World Factbook
China
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo
Last updated: 2026-03-28 (today)
Area
land
9,326,410 sq km
water
270,550 sq km
total
9,596,960 sq km
Climate
extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain
mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Land use
other
20.6% (2023 est.)
forest
23.8% (2023 est.)
agricultural land
55.3% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: arable land
arable land: 11.6% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: permanent crops
permanent crops: 2.1% (2023 est.)
agricultural land: permanent pasture
permanent pasture: 41.7% (2023 est.)
Location
Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
Coastline
14,500 km
Elevation
lowest point
Turpan Pendi (Turfan Depression) -154 m
highest point
Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m
mean elevation
1,840 m
Irrigated land
690,070 sq km (2012)
Major aquifers
North China Aquifer System (Huang Huai Hai Plain), Song-Liao Plain, Tarim Basin
Map references
Asia
Land boundaries
total
22,457 km
border countries
Afghanistan 91 km; Bhutan 477 km; Burma 2,129 km; India 2,659 km; Kazakhstan 1,765 km; North Korea 1,352 km; Kyrgyzstan 1,063 km; Laos 475 km; Mongolia 4,630 km; Nepal 1,389 km; Pakistan 438 km; Russia (northeast) 4,133 km and Russia (northwest) 46 km; Tajikistan 477 km; Vietnam 1,297 km
Maritime claims
contiguous zone
24 nm
territorial sea
12 nm
continental shelf
200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone
200 nm
Natural hazards
frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence volcanism: China contains some historically active volcanoes including Changbaishan (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or P'aektu-san), Hainan Dao, and Kunlun although most have been relatively inactive in recent centuries
Geography - note
note 1: world's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and the US) and largest country situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest, on the border with Nepal, is the world's tallest peak above sea level note 2: the largest cave chamber in the world is the Miao Room, in the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park, which encloses about 10.78 million cu m (380.7 million cu ft); the world's largest sinkhole is the Xiaoxhai Tiankeng sinkhole in Chongqing Municipality, which is 660 m deep, with a volume of 130 million cu m
Natural resources
coal, iron ore, helium, petroleum, natural gas, arsenic, bismuth, cobalt, cadmium, ferrosilicon, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, lithium, mercury, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, antimony, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest), arable land
Area - comparative
slightly smaller than the US
Geographic coordinates
35 00 N, 105 00 E
Population distribution
overwhelming majority of the population is found in the eastern half of the country; the west, with its vast mountainous and desert areas, remains sparsely populated; though ranked first in the world in total population, overall density is less than that of many Asian and European countries; high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys, the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing, and the industrial area around Shenyang
Major lakes (area sq km)
salt water lake(s)
Quinghai Hu - 4,460 sq km; Nam Co - 2,500 sq km; Siling Co - 1,860 sq km; Tangra Yumco - 1,400 sq km; Bosten Hu 1,380 sq km
fresh water lake(s)
Dongting Hu - 3,100 sq km; Poyang Hu - 3,350 sq km; Hongze Hu - 2,700 sq km; Tai Hu - 2,210 sq km; Hulun Nur - 1,590
Major watersheds (area sq km)
Arctic Ocean drainage
Ob (2,972,493 sq km)
Indian Ocean drainage
Brahmaputra (651,335 sq km), Ganges (1,016,124 sq km), Indus (1,081,718 sq km), Irrawaddy (413,710 sq km), Salween (271,914 sq km)
Pacific Ocean drainage
Amur (1,929,955 sq km), Huang He (944,970 sq km), Mekong (805,604 sq km), Yangtze (1,722,193 sq km)
Internal (endorheic basin) drainage
Tarim Basin (1,152,448 sq km), Amu Darya (534,739 sq km), Syr Darya (782,617 sq km), Lake Balkash (510,015 sq km)
Major rivers (by length in km)
Yangtze - 6,300 km; Huang He - 5,464 km; Amur river source (shared with Mongolia and Russia [m]) - 4,444 km; Lancang Jiang (Mekong) river source (shared with Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam [m]) - 4,350 km; Yarlung Zangbo Jiang (Brahmaputra) river source (shared with India and Bangladesh [m]) - 3,969 km; Yin-tu Ho (Indus) river source (shared with India and Pakistan [m]) - 3,610 km; Nu Jiang (Salween) river source (shared with Thailand and Burma [m]) - 3,060 km; Irrawaddy river source (shared with Burma [m]) - 2,809 km; Zhu Jiang (Pearl) (shared with Vietnam [s]) - 2,200 km; Yuan Jiang (Red river) source (shared with Vietnam [m]) - 1,149 km note: [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth