Important Information about China 1. China is one of the largest world populations with 1.3 billion people.

It is the third largest country with 9.596 million square Kl, it shares boarders with 14 states. The Republic of China was proclaimed on 12/2/1912 and the Popular Republic of China (PRC) was established on 1/10/1949. The currency: Yuan, 1$= 6.81 Yuan 2. The population structure of China has 56 ethnic groups. The Han ethnic represents 91% of the population. According to the official census , Muslims are 30 millions, Christians 22 millions and Buddhist are more than 100 millions. China is divided into 34 Administrative and District areas, 5 autonomous regions, four central municipalities and two special administrative districts : Hong Kong and Macao. 3. . The system of the state is a one party socialism (the Communist Party). Four generations ruled the country namely Mao TseTung, Deng Chiao Feng, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, the current Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party who has wide ranging powers according to the 1982 constitution. The principle leaders are:

- Hu Jintao, the current Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and president of the Republic since 2003. -Do Yang Fuh, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly of the Peoples Deputies. -Wen Jiabao, President of the State Council (Prime Minister). The National Assembly of the Peoples Deputies is the supreme organ for the state authority. It is made of 2983 members. The State Council (Premiership) is the executive body made of 29 ministries. The PRC celebrated the golden jubilee of its establishment last year. The Chinese people have been working tirelessly and hard over the past sixty years to change the features of Chinas poor backward past radically, especially during the last 30 years following the implementation of the reforms and openness to the out side world policies , which were initiated by Deng Chiao Feng. Quick and remarkable achievements were realized. The economic growth was very high making China part of the global economy. In 2008, the GDP reached 30067 Yuan billion i.e. 7.3% of the total world product. Thus, China's economy jumped to third place in the world to achieve 440 times the gross domestic

product, which was no more than 68.1 billion Yuan in 1952. The volume of exports and imports of China in 2007 totaled 2.56 trillion U.S $. There have also been radical changes in the standard of living of the majority of the people. The number of poor in rural areas went down from 250 million people to 10 million. The individual Chinese share in the GDP was over 2300 U.S $. Illiteracy which stood at 80% when PRC was proclaimed, is now eliminated. China entered the fields of science and space, and succeeded in launching manned spacecrafts in 2008, The current total number of students in Chinese universities stand at 20 million students studying in more than 3000 university. China achieved great success in hosting the twenty-ninth Olympic Games in August 2008. (5) International experts say that the strength and growth of Chinese economic development took place under a too centralized socialist system i.e. the existence of a theory of communist control in the political system which is based on hostility to the capitalist economy, while the economy works in line with the capitalist system based on market economy. This is a two-prone weapon; it may prolong the life of the system, but, ultimately, will lead to its collapse in an unpredictable way. However, it is certain that one day the winds of change and democracy will blow in China, this great country.if that happens, it

will astonish the world tremendously as was the case of the Soviet Union. Chinas features will change radically. China had benefited from the bitter experiences of its communist neighbor "Soviet Union", where the main cause of collapse and disintegration lied with the economic decline and backhandedness , while others may see in the future that the reason for changes in the Chinese system is the rapid economic development, which has exceeded the current political order.