Location Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam

Geographic coordinates 35 00 N, 105 00 E

Map references Asia

Area
total: 9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km

Area - comparative slightly smaller than the US

Land boundaries
total: 22,143.34 km
border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km

Coastline 14,500 km

Maritime claims
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: claim to shallow areas of East China Sea and Yellow Sea
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

Terrain mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east

Elevation extremes
lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,848 m

Natural resources coal, iron ore, petroleum, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)

Land use
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 43%
forests and woodland: 14%
other: 33% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land 498,720 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts

Environment - current issues air pollution (greenhouse gases, particulates) from the overwhelming use of high-sulfur coal as a fuel, produces acid rain which is damaging forests; water shortages experienced throughout the country, particularly in urban areas and in the north; future growth in water usage threatens to outpace supplies; water pollution from industrial effluents; much of the population does not have access to potable water; less than 10% of sewage receives treatment; deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade in endangered species

Environment - international agreements
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US)

NOTE: The information regarding China on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of China Geography 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about China Geography 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.