Country

Following Russia and Canada, China is considered as the world’s third largest country. It is situated along the Pacific Ocean’s coastline in the South eastern part of Asia. With its map having a rooster like shape, it is surrounded by 14 countries which include Laos, Korea, Vietnam, Nepal and many others. The country is a fusion of varied plateaus, rivers, plains, basins and also the foothills. Two-third of China’s land is covered by the mighty hills, foothills and the mountains.

Area: 9.597 million km²
Population: 1,415,045,928
Capital: Beijing

Weather

China is one of those countries which witness the largest weather difference among its cities. On comparing the climatic conditions in the Northern China and the Southern China, one might conclude that there stand a lot of variations. Talking about the Northern China, the wintertime here is really cool and dry whereas the summertime is hot and humid. While, on the other hand Southern China comes across a lot of rainfall during summers making it a monsoon dominant region. The average temperature in China during summers is 27°C and during winters is -4°C.

People & Language

The ‘Standard Mandarin’ also known as the ‘Standard Chinese’ is the officially accepted language in China which is spoken by approx. 1.2 billion people here. Apart from this, the other top languages playing the role of a communicator in this country are none other than the Yue, Wu and the Minbei. On a whole there exist more than 200 individual dialects in China. The residents of China are worldly acknowledged as the ‘Chinese people’.

Practicalities

Time: China follows the China Standard Time (CST) as its standard time zone that is 15 hours ahead of the Pacific Standard Time.

Electricity: The Standard Voltage in China is 220 V and its frequency is 50 Hz. The power sockets used here are of Type C, A and I. It is highly recommended not to use your country’s appliances in China in case their standard voltage differs from this country.

Weight & Measurement: The Metric System is used for the purposes of Weight and Measurement in China.

Telecommunications: Each and every part of the country is linked with one another through telephone, Internet, radio, telegraph and the television. The Cellular telephone services are widely in use here and are also increasing rapidly month after month. In order to facilitate calls to other countries, varied roaming services are available.

Currency

The ‘Renminbi’ also considered as the Chinese Yuan is the officially circulated currency in China. It is symbolised as ‘¥’ and is circulated under the supervision of the People's Bank of China. The basic unit of Renminbi is the Yuan that is equivalent to 10 Jiao. The currency is available in the form of banknotes and coins. The varied denominations of the banknotes are 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Yuan. On the other hand, the coins are available in the denominations of 1 yuan; 5, 2 and 1 jiao as well as the 5, 2 and 1 fen. ATMs are extensively available in China making it easier for the tourists and the locales to withdraw cash in multiple denominations.