Location:
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and
South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
Geographic coordinates:
35 00 N, 105 00 E
Map references:
Asia
Area:
total:
9,596,960 sq km
land:
9,326,410 sq km
water:
270,550 sq km
Area—comparative:
slightly smaller than the US
Land boundaries:
total:
22,143.34 km
border countries:
Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India
3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km,
Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523
km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414
km, Vietnam 1,281 km
Coastline:
14,500 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone:
24 nm
continental shelf:
200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
territorial sea:
12 nm
Climate:
extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain:
mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills
in east
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Turpan Pendi -154 m
highest point:
Mount Everest 8,848 m
Natural resources:
coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony,
manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium,
hydropower potential (world's largest)
Land use:
arable land:
10%
permanent crops:
0%
permanent pastures:
43%
forests and woodland:
14%
other:
33% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land:
498,720 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards:
frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts);
damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts
Environment—current issues:
air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance
on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly in the north;
water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated loss of
one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic
development; desertification; trade in endangered species
Environment—international agreements:
party to:
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, 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:
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban
Geography—note:
world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US)
Source: CIA World Fact Book
