Source: CRI
04-25-2007 17:34
Formal name: People's Republic of China (PRC)
Capital: Beijing
Constitution: After the founding of the PRC, four Constitutions have been formulated successively in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1982. The present Constitution was adopted in 1982 and amended four times, most recently on March 14, 2004.
Top legislative power: The National People's Congress ("NPC") and its Standing Committee. Representing the people and all levels of people's congresses in China, the NPC supervises all state-level institutions. Its powers include electing the President of China.
Head of State: President Hu Jintao elected March 15, 2003.
Top administrative body: The State Council, which is the cabinet or chief administrative body of the PRC that includes the heads of all governmental agencies. Headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Military: The People's Liberation Army ("PLA") includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Second Artillery Force. Jiang Zemin is chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, the country's top military agency and commander of its armed forces.
National flag: Red flag with five stars.
National emblem: Tiananmen Gatetower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below.
Other Symbols:
Animal: The giant panda is considered a Chinese national treasure. Just over 1,000 survive in the wild, most of them in Sichuan Province. The giant panda is one of more than 100 species of wild animals found only in China, including three endangered monkey species that are almost as rare as the panda: the black leaf monkey, the Guizhou golden monkey or snub-nosed monkey and the Yunnan golden monkey.
Flower: China does not have an "official" national flower, but the tree peony can be regarded as a national favorite. The tree peony (mudan) received the most votes in an unofficial survey conducted in 1994 in every district in China asking people to select a national flower. Other ornamental plants originating in China include the azalea and rhododendron, camellia, gardenia, hibiscus, chrysanthemum, etc.
Bird: More bird species live in China than any other place in the world. Shaanxi Province's red ibis is also a national treasure. Only some 1,500 of this highly endangered bird species exist. Other cranes found in China include the Siberian white, common, black-necked, sarus, hooded, white-naped, and demoiselle.
Tree: The oldest tree in the world is China's gingko, which first appeared during the Jurassic Age some 160 million years ago.
National anthem: March of the Volunteers, written in 1935, with lyrics by the poet Tian Han and music by the composer Nie Er, honoring those who went to the front to fight the Japanese invaders in northeast China in the 1930s. Decided upon as the provisional national anthem of the new China on September 27, 1949, at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC"), the song was officially adopted as the national anthem of the PRC on December 4, 1982, by the NPC.
National Day: Chinese celebrate October 1 as National Day in honor of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
Other national holidays: Spring Festival (the celebration of Chinese New Year, generally between the last 10-day period of January and mid-February) and International Labor Day (May 1). Major holidays in China are occasions for family reunions and traveling. Starting in October 1999, China's three official holidays became "Golden Weeks" each with seven days vacation made possible by working four extra days before the commencement of the holiday and afterwards.
Land size: China has a landmass of 9,600,000 sq km, making it roughly the same area as the continental United States. The area of cultivated land in China was 123.5 million ha at the end of 2003, a decrease from 126 million hectares the previous year.
Location: In the east of the Asian continent, on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean.
Border countries: Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
Climate: Extremely diverse; tropical in the south to subarctic in the north.
Geography: Mountains, high plateaus, and deserts in the west; plains, deltas, and hills in the east. The highest mountain in China is the highest mountain in the world: Mount Qomolangma. The mountain towers above all others at 8,848 m or 29,035 feet.
Editor:Li Yang
