CHINA

ChinaOfficial Name:

People’s Republic of China

“Middle Flowery Kingdom”

Capital: Beijing

Land Area: 3,600,927 sq mi (9,326,411 sq km); total area:3,705,407 sq mi (9,596,960 sq km)1

Population: (2011 est.): 1,336,718,015 (growth rate: 0.493%); birth rate: 12.29/1000; infant mortality rate: 16.06/1000; life expectancy: 74.68

Largest cities: Shanghai, 16.575 million; Chungking (Chongqing) 9.401 million; Shenzhen 9.005 million; Guangzhou 8.884 million (2009)

Currency/ Monetary Unit: Yuan/Renminbi

National Name: Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo

National Anthem: “March of the Volunteers”

Official Language: Standard Chinese (Mandarin/Putonghua)

Ethnicity/Race: Han Chinese 91.5%, Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities 8.5%

Religion: traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)

National Holiday: Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, October 1

Literacy rate: 92.2% (2011 est.)

Agriculture: rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish.

Labor force: 795.5 million (2011); agriculture 10.2%, industry 46.9%, services 43% (2010 est.). 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $11.29 trillion; per capita $8,400.

Real growth rate: 9.2% (official data).

Inflation: 5.4%. 

Unemployment:6.5% official registered unemployment in urban areas; substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas. Arable land: 14.86%.

Natural resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest). 

Exports: $1.898 trillion (2011 est.): machinery and equipment, plastics, optical and medical equipment, iron and steel.

Imports: $1.743 trillion (2011 est.): machinery and equipment, oil and mineral fuels, plastics, optical and medical equipment, organic chemicals, iron and steel. 

Major trading partners: U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Australia (2010).

Industries: mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites. 

China asserts sovereignty over Scarborough Reef along with the Philippines and Taiwan, and over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brunei

Vietnam and China continue to expand construction of facilities in the Spratlys and in March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands

International disputes: continuing talks and confidence-building measures work toward reducing tensions over Kashmir that nonetheless remains militarized with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas);China and India continue their security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, and other matters; China claims most of India's Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas; 

Government: Communist State

• the legislative branch, the National People’s Congress

• the executive branch, the State Council

• the judicial branch, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate

• the military branch, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) via the Central Military Commission

President Xi Jinping Prime Minister Wen Jiabao

Climate in China

 Cold-Temperate Zone: north part of Heilongjiang Province and Inner Mongolia (Representative city: Harbin)

 Mid-Temperate Zone: Jilin, northern Xinjiang, and most of Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Inner  Mongolia (Representative cities: Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian, Urumqi, Hohhot, Dunhuang, Lanzhou)

 Warm-Temperate Zone: area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hebei Province (Representative cities: Xian, Taiyuan, Luoyang, Jinan, Qingdao, Zhengzhou)

 Subtropical Zone: South of isotherm of Qinling Mountain-Huaihe River, east of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Representative cities: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Guilin, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Chengdu)

Tropical Zone: Hainan province, southern Taiwan, Guangdong, and Yunnan Province (Representative cities: Haikou, Sanya)

Plateau Climate Zone: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Representative city: Lhasa)

GREAT WALL OF CHINA

FORBIDDEN CITY

BUDDHIST TEMPLES

Animals

RiversYangtze River Yellow River

North

Korea

North KoreaOfficial Name:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Capital: Pyongyang

Land Area: 46,490 sq mi (120,409 sq km); total area: 46,540 sq mi (120,540 sq km)

Population(2012 est.): 24,589,122 (growth rate: 0.535%); birth rate: 14.51/1000; infant mortality rate: 26.21/1000; life expectancy: 69.2

Largest city (2003):Pyongyang, 3,222,000 (metro. area), 2,767,900

Currency/ Monetary Unit: won

National Name: Choson Minjujuui Inmin Konghwaguk

National Anthem: Aegukka

Official Language: Korean

Ethnicity/Race: racially homogeneous; small Chinese community, a few ethnic Japanese

Religion: traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way)

National Holiday: Founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, September 9

Literacy rate: 99% (1991 est.)

Inflation: n.a. 

Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 22.4% (2005).

Agriculture: rice, corn, potatoes, soybeans, pulses; cattle, pigs, pork, eggs.

Labor force: 12.2 million; agricultural 36%, nonagricultural 64%. 

Industries: military products; machine building, electric power, chemicals; mining (coal, iron ore, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals), metallurgy; textiles, food processing; tourism. 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP(2011 est.): $40 billion note: North Korea does not publish any reliable National Income Accounts data; the datum shown here is derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP estimates for North Korea that were made by Angus MADDISON in a study conducted for the OECD; his figure for 1999 was extrapolated to 2007 using estimated real growth rates for North Korea's GDP and an inflation factor based on the US GDP deflator; the result was rounded to the nearest $10 billion; per capita $1,800. 

Real growth rate: 4%.

Imports:$3.529 billion (2010 est.): petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment; textiles, grain. 

Major trading partners: China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Russia (2010).

Natural resources: coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower.

Exports: $2.557 billion (2010 est.): minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures (including armaments), textiles, fishery products. 

periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limiting Line as a maritime boundary;

North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima)

International disputes: risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen rivers; Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km-wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953;

Government: Authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship The Cabinet is the administrative

and Executive body of the highest organ of State power and a general state management organ, according to the Constitution of North Korea . 

The Supreme People’s Assembly is its Unicameral parliament

the Central Court, with its judges appointed by the Supreme People's Assembly, is the highest court of its Judiciary.

Chief of State Kim Jong Un Prime Minester Park Pong Ju

Lake Chonji

South

Korea

South KoreaOfficial Name:

Republic of Korea

Capital: Seoul

Land Area: 37,421 sq mi (96,920 sq km)

Population(2012 est.): 48,860,500 (growth rate: 0.204%); birth rate: 8.42/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.08/1000; life expectancy: 79.3

Largest city Seoul, 9.778 million

Other large cities: Pusan, 3.439 million; Inchon, 2.572; Taegu, 2.458 million; Taejon 1.497 million.

Currency/ Monetary Unit: won

National Name: Taehan Min'guk

National Anthem: Aegukga

Official Language: Korean, English (widely taught)

Ethnicity/Race: homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)

Religion: Christian 26.3% (Protestant 19.7%, Roman Catholic 6.6%), Buddhist 23.2%, other or unknown 1.3%, none 49.3% (1995 census)

National Holiday: Liberation Day, August 15Literacy rate: 98% (2003 est.)

Agriculture: rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish. Labor force: 25.1 million; agriculture 6.4%, industry 24.2%, services 69.4%.

Industries: electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel. 

Natural resources: coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential. 

Economic summary: GDP/PPP(2011 est.): $1.574 trillion; per capita $32,100. 

Real growth rate: 3.6%.

Inflation: 4.0%. 

Unemployment:3.4%. 

Arable land: 16.58%.

International disputes: 

Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km-wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953

periodic incidents with North Korea in the Yellow Sea over the Northern Limit Line

which South Korea claims as a maritime boundary; South Korea and Japan claim Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima), occupied by South Korea since 1954.

Exports:$556.5 billion (2011 est.): semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals. 

Imports:$524.4 billion (2011 est.): machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics. 

Major trading partners: China, U.S., Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia (2011).

Government: Unitary state, Presidential

system, Constitutional RepublicThe Government of South Korea is

divided into executive, judicial, and legislative branches.

The executive and judicial branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions.

The South Korean government's structure is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

President Park Geun Hye

Prime Minister Chung Hong Won

Spring

Yunjung-ro Cherry Blossom

Tunnel_Seoul

Summer

Haeundae Beach_Busan

Autumn

Mt.Naejangsan_Jeongeup-si, Jeollabuk-do

Province

Winter

Yongpyong Resort_Pyeongc

hang-gun, Gangwon-do

Province

DMZ Han River

Mt. Hallasan

Mt. Namsan

Chongchon River

Imjin River

Gyeongbokdo Palace Seoul National Museum

Mugunghwa Flower (Rose of Sharon)