Location and Surroundings:

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

Longitudes and Latitudes:

Centered around 35 00 N, 105 00 E

Area Size:

Total: 9,596,960 sq km, slightly smaller than the US. The world’s 4^th largest country
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km

Terrain:

Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Elevations:

Lowest point: Turpan Basin -154 m below sea level
Highest point: The peak Mt. Qomolangma of Mount Everest -8,848 m

Four major highlands:

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Inner Mongolia Plateau, Loess Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau

Four major basins:

Tarim, Junggar, Qaidam and Sihuan

Three major plains:

Northeast China, North China and the Middle and Lower Yangtze River

Major rivers:

River total length: 220,000km

Yangtze River, Yellow River, Heilongjiang, Songhuajiang, Pearl, Laohe, Haihe, Huahe, Lancangjiang, Nujiang, Yarlu Zangbo, Tarim

Bordering Countries:

Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia (northeast and northwest), Tajikistan, Vietnam
Total length of boundaries: 22,117 km. Regional borders: Hong Kong, Macau

Coastline:

14,500 km

Climate:

Extremely diverse by regions; tropical in south to subarctic in the north

Natural resources:

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

Irrigated land:

525,800 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:

frequent typhoons; damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence

Environment - current issues:

Air pollution from reliance on coal produces acid rain; water shortages particularly in the north; water pollution; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; etc.

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, 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: none of the selected agreements