China, People’s Republic of

At more than 6 million square miles and with a border shared with 14 different countries, China ranks as the third largest geographic country in the world. Currently the world’s most populous country, China contains 1.3 billion people. The Communist Party of China (CPC) runs the country from the capital of Beijing and oversees multiple provinces, as well as the two special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong. The Chinese economy is the world’s second largest and is also the fastest growing. China’s expansive size means that it contains many environments, from deserts to monsoon-flooded rice paddies. The Yangtze and Yellow rivers, the country’s two major watercourses, flow to the ocean in the east from Tibet. China contains mountains, subtropical rainforests, plains, grasslands, and ...