China

Capital	Beijing
Official Language	Chinese Mandarin
People's Republic Declared	1 October 1949
Area	9,596,960 km²
Population	1,317,000,000
Currency	Renminbi RMB¥ (CNY)
IDD Code	+86

	Artsy Bitz Studio by Tina Lee Degreef. Enter HERE [Artsy Bitz Studio] to find out more		Looking for any suitable photos for yourself, business, book publication or etc? Click HERE [Boon's Gallery] to purchase
	Visit Shaun's blog about his mountain adventures here		Visit Shaun's blog about his running escapades here

Thinking of having better fitness? Click HERE [Addicted To Fitness] to find out more

China is called "Zhong Guo" in Mandarin. The first character zhông means "central" or "middle" while guó means "country" or "region". The term is commonly translated into English as "the Central Kingdom", based on the archaic meaning of the term Zhong Guo as "center part [of the world]". Beijing, its Capital and Shanghai the largest city of China then follow by Tianjin.

The greater part of the country is mountainous. Its principal ranges are the Tien Shan, the Kunlun chain, and the Trans-Himalaya. In the southwest is Tibet, which China annexed in 1950. The Gobi Desert lies to the north. China proper consists of three great river systems: the Yellow River (Huang He), 2,109 mi (5,464 km) long; the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), the third-longest river in the world at 2,432 mi (6,300 km); and the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang), 848 mi (2,197 km) long.