China, situated in the eastern part of Asia and on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, faces the sea with the land for a background Its sea and landlocation is beneficial to its relations with many neighboring countries and also advantageous to its exchanges with foreign countries Meanwhile, the annual moist air from the sea with plenty of rainfall is an important source for China's freshwater resources and is an indispensable condition for the growth of its maritime industry China has a vast territory. Its northernmost part is located on the central line of the main course of the Heilong River,north of the Mohe River, in Heilongjiang Province; its southernmost tip is m Zengmu Reef of the Nansha Is of the South China Sea,The two prates are 5,500 km apart. Its easternmost part isat the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers; its westernmost tip is on the Pamirs in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region The east and west span is 5,OOO km (about 62 Latitudinal degrees). China covers a tota[ land area of 96 million square km, third only to Russia and Canada, or the third largest country in the world China's land area accounts for 1/15 of the worrd total, or the entire area of Europe.

Time Zones
The land area of China is 6g-degree Longitude from west to east. According to the demarcation of the world time zoning standard, the land area of China lies between the eastern fifth to ninth time zones. Currently, all the places in China have adopted the eastern eighth time zone for the sake ofconvenience. That is the "Beijing Time."

Language and Written Characters
Minority nationalities in Chma have the freedom to use and develop their own languages and written characters Chinese and its written characters are in common use in China and also one of the five working languages designated by the United Nations, Because of historical and geographical reasons, there are many dialects in the Chinese language, such at Wu, Guangdong and Fujian dialects The government has defined that the common speech of the Hah nationality is used as the common language. Chinese characters are used to record the Chinese language. Since the discovery of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th-11th century B.C), the Cheese language has a history of about 6, 000 years. Most of the 55 ethnic groups in China have their own languages, 30 of them have their own written languages.

Administrative Divisions
The current administrative divisions of China are province, county (city) and township
The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions, municipabties directly under the central government, and special administrative regions;

Provinces and autonomous regions are divided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, and cities; and Counties and autonomous counties are divided into townships, ethnic townships and towns. Autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties are autonomous places of various ethnic groups. At present there are 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities directly under the central government and two special administrative regions in China, Twenty-three provinces: Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jiiin, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hainan; Fwe autonomous regions: Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Tibet; Four muncipalites: Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongging; Two special administrative regions: Hongkong, Macao Bering, the capital of the People's Republic of China, is also the political, economic and cultural center of the country.