Full name: Chinese Popular Republic
Capital: Peking (Beijing)
Surface: 9 596 961 sq.mt. (Nr.3 in the world)
Population: 1, 330,503,015 inhabitants (2005) (Nr.1 in the world)
Languages: Mandarin (official language); 8 dialects with a large number of variants; 55 national minorities, each of them with its own language
Political system: “socialist unitarian and multinational republic” (22 provinces, 5 “autonomous” regions, 4 big municipalities: Peking, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing) and 2 special regime regions (Hong Kong and Macao); Taiwan is considered by China as a province bound to be annexed to the homeland
Type of regime: One party popular republic, led by the Chinese Communist Party
Head of the State: Hu Jintao
Head of the Government: Wen Jiabao
Currency: Renminbi (yuan) (1 yuan = 1 renminbi = 0,10 euro)
Time zone: UTC + 8
Tel.code: +86
National Anthem: The Volunteers’ March
National holiday: October 1st
Climate: The Chinese climate, because of the extension and variety of its territories, is extremely different from place to place: it ranges from the subartic climate in the north to the tropical climate in Hong Kong: there are hot, cold deserts, and areas with a continental climate in the hinterland.