Let's discover China

China is a vast country situated at the eastern part of Asia and bordering the western coast of the pacific ocean. It is bordered by 14 different countries that range from small nations such as Bhutan to very large ones like Russia and India.

It is the world's fourth largest country by land area after Russia, Canada and the United States and the most populous country in the world with a population of 1,379 billion. It might sound like an intimidating number but people in China are not different from anywhere else in the world. They have the same hopes and confront the same problems than everyone.

China's landscape is diverse, it is a country made of mountains, hills and highlands. While China is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of landmass, only about 15 percent of it is arable. This has resulted into an uneven development where eastern cities are heavily populated. I's climate also ranges from extremely dry, desert like conditions in the north west regions to tropical in the southeast regions and dip to below freezing in the north area bordering Russia.

The capital of China is Beijing, and Shanghai is the most populated city of the country. Along these two cities the biggest and most populated cities are Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu and Chongqing.

China is an ancient and large country where the culture and traditions of its people vary widely throughout the country. The Chinese population is itself made up with 56 ethnic groups with their own customs, food, traditions and this makes China a wonderful country to travel and explore.

Nowadays China is officially known as the People's Republic of China (PRC), it is a one party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It was founded on 1st October 1949. In 1978, It reformed the economy and moved towards a more market-oriented mixed economy allowing China to become the one we know today.

China's has enjoyed 35 years of double digit growth, making it the world's fastest growing economy in the world. It's economy become the second largest after the United States. It has reduced poverty and as they get richer, Chinese become bigger consumers. However, China's GDP per capita level is relatively low and regional development has been uneven. The biggest cities enjoy living standards similar to those in mid-sized European countries, meanwhile, rural development remain relatively low.

China is the world's largest manufacturer and it's not going to change anytime soon. Some examples : China produces 90% of all the personal computers in the world, 80% of all the air conditioners, 70% of all the mobile phones, 63% of all the shoes and 60% of all the cement, etc.

The strength of China as the largest manufacturer comes from its competitive prices, its mass producing, but also from its high tech equipments, knowledges and skills acquired to produce all the items we have been using in your daily life these last 35 years.

China is one of the world's oldest civilization, every Chinese are proud of their 5000 years recorded history. As china moves forward and become an important actor on the world stage, there has been a revival of interest in the country's roots, especially the Confucian teaching which still influence Chinese culture today.

Following Confucian philosophy, the government of china made huge investments in the nation's education system to ensure Chinese graduates have the skills, knowledges and innovation to lead into the twenty first century and drive China to a modernized country.