China

China Google Maps is a site/tool that offers a wide range of map views (topographic, satellite, street view) and navigation options, with little effort on your part, yet efficiently. If you need to plan a trip to a new place like China, Google maps are available on desktop, mobile, or tablet. This Google maps and information page is dedicated to China, Asia (22 countries), showing its location, country facts, details about its capital city Beijing, bordering countries like Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and plenty of other information which may be interesting when you visit this Asian state.

Quick links: Google Maps China, Beijing Google maps, Driving Directions China, Printable Road Map.

About China in a nutshell

• China has the world’s oldest continuous civilization. Its recorded history began 4000 years ago, with the Shang dynasty.
• Conventional short form of the name: China
• The conventional long form of the name: Peoples Republic of China,
• Local long form: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
• Local short form: Zhongguo
• Former name(s): N/A
• Etymology: English name derives from the Qin (Chin) rulers of the 3rd century B.C., who comprised the first imperial dynasty of ancient China; the Chinese name Zhongguo translates as Central Nation or Middle Kingdom.
• The legal system in China: civil law influenced by Soviet and continental European civil law systems; legislature retains power to interpret statutes;.
• Climate: China is divided into two main climatic regions. The north and west are semiarid or arid, with extreme temperature variations. The south and east are warmer and more humid, with year-round rainfall. Winter temperatures vary with latitude, but are warmest on the subtropical southeast coast. Summer temperatures are more uniform, rising above 70°F (21°C).
• The national symbols are dragon, giant panda; national colors: red, yellow.
• Internet TLD: .cn

China is not really a country at all: a state with a European territory; it is simply another world, which has played a decisive role in developing the rest of the world since antiquity. Silk, the compass, paper, gunpowder, porcelain all came from here to the Old World. Not only is the country’s territory and population vast: in China, it is all glaze. Its deserts, the Gobi and Takla-Macan, gigantic rivers, gorges (sawmills), Ja ice, and the Yellow River carving vast loess plains seem endless.

With an average elevation of 4,000 meters, the Tibetan Plateau was already a vast solid block when the Himalayas formed 80-100 million years ago. When the Indian rock plate ‘bumped’ into it and the sediments deposited in the basin between them began to thicken and rise, it acted as the ‘capping tree’ in the geological process on this gigantic scale. China is home to the most considerable elevation difference in the world within a single country: the difference in elevation between the Turfani Depression and the Chomolungma is 9002 m.

China is Asia’s most significant World Heritage Site, with 35 natural and cultural heritage sites, including giants and legends. Among the natural heritage sites, the tropical karstic limestone cliffs of southern China and the bamboo forests of the giant panda are ‘outstanding’. The World Heritage sites span 18,000 years of China’s history, from Beijing’s caveman relics to 19th-century garden architecture. The Great Wall (visible from the moon), built to protect against invasions by the No Maas in the north, and the impressive terracotta army of more than 10 000 soldiers excavated in Xi’an, the former capital of the empire, are all here. Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, is home to the Dalai Lama’s home, Potala Palace, and the Jokhang Temple, the most prominent building complex in Tibetan Buddhism and the symbol of Tibetan self-determination.

Background

 
Chinas historical civilization dates to at least 1600 B.C., first under the Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1045-221 B.C.) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 220 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from imperialism, military defeats, and foreign occupation. It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism, and continued foreign occupation. In the late 1920s, a civil war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government led by CHIANG Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao Zedong. Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s and launched a full-scale invasion in 1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by Japan’s defeat in 1945.

The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity following the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949., MAO and the CCP established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring Chinas sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and launched agricultural, economic, political, and social policies – such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) – that cost the lives of millions of people. MAO died in 1976. Subsequent leaders DENG Xiaoping, JIANG Zemin, LI Peng, ZHU Rongji, Hu Jintao, and WIN Jiabou focused on market-oriented economic development and opening up the country to foreign trade while maintaining the rule of the Communist Party.

Since the change, China has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies, with actual gross domestic product averaging over 9% growth annually through 2018, lifting an estimated 800 million people out of poverty, and dramatically improving overall living standards. By 2011, Chinas economy was the second largest in the world. The growth, however, has created considerable social displacement, adversely affected the country’s environment, and reduced the country’s natural resources. Current leader XI Jinping has continued these policies and maintained tight political controls. Over the past decade, China has also increased its global outreach, including military deployments, participation in international organizations, and initiating a global infrastructure investment project in 2013 called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While many nations have signed on to BRI agreements, others have balked, seeing the terms as a form of neo-imperialism or debt-trap diplomacy.

Geography

 
China has a long Pacific coastline to the east, a land of substantial physical diversity. Two-thirds of the country is uplands. The southwestern mountains include Tibet, the world’s highest plateau; in the northwest, the Tien Shan Mountains separate the arid Tarim and Dzungarian basins. The rolling hills and plains of the low-lying east are home to two-thirds of the population.

Covering a vast area of eastern Asia, China is bordered by 14 countries. A one-party Communist state since 1949, it has recently become a dominant force in global manufacturing.

This state is located in Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam, under the coordinates of 35 00 N, 105 00 E, covering an area of 9,596,960 sq km with a coastline of 14,500 km. China is slightly smaller than the U.S.

China has 22,457 km of land boundaries in total, and bordering with (14 nations): Afghanistan 91 km, Bhutan 477 km, Burma 2129 km, India 2659 km, Kazakhstan 1765 km, North Korea 1352 km, Kyrgyzstan 1063 km, Laos 475 km, Mongolia 4630 km, Nepal 1389 km, Pakistan 438 km, Russia (northeast) 4133 km and Russia (northwest) 46 km, Tajikistan 477 km, Vietnam 1297 km.

Primarily mountains, high plateaus, deserts in West, plains, deltas, and hills in the east, with Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m as the highest point of China, while Turpan Pendi -154 m as the lowest point, causing a mean elevation at 1,840 m throughout the country. With a total of 9,596,960 sq km, China has 9,326,410 sq km of land and 270,550 sq km water surface area.

Major water bodies in the country: Dongting Hu – 3,100 sq km; Poyang Hu – 3,350 sq km; Hongze Hu – 2,700 sq km; Tai Hu – 2,210 sq km; Hulun Nur – 1,590 (freshwater lake), Quinghai Hu – 4,460 sq km; Nam Co – 2,500 sq km; Siling Co – 1,860 sq km; Tangra Yumco – 1,400 sq km; Bosten Hu 1,380 sq km (saltwater lake) while the major rivers are: Yangtze – 6,300 km, Huang He – 5,464 km, Amur river source (shared with Mongolia and Russia) – 4,444 km, Mekong river source (shared with Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) – 4,350 km, Brahmaputra river source (shared with India and Bangladesh) – 3,969 km, Indus river source (shared with India and Pakistan) – 3,610 km, Salween river source (shared with Thailand and Burma) – 3,060 km, Irrawaddy river source (shared with Burma) – 2,809 km, Pearl (shared with Vietnam) – 2,200 km, Red river source (shared with Vietnam) – 1,149 km.

The significant watersheds for China are Pacific Ocean drainage: Amur (1,929,955 sq km), Huang He (944,970 sq km), Mekong (805,604 sq km), Yangtze (1,722,193 sq km) Indian Ocean drainage: Brahmaputra (651,335 sq km), Ganges (1,016,124 sq km), Indus (1,081,718 sq km), Irrawaddy (413,710 sq km), Salween (271,914 sq km) Arctic Ocean drainage: Ob (2,972,493 sq km) Internal (endorheic basin) drainage: Tarim Basin (1,152,448 sq km), Amu Darya (534,739 sq km), Syr Darya (782,617 sq km), Lake Balkash (510,015 sq km).

The world’s fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and the U.S.) and the most major country is situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world’s tallest peak above sea level.

The climate in China is as follows: Extremely diverse, tropical in south to subarctic in north.

When you visit China, the natural hazards shall be considered: Frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence volcanism: china contains some historically active volcanoes, including Changbaishan (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or Paektu-san), Hainan Dao, and Kunlun although most have been relatively inactive in recent centuries.

The following major health-threatening issues shall be considered when visiting China: degree of risk: high (2020), bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis.

Current environmental issues affecting the Chinese people: air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain; China is the worlds largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels; water shortages, particularly in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; coastal destruction due to land reclamation, industrial development, and aquaculture; deforestation and habitat destruction; poor land management leads to soil erosion, landslides, floods, droughts, dust storms, and desertification; trade in endangered species.

Google Maps China

The capital and other divisions

Capital city: Beijing found under the coordinates 39 55 N, 116 23 E, applying the time zone UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time), using the following daylight saving time: none.

Beijing, China, is the capital of the People’s Republic of China. It is a metropolis that spans six municipalities and is one of the most populated cities globally, with over 22 million people.

China became independent on 1 October 1949 (The people’s Republic of China established); notable earlier dates: 221 B.C. (unification under the Qin Dynasty); 1 January 1912 (Qing Dynasty replaced by the Republic of China), and its national holiday is National Day (anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China), 1 October (1949).

Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular, and plural), 5 autonomous regions (Zizhiqu, singular, and plural), and 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; (see note on Taiwan) autonomous regions: Guangxi, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), Ningxia, Xinjiang Uyghur, Xizang (Tibet) municipalities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin note: China considers Taiwan its 23rd province; see separate entries for the particular administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

People and society

 
Most people are Han Chinese. The rest of the population belongs to 55 minority nationalities or recognized ethnic groups. Many of these groups have a disproportionate political significance as they live in strategic border areas. A policy of resettling Han Chinese in remote regions is deeply resented and has led to uprisings in Xinjiang and Tibet. After some small groups were brought close to extinction, the government has relaxed the one-child family policy, particularly for minorities. Chinese society is patriarchal in practice, and generations tend to live together. However, economic change is breaking down the social controls of the Mao Zedong era. Divorce and unemployment are rising. A resurgence of religious belief has occurred in recent years. Materialism has replaced the puritanism of the past; there are now more cell phones in China than in the U.S.

The population in China is 1,397,897,720 (July 2021 estimate), with an average of 0.26% (2021 estimate) change. That means China is the No. 1 in the world’s populated rank list. With an average of 38.4 years median age (37.5 years for males and 37.5 years for women), China ranks No. 62 on the globe’s median age rank list.

The people living in this country are the Chinese (also singular and plural) (noun) or Chinese (adjective) and belong mainly to the following ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.6%, Zhuang 1.3%, other (includes Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) 7.1% (2010 estimate). Note: the Chinese government officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups.

They speak Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official language; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry); languages and practice the following religions: folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.3%, Christian 5.2%, Muslim 2%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 51.8% (2020 estimate) note: officially atheist. We can conclude the following about the population in China: The overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country.

With its vast mountainous and desert areas, the West remains sparsely populated. Though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than many other countries in Asia and Europe. High population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys, the xi Jiang river delta, the Sichuan basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang. In China, we are talking about 62.5% (2021) of the total population is living in cities. Most of them reside in the following municipalities: 27.796 million, Shanghai, 20.897 million, Beijing (capital city), 16.382 million, Chongqing, 13.794 million, Tianjin, 13.635 million, Guangzhou, 12.592 million, Shenzhen (2021).

Industry

 
China has shifted from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy; liberalization has gone furthest in the south, where the emerging business class is based. Exports led to annual GDP growth of over 10% in 2003-–2007. Faced with a global downturn from 2008, Chinese stimulus packages boosted domestic spending. The buying power of China’s massive market for raw materials and consumer goods helped drive global recovery. China is now the world’s largest exporter and second-largest economy. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011,–2015) limits population growth and improves social infrastructure.

Since the late 1970s, China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a significant global role. China has implemented reforms gradually, resulting in efficiency gains that have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Reforms began with the phaseout of collectivized agriculture. They expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, growth of the private sector, development of stock markets and a modern banking system, and opening to foreign trade and investment. China pursues an industrial policy, state support of key sectors, and a restrictive investment regime. From 2013 to 2017, China had one of the fastest-growing economies globally, averaging slightly more than 7% real growth per year. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences.

China in 2017 stood as the largest economy in the world, surpassing the U.S. in 2014 for the first time in modern history. China became the world’s largest exporter in 2010 and the largest trading nation in 2013. Still, Chinas per capita income is below the world average., In July 2005, moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. From mid-2005 to late 2008, the renminbi (RMB) appreciated more than 20% against the U.S. dollar. Still, the exchange rate remained virtually pegged to the dollar from the onset of the global financial crisis until June 2010, when Beijing announced it would resume a gradual appreciation. From 2013 until early 2015, the renminbi held steady against the dollar, but it depreciated 13% from mid-2015 until end-2016 amid strong capital outflows; in 2017, the RMB resumed appreciating against the dollar – roughly 7% from end-of-2016 to end-of-2017. In 2015, the Peoples Bank of China announced it would continue to carefully push for full convertibility of the renminbi after the currency was accepted as part of the IMF’s unique drawing rights basket. However, since late 2015 the Chinese government has strengthened capital controls and oversight of overseas investments to manage the exchange rate better and maintain financial stability.

The Chinese government faces numerous economic challenges, including (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate and correspondingly low domestic household consumption; (b) managing its high corporate debt burden to maintain financial stability; (c) controlling off-balance sheet local government debt used to finance infrastructure stimulus; (d) facilitating higher-wage job opportunities for the aspiring middle class, including rural migrants and college graduates, while maintaining competitiveness; (e) dampening speculative investment in the real estate sector without sharply slowing the economy; (f) reducing industrial overcapacity; and (g) raising productivity growth rates through the more efficient allocation of capital and state-support for innovation. Economic development has progressed further in coastal provinces than in the interior, and by 2016 more than 169.3 million migrant workers and their dependents had relocated to urban areas to find work. One consequence of China’s population control policy known as the one-child policy – which was relaxed in 2016 to permit all families to have two children – is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment – notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the north – is another long-term problem.

China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and urbanization. The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, focusing on natural gas, nuclear, and clean energy development. In 2016, China ratified the Paris Agreement, a multilateral agreement to combat climate change, and committed to peak its carbon dioxide emissions between 2025 and 2030. The government’s 13th Five-Year Plan, unveiled in March 2016, emphasizes increasing innovation and boosting domestic consumption to make the economy less dependent on government investment, exports, and heavy industry. However, China has made more progress on subsidizing innovation than rebalancing the economy. Beijing has committed to giving the market a more decisive role in allocating resources, but the Chinese government’s policies continue to favor state-owned enterprises and emphasize stability.

Chinese leaders in 2010 pledged to double Chinas GDP by 2020, and the 13th Five Year Plan includes annual economic growth targets of at least 6.5% through 2020 to achieve that goal. In recent years, China has renewed its support for state-owned enterprises in sectors considered necessary to economic security, explicitly fostering globally competitive industries. Chinese leaders have also undermined some market-oriented reforms by reaffirming the state’s dominant role in the economy. This stance threatens to discourage private initiative and make the economy less efficient over time. The slight acceleration in economic growth in 2017,—the first such uptick since 2010,—gives Beijing more latitude to pursue its economic reforms, focusing on financial sector deleveraging and its Supply-Side Structural Reform agenda, first announced in late 2015.

China is rich in the following natural resources: Coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (worlds most prominent), arable land.

The main industrial sectors are typically world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars, and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites.

The country’s export sectors are particularly strong in broadcasting equipment, computers, integrated circuits, office machinery and parts, telephones (2019), partnering with these nations: the United States 17%, Hong Kong 10%, Japan 6% (2019). The export trade resulted in $2,732,370,000,000. Note: Data are in current year dollars (2020 estimate). In a global rank of the export, values resulted in China’s position of 1.

Land use in China: 22.3% (2018 estimate) forest, 23% (2018 estimate) other.

The arable land area is 11.3% (2018 estimate), and the agricultural land is 54.7% (2018 estimate). Land use for permanent crops 1.6% (2018 estimate), permanent pasture 41.8% (2018 estimate). The sum of the area of the irrigated land is 690,070 sq km (2012).

The main agro-industrial products of China are maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, sweet potatoes.

The country typically needs to import: crude petroleum, integrated circuits, iron, natural gas, cars, gold (2019), partnering with the following nations: South Korea 9%, Japan 8%, Australia 7%, Germany 7%, U.S. 7%, Taiwan 6% (2019) in a sum value of $2,362,690,000,000. Note: data are in current year dollars (2020 estimate) $2,499,150,000,000. Note: data are in current year dollars (2019 estimate) $2,563,100,000,000. Note: data are in current year dollars (2018 estimate). This sum value on the global ranking list of imports resulted in China 2.

China Driving Directions

 
In this post, you learned about China, Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam. We published some basic information about its capital Beijing, and the Chinese nation.

Are you interested in visiting China and looking for driving directions? Click here to plan your route, or see a printable road map of China below for an overview of the route network.

Printable map of China

Did you know about China?

China is the world’s most populous country, with over 1.4 billion people. It’s also one of the oldest civilizations on earth, with records dating back to 3000 BC. China is a fantastic place to visit if you are interested in history or culture.

Chinese is the official language of China, and Mandarin is the most commonly spoken dialect. The word “China” means “Middle Kingdom”.

After virtually visiting China, you may also be interested in the neighboring countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam.

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