CHINA
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LAND
9.6 million km2; 11% cultivated, sown area extended by multicropping, 78% desert, waste, or urban (32% of this area consists largely of denuded wasteland, plains, rolling hills, and basins from which about 3% could be reclaimed), 8% forested; 2%-3% inland water
Land boundaries: 24,000 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm
Coastline: 14,500 km
PEOPLE
Population: 1,055,304,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.3%
Nationality: noun—Chinese (sing., pl.); adjective—Chinese
Ethnic divisions: 94% Han Chinese; 6% Chuang, Uighur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Pu-I, Korean, and numerous lesser nationalities
Religion: most people, even before 1949, have been pragmatic and eclectic, not seriously religious; most important elements of religion are Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, ancestor worship; about 2%-3% Muslim, 1% Christian
Language: Chinese (Mandarin mainly; also Cantonese, Wu, Fukienese, Amoy, Hsiang, Kan, Hakka dialects), and minority languages (see ethnic divisions above)
Literacy: at least 25%
Labor force: est. 400 million (mid-1979); 75% agriculture, 25% other; shortage of skilled labor (managerial, technical, mechanics, etc.); surplus of unskilled labor
GOVERNMENT
Official name: People's Republic of China
Type: Communist state; real authority lies with Communist Party's Political Bureau; the National People's Congress, in theory the highest organ of government, usually ratifies the party's programs; the State Council actually directs the government
Capital: Beijing (Peking)
Political subdivisions: 21 provinces, 3 centrally governed municipalities, and 5 autonomous regions
Legal system: before 1966, a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely criminal; little ostensible development of uniform code of administrative and civil law; highest judicial organ is Supreme People's Court, which reviews lower court decisions; laws and legal procedure subordinate to priorities of party policy; whole system largely suspended during Cultural Revolution but has been revived as part of the current regime's efforts to rationalize the state and to reintroduce socialist legality; regime has attempted to write civil and Communist codes; new legal codes in effect 1 January 1980
National holiday: National Day, 1 October
Branches: before 1966 control was exercised by Chinese Communist Party, through State Council, which supervised more than 60 ministries, commissions, bureaus, etc., all technically under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; this system broke down under Cultural Revolution pressures but has been largely restored
Government leader: Premier of State Council ZHAO Ziyang; head of state, Chairman of NPC Standing Committee, YE Jianying; government subordinate to Central Committee of CCP
Suffrage: universal over age 18
Elections: elections held for People's Congress representatives at county level
Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by Hu Yaobang; Hu is Chairman of Central Committee and was elected at the party's 6th plenum in June 1981; Central Committee was formed at the 11th Party Congress, held in August 1977
Communists: about 39 million party members in 1981
Other political or pressure groups: the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remains a major force, although many military officers who acquired a wide range of civil political-administrative duties during the Cultural Revolution have been either returned to primarily military positions or removed; many veteran civilian officials, in eclipse since the Cultural Revolution, have been reinstated; mass organizations, such as the trade unions and the youth league, have been rebuilt
Member of: FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ITU, Red Cross, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, other international bodies
ECONOMY
GNP: $552 billion (1980), $538 per capita
Agriculture: main crops—rice, corn, wheat, miscellaneous grains, oilseed, cotton; agriculture mainly subsistence; grain imports 13.7 million metric tons in 1980
