Geography


Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
35 00 N, 105 00 E
Total: 9,596,961 sq km
Country comparison to the world: 4
Land: 9,569,901 sq km
Water: 27,060 sq km
Slightly smaller than the US
Total: 22,117 km
Border Countries: 
Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km,
Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Mongolia 4,677 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km
Regional Borders: Hong Kong 30 km, Macau 0.34 km
14,500 km
Territorial Sea: 12 nm
Contiguous Zone: 24 nm
Exclusive Economic Zone: 200 nm
Continental Shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Lowest Point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
Highest Point: Mount Everest 8,850 m
coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, and hydropower potential (world's largest)
Arable land: 14.86%
Permanent crops: 1.27%
Other: 83.87% (2005)
641,410 sq km (2008)
2,829.6 cu km (1999)
Total: 549.76 cu km/yr (7%/26%/68%)
per capita: 415 cu m/yr (2000)
Frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence
Volcanism: China contains some historically active volcanoes including Changbaishan (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or P'aektu-san), Hainan Dao, and Kunlun although most have been relatively inactive in recent centuries
Air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain; Water shortages, particularly in the north; Water pollution from untreated wastes; Deforestation; estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development; Desertification; Trade in endangered species
Party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
World's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US); Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak.