putes: boundary with India; bilateral negotiations are under
way to resolve disputed sections of the boundary with the USSR; a short
section of the boundary with North Korea is indefinite; sporadic border
clashes with Vietnam; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly
Islands with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam; maritime
boundary dispute with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands
occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims
Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands)

_#_Climate: extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

_#_Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains,
deltas, and hills in east

_#_Natural resources: coal, iron ore, crude oil, mercury, tin,
tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum,
lead, zinc, uranium, world's largest hydropower potential

_#_Land use: arable land 10%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 31%; forest and woodland 14%; other 45%; includes irrigated 5%

_#_Environment: frequent typhoons (about five times per year along
southern and eastern coasts), damaging floods, tsunamis, earthquakes;
deforestation; soil erosion; industrial pollution; water pollution;
air pollution; desertification

_#_Note: world's third-largest country (after USSR and Canada)

_*_People
_#_Population: 1,151,486,981 (July 1991), growth rate 1.6% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 22 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 33 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 72 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 2.3 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Chinese (sing., pl.); adjective--Chinese

_#_Ethnic divisions: Han Chinese 93.3%; Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi,
Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities
6.7%

_#_Religion: officially atheist, but traditionally pragmatic and
eclectic; most important elements of religion are Confucianism, Taoism,
and Buddhism; Muslim 2-3%, Christian 1% (est.)

_#_Language: Standard Chinese (Putonghua) or Mandarin (based on the
Beijing dialect); also Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei
(Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and
minority languages (see ethnic divisions)

_#_Literacy: 73% (ma