CHINA: Continuing the Journey...
Data Page

China and the USA are about the same size. But China has more than 4 times as many people — or about 20% of all human beings! After decades of warfare, China was reorganized as a nation in 1949, when the Communist Party of China (working with other parties) established a constitution for the People's Republic of China (PRC). Today, the PRC's socialist market economy produces the world's second-largest gross domestic product (GDP*). However, the huge size of China's population limits its per-capita GDP to about $6,300 — thus classifying it, still, as a developing nation.

Here's a cultural and economic profile of China in 2006:

Population	1,314,000,000
Ethnic Groups	Han Chinese 92%; Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, and other ethnic minorities 8%
Spoken Languages	Chinese Mandarin (Putonghua) 53%; plus (a) many local dialects and (b) languages of ethnic minorities
Philosophy/Religion	Confucian teachings influence Chinese cultural values; Taoism and Buddhism are widespread; Christianity is practiced by 3% to 4% of the people; Islam, by 1% to 2%
GDP (2005)*	$8.2 trillion
Basis of GDP	Farming 14.4%, Industry 53.1%, Services 32.5%
Key Industries	Iron and steel, coal, machines and armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, toys, electronics, food processing, cars, telecommunications
Key Farm Products	Rice, wheat, potatoes, peanuts, tea, apples; pork; fish
Exports (2005)	$752.2 billion
Imports (2005)	$631.8 billion
Trading Partners	Japan, USA, South Korea, European Union

^*China's GDP is reported here in terms of its purchasing-power parity (ppp). That's the dollar value of the universal "basket" of goods and services that China's GDP earnings could buy within China, at Chinese prices.
Source: CIA. The World Factbook, 2006.

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© Learning Enrichment, Inc. Content last updated: May 2006. Page last reviewed: May 2006.