LANGUAGES: The national language is Putonghua (the common speech) or Mandarin, which is one of the five working languages at the United Nations. Most of the 55 minority nationalities have their own languages. Cantonese is one of the local dialects of southern China. As a written language, Chinese has been used for 6,000 years.

NATIONALITIES: The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 ethnic nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities. They are Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, Va, She, Gaoshan, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Tu, Daur, Mulam, Qiang, Blang, Salar, Maonan, Gelo, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Ozbek, Russian, Ewenki, Benglong, Bonan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Drung, Oroqen, Hezhen, Moinba, Lhoba and Gelo.

FAMILY NAMES: Chinese family names came into use some 5,000 years ago. There are more than 5,000 family names, of which 200 to 300 are popular. The order of Chinese names is the family name goes first, followed by the given name. For instance, the family name of a person called Wang Dong is Wang. The most popular Chinese family names are ZHANG, WANG, LI, ZHAO, LIU, CHEN...

RIVERS: China has 50,000 rivers each covering an encashment area of more than 100 square kilometers, and 1,500 of them cover an encashment area exceeding 1,000 square kilometers. Most of them flow from west to east merging into the Pacific Ocean. The main rivers include the Yangtze (Changjiang), Yellow (Huanghe), Heilong, Pearl, Liaohe, Haihe, Qiangtang and Lancang. The Yangtze at 6,300 kilometers is the longest river in China. The second longest Yellow River is 5,464 kilometers. The Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Beijing is a great water project built in ancient times. It is the longest canal in the world at 1,794 kilometers long.

TOPOGRAPHY: With a broad area, China's topography is very complex. The outline descends step by step from the west to the east. Mountains and hilly land take up 65 percent of the total area. There are five main mountain ranges. Seven mountain peaks are higher than 8,000 meters above sea level. The Bohai Sea, East China Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea embrace the east and southeast coast.

MONEY: Chinese Money is called Renminbi (RMB) (meaning the "People's Currency") or Yuan. The popular unit of RMB is Yuan. The official exchange rate between U.S. Dollar and Renminbi Yuan is currently about 1 : 8.3 (1.00 Dollar = 8.30 Yuan). 1 Yuan to 10 Jiao, 1 Jiao to 10 Fen (There are parts of China where the Yuan is also known as Kuai and Jiao is known as Mao. Chinese currency is issued in the following denominations: one, two, five, ten, fifty and a hundred Yuan; further divided into one, two and five Jiao; and one, two and five Fen.

ELECTRICAL VOLTAGE : AC 220 V, 50 Hz (bathrooms of some luxury and medium-grade hotels may have 110-volt sockets).

TELEVISION SYSTEM: PAL (In addition to Chinese language TV broadcast, English and Japanese TV programs are available in many hotel via satellite relay. China Central Television Station (CCTV) and some local TV stations also provide English news and other programs in English.)

TELEPHONE AREA CODE: Chinese Mainland 86; Hong Kong 852; Taiwan 886. (Emergency Telephone Numbers: Police 110; Fire 119; Medical Emergency 120.)