China in brief
20 March 2008
© Lonely Planet Images
The People's Republic of China is home to some 1.33 billion people - that's 20 per cent of the entire world population. It stretches over most of the East Asia region and is the fourth largest country in area - after Russia, Canada, and the US - covering around 9.6 million sq km.
Lonely Planet guidebooks reckon China isn’t a country, but a different world: “From shop-till-you-drop metropolises to the desert landscapes of Xinjiang, China is a land of cultural and geographic schisms.”
Tourists come here to check out sights like the Great Wall of China, the ancient Silk Road and the Yangzi River – the world’s third longest river after the Nile and Amazon.
The country, which archaeologists say is home to one of the world’s oldest civilisations, has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party since 1949.
Led by President Hu Jintao, China is a major player in global politics and economics, and has the world's fastest-growing economy. It’s also Australia's biggest trading partner,
But despite all its economic successes, respect for basic human rights is not on China’s agenda.
China executes more people each year than the rest of the world put together, ethnic minorities like the Uighur people and the Tibetans are severely suppressed and the country has been named the word’s leading jailer of journalists.
Migrants from rural areas are deprived of their basic rights. Lawyers working to defend human rights and people practising a faith outside the officially sanctioned religions are harassed, detained and imprisoned.
For more information about China’s history, culture, economy and politics check out profiles from the BBC, National Geographic, Wikipedia and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Here you can find China’s government website, it's official tourism website and Beijing’s Tourism Administration website.
For visitors to China:
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