The People's Republic of China, lies on the eastern side of the Asian continent and on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Its territory includes thousands of offshore islands including Hong Kong Island. The Republic covers seven percent of the world's land area and is home to around one-fifth of the world's population.
Beijing (formerly Peking) is the capital of China with a history of over two thousand years.
Over forty percent of the country is mountainous. The mountains are mainly in the west with plains in the east. China also has desert regions. The Yellow River and the Yangtze River, two of the world's greatest rivers, flow across China.
China is famous for its Great Wall. The Great Wall of China is over 5,000 km long and took many years to build. It is the only man-made structure that can be seen from outer space. The Great Wall was built to keep out potential invaders and was started more than two and a half thousand years ago. It was expanded in the mid fourteenth century.
China has a legacy of beautiful buildings from its past: The Forbidden City, the home of the Emperor with 178 acres of palaces, pavilions and gardens; the Temple of Heaven and many other buildings. Many ancient tombs survive intact and are visited by tourists.
The world famous Terracotta Army was set up to protect the Emperor Qin in his tomb and probably included around eight thousand life-size figures (over a thousand have been excavated so far). All the figures carry real swords, spears or bows and the metal weapons were still sharp when discovered.
News from China can be found on World InfoZone's NewslinkWe would like to thank T. Wright for the use of the photographs
