China

Officially the People's Republic of China. The country is about 9.6 million square kilometers in area. Its borders are the Heilong Jiang (Amur River) to the east, the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia to the west; the Heilongjiang Province to the north and the Hainan Island to the south. Also, Zengmu Shoal, a territorial claim off the north coast of Malaysia, is a southern border of China.

Climate: most of country in temperate belt; complex climatic patterns ranging from cold-temperate north to tropical south. Precipitation varies regionally; temperatures range from -30°C in north in January to 28°C in south in July; alternating wet monsoon in summer to dry monsoon in winter

Population: official estimate at end of 1986 nearly 1.1 billion with 1.4 percent annual rate of increase

Capital: Beijing