The People's Republic of China is one of the largest countries in the world. It has an area of about 9.6 million square kilometers which comprises about 6.5 per cent of the world total land area. The country's population of more than 1.3 billion people accounts for 23 percent of the world total. About half of the population is under the age of 30.

China is situated in the eastern part of Asia on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. In terms of land mass, it is the third largest country in the world (after Canada and Russia). The distance from east to west measures over 5,200 kilometers and from north to south, over 5,500 kilometers. It is elsewhere bounded on the east by Russia and North Korea, on the north by Russia and Mongolia, on the west by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and on the south by India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

Beside a vast land area, there are also extensive neighboring seas and numerous islands. The coastline extends more than 14,500 kilometers. Across the East China Sea to the east and South China Sea to the southeast are Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. More than 5,000 islands are scattered over China's vast territorial seas; the largest being Taiwan and the second largest, Hainan. One territorial sea and three neighboring seas altogether constitute 4.73 million square kilometers.