Page:CIA World Factbook(1982).djvu/61



LAND
9.6 million km$2$; 11% cultivated, sown area extended by multicropping, 78% desert, waste, or urban (32% of this area consists largely of denuded wasteland, plains, rolling hills, and basins from which about 3% could be reclaimed), 8% forested; 2%-3% inland water

Land boundaries: 24,000 km

WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm

Coastline: 14,500 km

PEOPLE
Population: 1,055,304,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.3%

Nationality: noun—Chinese (sing., pl.); adjective—Chinese

Ethnic divisions: 94% Han Chinese; 6% Chuang, Uighur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Pu-I, Korean, and numerous lesser nationalities

Religion: most people, even before 1949, have been pragmatic and eclectic, not seriously religious; most important elements of religion are Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, ancestor worship; about 2%-3% Muslim, 1% Christian

Language: Chinese (Mandarin mainly; also Cantonese, Wu, Fukienese, Amoy, Hsiang, Kan, Hakka dialects), and minority languages (see ethnic divisions above)

Literacy: at least 25%

Labor force: est. 400 million (mid-1979); 75% agriculture, 25% other; shortage of skilled labor (managerial, technical, mechanics, etc.); surplus of unskilled labor

GOVERNMENT
Official name: People's Republic of China

Type: Communist state; real authority lies with Communist Party's Political Bureau; the National People's Congress, in theory the highest organ of government, usually ratifies the party's programs; the State Council actually directs the government

Capital: Beijing (Peking)

Political subdivisions: 21 provinces, 3 centrally governed municipalities, and 5 autonomous regions

Legal system: before 1966, a complex amalgam of custom and statute, largely criminal; little ostensible development of uniform code of administrative and civil law; highest judicial organ is Supreme People's Court, which reviews lower court decisions; laws and legal procedure subordinate to priorities of party policy; whole system largely suspended during Cultural Revolution but has been revived as part of the current regime's efforts to rationalize the state and to reintroduce socialist legality; regime has attempted to write civil and Communist codes; new legal codes in effect 1 January 1980

National holiday: National Day, 1 October

Branches: before 1966 control was exercised by Chinese Communist Party, through State Council, which supervised more than 60 ministries, commissions, bureaus, etc., all technically under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; this system broke down under Cultural Revolution pressures but has been largely restored

Government leader: Premier of State Council ZHAO Ziyang; head of state, Chairman of NPC Standing Committee, YE Jianying; government subordinate to Central Committee of CCP

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Elections: elections held for People's Congress representatives at county level

Political parties and leaders: Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by Hu Yaobang; Hu is Chairman of Central Committee and was elected at the party's 6th plenum in June 1981; Central Committee was formed at the 11th Party Congress, held in August 1977

Communists: about 39 million party members in 1981

Other political or pressure groups: the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remains a major force, although many military officers who acquired a wide range of civil political-administrative duties during the Cultural Revolution have been either returned to primarily military positions or removed; many veteran civilian officials, in eclipse since the Cultural Revolution, have been reinstated; mass organizations, such as the trade unions and the youth league, have been rebuilt

Member of: FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ITU, Red Cross, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, other international bodies

ECONOMY
GNP: $552 billion (1980), $538 per capita

Agriculture: main crops—rice, corn, wheat, miscellaneous grains, oilseed, cotton; agriculture mainly subsistence; grain imports 13.7 million metric tons in 1980 43