Overview of Shanghai & China
China summary
Country name:
- conventional long form: People's Republic of China
- conventional short form: China
- local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
- local short form: Zhongguo
- abbreviation: PRC
Government type: Communist state
Capital: Beijing
Administrative divisions:
- 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural),
- 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural),
- 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural)
- provinces: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang
- autonomous regions: Guangxi, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Xizang (Tibet)
- municipalities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin
Independence:
- 221 BC (unification under the Qin or Ch'in Dynasty);
- 1 January 1912 (Manchu Dynasty replaced by a Republic);
- 1 October 1949 (People's Republic established)
National holiday: Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, 1 October (1949)
Exchange rate on 1st January 2006;
- 1 Euro = 9.76 CNY ; 1 CNY = 0.102 Euro
- 1 Australian Dollar = 5.92 CNY ; 1 CNY = 0.169 Australian Dollar
- 1 USD = 8.06 CNY ; 1 CNY = 0.124 USD
- 1 Hong Kong Dollar = 1.04 CNY ; CNY = 0.96 HKD
Time Zone; GMT +8
Economic Indicators [ Annual data 2005 Historical averages 2001-05 ]
- Population; 1,307,400,000
- Population growth; 0.6%
- GDP; USD1,911.7 billion
- Real GDP growth; 8.7%
- GDP [purchasing power parity] USD 8,116.1 billion
- Real domestic demand growth; 9.7%
- Inflation 1.3%
- GDP per head; USD1,462
- GDP per head (purchasing power parity) ; USD6,208
- Current-account balance (% of GDP) ; 3.6%
- Exchange rate Rmb:USD; 8.2
- FDI inflows (% of GDP) ; 3.4%
Annual data 2003
- Government consumption (% of GDP); 12.90
- Budget balance (% of GDP); -2.50
- Public debt (% of GDP); 29.60
- Labour costs per hour ; USD 0.92
- Recorded unemployment; 10.10%
- Current-account balance/GDP; 2.20
- Foreign-exchange reserves; USD 401,036 million
China people
- Population: 1,306,313,812 (July 2005 est.)
- Age structure:
- 0-14 years: 21.4% (male 148,134,928/female 131,045,415)
- 15-64 years: 71% (male 477,182,072/female 450,664,933)
- 65 years and over: 7.6% (male 47,400,282/female 51,886,182) (2005 est.)
- Median age:
- total: 32.26 years
- male: 31.87 years
- female: 32.67 years (2005 est.)
- Population growth rate: 0.58% (2005 est.)
- Birth rate: 13.14 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
- Death rate: 6.94 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
- Net migration rate: -0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
- Sex ratio:
- at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female
- total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2005 est.)
- Infant mortality rate:
- total: 24.18 deaths/1,000 live births
- male: 21.21 deaths/1,000 live births
- female: 27.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)
- Life expectancy at birth:
- total population: 72.27 years
- male: 70.65 years
- female: 74.09 years (2005 est.)
- Total fertility rate: 1.72 children born/woman (2005 est.)
- Nationality:
- noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
- adjective: Chinese
- Ethnic groups:
- Han 91.9%,
- Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other ethnicities or nationalities 8.1%
- Religions:
- Daoist (Taoist),Buddhist,Muslim 1%-2%,
- Christian 3%-4%
- note: officially atheist (2002 est.)
- Languages:
- Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect),
- Yue (Cantonese),
- Wu (Shanghaiese),
- Minbei (Fuzhou),
- Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese),
- Xiang,
- Gan,
- Hakka dialects,
- minority languages
- Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- total population: 90.9% male: 95.1%
- female: 86.5% (2002)
People
The largest ethnic group is the Han, who constitute about 91.9% of the total population.
The remaining 8.1% are Zhuang (16 million), Manchu (10 million), Hui (9 million), Miao (8 million), Uygur (7 million), Yi (7 million), Mongolian (5 million), Tibetan (5 million), Buyi (3 million), Korean (2 million), and other ethnic minorities.
Language
There are seven major Chinese languages, with many dialects, and several non-Chinese languages.
Mandarin Chinese (or Putonghua), the predominant language, is spoken by over 50% of the population. It is taught in most of the schools and is the medium of government. About two-thirds of the Han ethnic group are native speakers of Mandarin; the rest, concentrated in southwest and southeast China, speak one of six other major languages.
Non-Chinese languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and other Turkic languages (in Xinjiang), and Korean (in the northeast).
The Pinyin System of Romanization
On January 1, 1979, the Chinese Government officially adopted the pinyin system for spelling Chinese names and places in Roman letters. A system of Romanization invented by the Chinese, pinyin has long been widely used in China on street and commercial signs as well as in elementary Chinese textbooks as an aid in learning Chinese characters. Variations of pinyin also are used as the written forms of several minority languages.
Pinyin has now replaced other conventional spellings in China's English-language publications. The U.S. Government also has adopted the pinyin system for all names and places in China. For example, the capital of China is now generally spelled "Beijing" rather than "Peking."
Religion
Religion plays a significant part in the life of many Chinese. Buddhism is most widely practiced, with an estimated 100 million adherents. Traditional Daoism also is practiced. Official figures indicate there are 20 million Muslims, 5 million Catholics, and 15 million Protestants; unofficial estimates are much higher. While the Chinese constitution affirms religious toleration, the Chinese Government places restrictions on religious practice outside officially recognized organizations. Only two Christian organizations - a Catholic church without official ties to Rome and the "Three-Self-Patriotic" Protestant church - are sanctioned by the Chinese Government. Unauthorized churches have sprung up in many parts of the country and unofficial religious practice is flourishing. In some regions authorities have tried to control activities of these unregistered churches. In other regions, registered and unregistered groups are treated similarly by authorities and congregations worship in both types of churches. Most Chinese Catholic bishops are recognized by the Pope, and official priests have Vatican approval to administer all the sacraments.
Population Policy
With a population officially just over 1.3 billion [but unofficially somewhat higher] and an estimated growth rate of about 0.6%, China is very concerned about its population growth and has attempted with mixed results to implement a strict birth limitation policy. China’s 2002 Population and Family Planning Law and policy permit one child per family, with allowance for a second child under certain circumstances, especially in rural areas, and with guidelines looser for ethnic minorities with small populations. Enforcement varies, and relies partly on "social compensation fees" to discourage extra births.
Officially government policy opposes forced abortion or sterilization, but forced abortion still occurs.
The government's goal is to stabilize the population in the first half of the 21st century, and current projections are that the population will peak at around 1.6 billion by 2050.