China
Beijing · East Asia
China is a country in Asia. Its capital city is Beijing, the official currency is the Renminbi, and the main language is Mandarin Chinese.
With a population of roughly 1.4 billion people spread over 9,596,961 km², China is the 2nd most populous country in the world and the 4th largest by area. That works out at about 149 people per square kilometre.
China shares land borders with Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam — 14 neighbours in all. Its largest urban centres are Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing. The highest point in the country is Mount Everest, at 8,849 metres.
For scale, it covers almost exactly the same area as United States, while its population is closest to that of India.
- Capital
- Beijing
- Region
- East Asia
- Population
- 1,425,700,000
- Area
- 9,596,961 km²
- Currency
- Renminbi
- Main language
- Mandarin Chinese
- Highest point
- Mount Everest
8,849 m - Land borders
- 14
China: things worth knowing
- China borders fourteen countries, tied with Russia for the most in the world.
- The entire country operates on a single time zone despite spanning five geographic ones.
- It has more than 100 cities with populations above one million.
China in context
Asia has 48 sovereign countries in total. China ranks 2nd among them by population.
See the full list of Asia countries, or browse all 195 countries.