonghua)
Capital City: Beijing
National Day: October 1
National flag: Red flag with five stars
National emblem: Tiananmen Gatetower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below
Largest city: Shanghai
Ethnic Groups: 93% Han, 7% Other(including Zhuang, Hui, Uygur, Yi, Miao, Manchu, Tibetan, Mongol, Tujia, Bouyei, Korean, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hani, Kazakh, Dai, and Li minorities)
Currency: Renminbi (RMB) yuan
Exchange Rate: 8.3 yuan=US$1
Weights and Measures: metric system
Gross Domestic Product: 8,940.4 billion yuan (at the end of 2000) .
Topography: High in its west and low in its east: mountain areas 33.3%, plateaus 26%, basins 18.8%, plains 12% and hills 9.9%
Islands: Among the 5,400 islands, Taiwan Island (about 36,000 square km) is the largest, Hainan Island (about 34,000 square km) the second
Mountains: Among the 19 mountains over 7,000 meters high in the world, seven are in China. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world", has many high mountains. The Himalayas, with an average elevation of 6,000 meters, have the world's highest peak Mount Qomolangma, 8,848 meters above sea level.
Rivers: The Yangtze River, 6,300 km long, the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon. The Yellow River, the second longest in China, stretching 5,464 km.
Climate: Most of the country in the temperate zone, although geographically the country stretches from the tropical and subtropical zones in the south to the frigid zone in the north.
Time: Beijing Time. Beijing is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, 12 hours ahead of New York, and 15 hours ahead of San Francisco. All time within China is based on Beijing time, and there are no adjustments for seasons or longitude.