Next Step Connections - China
"A Journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step"‚ Lao Zi
Formal name : People's Republic of China (PRC)
Capital : Beijing
Head of State : President Hu Jintao elected March 15, 2003.
Border countries : Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
Climate: Extremely diverse, conditions ranging from tropical in the southern regions to sub-arctic in the north.
Population: China is the world's most populous country with a population estimated at about 1.294 billion by the end of 2003, one-fifth of the world's total. This figure does not include the Chinese living in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, and Taiwan Province.
Currency : Renminbi (RMB)/yuan
The People's Republic of China( Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population. It is a socialist republic ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system and has jurisdiction over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions.
The second largest economy in the world after the US with a GDP of over 7 trillion USD (2007) when measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. In November 2007, it became the third largest in the world after the US and Japan with a nominal GDP of 3.42 trillion USD (2007) when measured in exchange-rate terms terms. Since free market reforms in 1978 China's GDP has grown an average 9.9 percent a year
A few Facts about today's China:
- A new skyscraper goes up every other day in more than 10 cities in China
- BIGGEST CONSUMER MARKET (than US and EU combined) by 2020.
- Half of China's population is under 25 years old.
- 400 cities in China and more than 100 of them have population of more than 1 million. In 20 years this could double to 800 cities.
