China is one of the biggest countries in the world. It has an area of about 9.6 million square kilometers which comprises about 6.5 per cent of the world total land area, and  its population of 1.24 billion accounts for more than twenty per cent of the world's population.  China has the world's oldest continuous civilization, and many of the world's most  revered treasures, such as the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and Terra-Cotta Warriors.  World Travel Organization (WTO) predicts that by year 2020, China will be the number one travel destination in the world.  The following offers a fast and ready reference of basic China facts as a guide for visitors and others.

Full Country Name: The People's Republic of China
 Population: 1.24 billion
 Area: 9,600,000 million square km
 Language: Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua)
 Capital City: Beijing
 National Day: October 1
 National flag: Red flag with five stars
 National emblem: Tiananmen Gate tower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below
 Largest city: Shanghai
 Ethnic Groups: 93% Han, 7% Other (including Zhuang, Hui, Uygur, Yi, Miao, Manchu, Tibetan, Mongol, Tujia, Bouyei,  
 Korean, Dong, Yao, Bai, Hani, Kazakh, Dai, and Li minorities)
 Currency: Renminbi (RMB) yuan
 Exchange Rate: 7.9 yuan=US$1
 Weights and Measures: metric system
 Gross Domestic Product: 8,940.4 billion yuan (at the end of 2000) .

 Climate: Most of the country in the temperate zone, although geographically the country stretches from the tropical and

 subtropical zones in the south to the frigid zone in the north.

 Time: Beijing Time. Beijing is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, 12 hours ahead of New York, and 15 hours ahead

 of San Francisco. All time within China is based on Beijing time, and there are no adjustments for seasons or longitude.

 Cloth Suggestions:
 WINTER:
 North, North-east, Northwest and Southwest: heavy, warm clothing, coat, hat, gloves, boots

 South, Yungui and Sichuan: medium weight warm clothing, light coat, rainwear in Sichuan
 Southeast: lightweight, warm clothing, sweater

 SUMMER:
 Northeast, Northwest and Southwest: summer clothing, light coat or sweater in the evenings, rainwear in the Northeast

 for  occasional rains
 North, South, Yungui, Sichuan and Southeast: light, loose tropical clothing, sunglasses, rainwear

 SPRING/Autumn:
 North, Northeast, Northwest and Southwest: Medium weight clothing, light coat, hat
 South, Yungui, Sichuan and Southeast: lightweight clothing, sweater, light coat, rainwear