Location
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam.
Geographic coordinates: 35 00 N, 105 00 E
Map references: Asia
Area
Total: 9,596,960 sq km
Land: 9,326,410 sq km
Water: 270,550 sq km
Country Comparison to the world: 5
Area - comparative
Slightly smaller than the US
Area Comparison Map:
Land boundaries- Total: 22,457 km
Border Countries (14): Afghanistan 91 km, Bhutan 477 km, Burma 2129 km, India 2659 km, Kazakhstan 1765 km, North Korea 1352 km, Kyrgyzstan 1063 km, Laos 475 km, Mongolia 4630 km, Nepal 1389 km, Pakistan 438 km, Russia (northeast) 4133 km and Russia (northwest) 46 km, Tajikistan 477 km, Vietnam 1297 km.
Coastline: 14,500 km
Maritime Claims
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
Climate
Extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain
Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east.
Elevation
Highest point: Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m.
Lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
Mean elevation: 1,840 m
Natural Resources
Coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferro-silicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest), arable land.
Land use
Agricultural land: 54.7% (2018 est.)
Arable land: 11.3% (2018 est.)
Permanent crops: 1.6% (2018 est.)
Permanent pasture: 41.8% (2018 est.)
Forest: 22.3% (2018 est.)
Other: 23% (2018 est.)
Irrigated Land
690,070 sq km (2012)
Major watersheds (area sq km)
Pacific Ocean drainage: Amur (1,929,955 sq km), Huang He (944,970 sq km), Mekong (805,604 sq km), Yangtze (1,722,193 sq km)
Indian Ocean drainage: Brahmaputra (651,335 sq km), Ganges (1,016,124 sq km), Indus (1,081,718 sq km), Irrawaddy (413,710 sq km), Salween (271,914 sq km)
Arctic Ocean drainage: Ob (2,972,493 sq km)
Internal(endorheic basin) drainage: Tarim Basin (1,152,448 sq km), Amu Darya (534,739 sq km), Syr Darya (782,617 sq km), Lake Balkash (510,015 sq km)
Major Aquifers
North China Aquifer System (Huang Huai Hai Plain), Song-Liao Plain, Tarim Basin
Population Distribution
Major share of the population lives in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated. Athough China is considered to be the most populous nation in the world, its overall density is less than that of many other countries in Asia and Europe. High population density is prevalent along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang.
Natural Hazards
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
Geography(Notes)
Note 1: World's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US) and largest country situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak above sea level.
Note 2: The largest cave chamber in the world is the Miao Room, in the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park, which encloses some 10.78 million cu m (380.7 million cu ft) of volume.
Note 3: China appears to have been the center of domestication for two of the world's leading cereal crops: millet in the north along the Yellow River and rice in the south along the lower or middle Yangtze River.
(Source: The CIA World Factbook)