Ancient China was one of the earliest centers of

human civilization

Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest

hominids in China date from 2.24 million to 250,000
years ago

The earliest evidence of a fully modern human in

China comes from Liujiang County, Guangxi, where
a cranium has been found and dated to
approximately 67,000 years ago.
Nationality: Chinese
Population growth rate (2007 est.): 0.606%.
Ethnic groups: Han Chinese--91.9%; Zhuang,
Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uygur, Yi, Mongolian, Tibetan,
Buyi, Korean, and other--8.1%.
Religions: Officially atheist; Taoism, Buddhism,
Christianity, Islam.
Language: Mandarin (Putonghua), plus many
local dialects
Education: Years compulsory--9. Literacy--90.9%.
GDP (2007): $3.249 trillion
Per capita GDP (2007): $2,458
GDP real growth rate (2007): 11.4%
Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin, tungsten,
antimony, manganese, molybdenum, etc.
Agriculture: Products--Among the world's largest producers of
rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley; commercial
crops include cotton, other fibers, apples, oilseeds, pork and fish;
produces variety of livestock products
Industry: Types--mining and ore processing; iron; steel; aluminum;
coal, machinery; textiles and apparel, etc.
Trade (2007): Exports--$1.221 trillion: electronics; machinery;
apparel; optical, photographic, and medical equipment; and furniture,
etc.
Imports--$917.4 billion: electronics, machinery, mineral fuel and
oil, chemicals, plastic
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$7.8 trillion (2008 est.)
$7.104 trillion (2007)
$6.475 trillion (2006)
GDP (official exchange rate): $4.222 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 9.8% (2008 est.), 13% (2007 est.), 11.6% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $6,000 (2008 est.) $5,500 (2007 est.) $4,900 (2006
est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 10.6% industry: 49.2%
services: 40.2% (2008 est.)
Labor force: 807.7 million (2008 est.)
 Labor force - by occupation agriculture: 43%, industry: 25%, services: 32%
(2006 est.)
Unemployment rate: 4% officially in urban areas, but including migrants
may be as high as 9%;
Household income or consumption by lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 34.9% (2004)
Type: Communist party-led state
Constitution: December 4, 1982
Independence: Unification under the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty 221
BC
Branches: Executive--president, vice president, State Council,
premier. Legislative--unicameral National People's Congress
Administrative divisions: 23 provinces ; 5 autonomous
regions, including Tibet; 4 municipalities directly under the State
Council
Political parties: Chinese Communist Party, 70.8 million
members; 8 minor parties under Communist Party supervision
Suffrage: Universal at 18
Legal System
The government's efforts to promote rule of law are significant and
ongoing. After the Cultural Revolution
Since 1979, when the drive to establish a functioning legal system
began, more than 300 laws and regulations
Legal reform became a government priority in the 1990s

Human Rights
The China country reports in the State Department's 2007 Human
Rights Practices and International Religious Freedom Reports noted
China's well-documented and continuing abuses of human rights in
violation of internationally recognized norms
, China's economic growth and reform since 1978 has dramatically
improved the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese, increased
social mobility, and expanded the scope of personal freedom
China's economy during the past 30 years has changed from a
centrally planned system that was largely closed to international
trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing
private sector

Annual inflows of foreign direct investment rose to nearly $84

billion in 2007

development has been more rapid in coastal provinces than in the

interior, and approximately 200 million rural laborers and their
dependents have relocated to urban areas to find work

The Chinese government seeks to add energy production capacity

from sources other than coal and oil
Economic Reforms
Agriculture
Industry
Energy
Environment
Science and Technology
Shortcomings of Science and Technology
Trade
Foreign Investment
Since 1979, China has reformed and opened its economy. The Chinese
leadership has adopted a more pragmatic perspective on many political
and socioeconomic problems
In the 1980s, China tried to combine central planning with market-
oriented reforms to increase productivity, living standards, and
technological quality
During the 1980s, these reforms led to average annual rates of growth of
10% in agricultural and industrial output
By the late 1980s, however, the economy had become overheated with
increasing rates of inflation
China's economy regained momentum in the early 1990s
Following the Chinese Communist Party's Third Plenum, held in October
2003, Chinese legislators unveiled several proposed amendments to the
state constitution
Over 40% of China's labor force is engaged in
agriculture, even though only 10% of the land is suitable
for cultivation

China is among the world's largest producers of rice,

corn, wheat, soybeans, vegetables, tea, and pork. Major
non-food crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds

lack of warehousing and cold storage facilities impede

both domestic and international agricultural trade
Industry and construction account for about 46% of
China's GDP

Major industries are mining and ore processing; iron;

steel; aluminum; coal, machinery; textiles and apparel;
armaments; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers,
etc

China has become a preferred destination for the

relocation of global manufacturing facilities
Together with strong economic growth, China's demand for energy
is surging rapidly

Coal makes up the bulk of China's energy consumption (70% in

2005), and China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the
world

The 11th Five-Year Program, announced in 2005, calls for greater

energy conservation measures

Since 1993, China has been a net importer of oil

In May 2004 U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue was launched

The U.S. trade deficit with China reached $256.3 billion in 2007

U.S. goods exports to China in 2007 accounted for 5.7% of total

U.S. goods exports, up from 1.9% in 1997

China formally joined the WTO in December 2001

China is now one of the most important markets for U.S. exports

Export growth continues to be a major driver of China's rapid

economic growth

The United States is one of China's primary suppliers of power

generating equipment, etc
Science and technology have always preoccupied
China's leaders

Chinese science strategists see China's greatest

opportunities in newly emerging fields such as
biotechnology and computers

The U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement

remains the framework for bilateral cooperation in this
field
China's investment climate has changed dramatically in
a quarter-century of reform

As part of its WTO accession, China undertook to

eliminate certain trade-related investment measures and
to open up specified sectors that had previously been
closed to foreign investment

Opening to the outside remains central to China's

development
 In the early 1970s, Beijing was recognized diplomatically by most
world powers.

After the founding of the P.R.C., China's foreign policy initially

focused on solidarity with the Soviet Union and other communist
countries

In the 1960s, Beijing competed with Moscow for political influence
among communist parties and in the developing world generally

China has likewise improved ties with Russia, with Presidents

Putin and Hu exchanging visits to Beijing and Moscow

While in many ways Sudan's primary diplomatic patron, China has

played a constructive role in support of peacekeeping operations in
Southern Sudan
Armed Forces: In 1987 combined strength of combat
support units of People's Liberation Army (PLA) just under 3
million

Military Budget: Officially announced for 1987 at -Y20.4

billion

Police Agencies and Paramilitary Forces: Police

organized under Ministry of Public Security
targets were set for both administrative units and
individual families

The one-child policy was a highly ambitious population

control program

Under the one-child program, a sophisticated system

rewarded those who observed the policy and penalized
those who did not
Increase in the food supply in China's cities, made it
possible for more people to come in from rural areas
and survive without food ration cards

the authorities temporarily relaxed the enforcement of

migration restrictions

The problem of too-rapid urbanization was

exacerbated by the agricultural sector.
Chinese elite, often referred to in English as the gentry, had no
peers in other societies

The national elite, who comprised perhaps 1 percent of China's

population, had a number of distinctive features

They achieved their highest and most prestigious titles by their

performance on the central government's triennial civil service
examinations

The combination of partible inheritance and the competition for

success in the examinations meant that rates of mobility into and out
of the elite were relatively high for a traditional agrarian society
Decollectivization increased the options available to
individual households and made household heads
increasingly responsible for the economic success of
their households

it was legally possible to leave the village and move

into a nearby town to work in a small factory

During the early 1980s, the pace of economic and

social change in rural China was rapid
fundamental long-range goals were to transform China
into a modern, powerful, socialist nation

objectives meant industrialization, improvement of

living standards, narrowing of income differences, and
production of modern military equipment

But the economic policies formulated to achieve them

were dramatically altered on several occasions in
response to major changes in the economy, internal
politics, and international political and economic
developments
Before 1949 the Chinese economy was characterized by widespread
poverty, extreme income inequalities, and endemic insecurity of
livelihood

In 1987 the standard of living in China was much lower than in the
industrialized countries, but nearly all Chinese people had adequate
food, clothing, and housing

In addition, there was a positive trend toward rapid improvements in

living conditions in the 1980s as a result of the economic reforms

Chinese consumers suddenly were able to buy more than enough to

eat from a growing variety of food items
The defense industries produced a wide range of
military materiel

had upgraded Soviet aircraft and was developing

nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines,
intercontinental ballistic missiles, and tanks equipped
with infrared night-vision gear and laser rangefinders.
 The chinese economic strategy emphasizes an
explosion of production and jobs outside the state
enterprise sector. The fruits of rising productivity
are then used to manage the problems of debt,
state enterprise deficits, security threats,
unemployment, infrastructure scarcity, and
discontent over unequal degrees of progress by
different sectors of society. This emphasis on
construction produces more rapid growth, less
inflation, and a greater sense of common interest
than the Eastern European approach, which gives
priority to destruction of the institutions of
socialism rather than to construction of a
productive market economy. The absence of a plan
is not the same thing as the existence of a market.
 In China's burgeoning retail-banking industry, the credit card market
represents one of the most enticing opportunities for foreign banks. Credit
cards are already the fastest-growing consumer credit product in China, and all
signs point to explosive growth in card usage and profitability over the next
decade.
Despite the market's attractiveness, however, it poses significant challenges for
foreign credit card issuers. A recent McKinsey survey of Chinese cardholders
shows that certain dynamics in China's market tend to favor large domestic
banks, with their extensive branch networks and ready-made customer
relationships. Foreign providers also face some problems arising from
economic factors, such as the high percentage of unprofitable customers and a
downward trend in interchange fees.
By 2013, China's consumer credit market—encompassing credit cards,
mortgages, and other personal loans—will account for 14 percent of profits in
the banking sector, up from just 4 percent today. Credit cards, today barely a
break-even business in China, will be second only to mortgages as the most
important consumer credit product, representing 22 percent of consumer
credit profits, or about $1.6 billion.
China is slowly coming to terms with the enormous stock of bad loans that
burden its banking system. Its financial regulators—the People's Bank of China
and the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission—have upgraded the country's
loan classification system to uncover problem loans more quickly and
consistently, established asset-management companies to help banks dispose of
their nonperforming loans, and used billions of dollars from China's vast foreign
reserves to sustain insolvent banks until the problems can be resolved.
Actively managing the current stock of nonperforming loans—especially
cleaning them up more quickly—is a critical first step in righting China's
banking system. The Chinese regulators must, however, go beyond merely fixing
the mistakes of the past and confront an additional source of instability: a flow
of new bad debt. Our frontline experience tells us that Chinese banks continue
to make astounding numbers of questionable loans atop the existing pile. Any
failure by regulators to control these bad lending practices may put China's
future prosperity at risk.
China's banking system can safely sustain annual loan growth of only 5 to 7
percent.