Map of China

Wonders & Great Monuments of China

Great Wall of China (Badaling Pass), Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang and The Forbidden City (Zijincheng) are marked on the map above. Click a pin or use "Show on map" to fly to each one.

Fortification SystemBuilt 220 BCENew 7 Wonders of the World

Great Wall of China (Badaling Pass)

Qin, Han & Ming Dynasties · Antiquity to Early Modern

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. The first walls date to the 7th century BC; these were joined together in the Qin dynasty. Successive dynasties expanded the wall system; the best-known sections were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

To aid in defense, the Great Wall utilized watchtowers, troop barracks, garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire, and its status as a transportation corridor. Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls (allowing control of immigration and emigration, and the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road), and the regulation of trade.

The collective fortifications constituting the Great Wall stretch from Liaodong in the east to Lop Lake in the west, and from the present-day Sino-Russian border in the north to Tao River in the south: an arc that roughly delineates the edge of the Mongolian steppe, spanning 21,196.18 km (13,170.70 mi) in total. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. Today, the defensive system of the Great Wall is recognized as one of the most impressive architectural feats in history.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Great Wall of China (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Show on mapView on the live mapWikipedia article

Built by

Qin, Han & Ming Dynasties

Built

220 BCE

Era

Antiquity to Early Modern

Type

Fortification System

Status

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Coordinates

40.3594° N, 116.0167° E

Architectural Significance

Integrated natural mountain ridge topography with crenellated ramparts, smoke-signal communication towers, and fortified gate garrisons.

Photos of Great Wall of China (Badaling Pass)

• 

• 

• 

History & architecture of Great Wall of China (Badaling Pass)

History

The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. During this time and the subsequent Warring States period, the states of Zheng, Chu, Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Lu, Han, Yan, Zhongshan and Zhou all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly of stone or by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.

The state of Qin emerged victorious in 221 BC; its ruler, now the First Emperor of a unified China, intended to centralize rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords; in doing so, he ordered the destruction of the sections of the walls that divided his empire among the former states. To position the empire against the Xiongnu people from the north, however, he ordered the building of new walls to connect the remaining fortifications along the northern frontier. "Build and move on" was a central guiding principle in constructing the wall, implying that the Chinese were not erecting a permanently fixed border.

Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources; stone was used in montane areas, while rammed earth was used while building in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin walls, as most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, the Han, the Northern dynasties and the Sui all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders. The Tang and Song dynasties did not undertake any significant effort in the region. Dynasties founded by non-Han ethnic groups also built border walls: the Xianbei-ruled Northern Wei, the Khitan-ruled Liao, Jurchen-led Jin and the Tangut-established Western Xia, who ruled vast territories over Northern China throughout centuries, all constructed defensive walls, albeit being further north—reaching into the environs of present-day Mongolia—than Han-built fortifications.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Great Wall of China (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Imperial NecropolisBuilt 210 BCE

Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang

Qin Dynasty China · Classical Antiquity

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE in his mausoleum with the purpose of protecting him in his afterlife.

The figures, dating from approximately the late 200s BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong County, outside Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. The figures vary in height according to their rank, the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army hold more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remain in situ. Other, non-military terracotta figures have since been found in other pits, including those of officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Terracotta Army (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Show on mapView on the live mapWikipedia article

Built by

Qin Dynasty China

Built

210 BCE

Era

Classical Antiquity

Type

Imperial Necropolis

Status

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor)

Coordinates

34.3848° N, 109.2786° E

Architectural Significance

Figures assembled from mould-made parts and then individually modelled and painted, set in timber-roofed pits within a necropolis laid out like the imperial capital.

Photos of Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang

• 

• 

• 

History & architecture of Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang

History

The construction of the tomb was described by the historian Sima Qian (145–90 BCE) in the Records of the Grand Historian, the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, which was written a century after the mausoleum's completion. Work on the mausoleum began in 246 BCE, soon after Emperor Qin (then aged 13) succeeded his father as King of Qin, and Sima said that the project eventually involved 700,000 conscripted workers. Geographer Li Daoyuan, writing six centuries after the first emperor's death, recorded in Shui Jing Zhu that Mount Li was a favoured location due to its auspicious geology: "famed for its jade mines, its northern side was rich in gold, and its southern side rich in beautiful jade; the first emperor, covetous of its fine reputation, therefore chose to be buried there".

Sima Qian wrote that the first emperor was buried with palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts and wondrous objects. According to this famous account, 100 flowing rivers were simulated using mercury, and above them the ceiling was decorated with heavenly bodies, below which lay the features of the lands of China which the emperor had unified. Some translations of this passage refer to "models" or "imitations"; however, those words were not used in the original text, which also makes no mention of the terracotta army. Although these elements of Sima Qian's account on the structure of the mausoleum have been seen as credulous in pre-modern assessments, the detection of high levels of mercury that were found in the soil of the tomb mound following the discovery of the mausoleum site have since given credence to Sima Qian's account. Additionally, the Emperor is well documented for building monumental statues in human form during his reign, such as the Twelve Metal Colossi, which were a series of contemporaneous statues that are now lost but have been noted in historical records.

Later historical accounts have suggested that the mausoleum complex and tomb itself had been looted by Xiang Yu, a contender for the throne after the death of the first emperor. However, there are indications that the tomb itself may not have been plundered.

Excavation site

Four main pits approximately 7 m (23 ft) deep have since been uncovered in the site excavations. These are located approximately 1,500 m (4,900 ft) east of the burial mound. The soldiers within were laid out as if to protect the tomb from the east, where the Qin Emperor's conquered states lay, and were discovered 7 m below the excavation level.

Pit 1, which is 230 m (750 ft) long and 62 m (203 ft) wide, contains the main army of more than 3,000 figures. It is the largest of the four pits and has eleven parallel corridors, most more than 3 m (10 ft) wide and paved with small bricks with a wooden ceiling supported by large beams and posts. This design was also used for the tombs of nobles and would have resembled palace hallways when built. The wooden ceilings were covered with reed mats and layers of clay for waterproofing, and then mounded with more soil raising them about 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) above the surrounding ground level when completed.

Pit 2 has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots and is thought to represent a military guard. Pit 3 is the command post, with high-ranking officers and a war chariot. Pit 4 is empty, perhaps left unfinished by its builders.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Terracotta Army (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Imperial Palace ComplexBuilt 1420 CE

The Forbidden City (Zijincheng)

Ming & Qing Dynasties (Yongle Emperor) · Early Modern

The Forbidden City is the imperial palace complex in the center of the Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of twenty-four Ming and Qing dynasty Emperors and was the center of political power in China for over five hundred years from 1420 to 1924. The palace is now administered by the Palace Museum and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Forbidden City is one of the most famous palaces in all of Chinese history and is the largest preserved royal palace complex still standing in the world.

Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor was filmed inside the Forbidden City in 1987 (and the first Western production to do so).

The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420 and was the imperial palace and winter residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor in 1420) to the end of the Qing dynasty in 1924. Serving as the home of Chinese emperors and their households, the Forbidden City was the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925 the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts was built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The complex claims to consist of 9,999 rooms in total, although experts have shown in recent years that the number amounts to 8,886, covering 72 ha (720,000 m2; 180 acres). The palace exemplifies the opulence of the residences of the Chinese emperor and the traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and it has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and beyond. Since 2012 the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, even receiveing more than 19 million visitors in 2019.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Forbidden City (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Show on mapView on the live mapWikipedia article

Built by

Ming & Qing Dynasties (Yongle Emperor)

Built

1420 CE

Era

Early Modern

Type

Imperial Palace Complex

Status

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties)

Coordinates

39.9163° N, 116.3972° E

Architectural Significance

Timber halls with interlocking dougong brackets on stone terraces, their rank shown by roof form, colour and the number of roof-ridge figures.

Photos of The Forbidden City (Zijincheng)

• 

• 

• 

History & architecture of The Forbidden City (Zijincheng)

History

When the Hongwu Emperor's son Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, and construction began in 1406 on what would become the Forbidden City.

Construction lasted 14 years and required more than a million workers. Material used included whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood (楠木; nánmù) found in the jungles of southwestern China, and large blocks of marble from quarries near Beijing. The floors of major halls were paved with "golden bricks" (金磚; jīnzhuān), specially baked paving bricks from Suzhou.

From 1420 to 1644, the Forbidden City was the seat of the Ming dynasty. In April 1644, it was captured by rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, who proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun dynasty. He soon fled before the combined armies of former Ming general Wu Sangui and Manchu forces, setting fire to parts of the Forbidden City in the process.

Structure

The Forbidden City is a rectangle, measuring 961 m (3,153 ft) from north to south and 753 m (2,470 ft) from east to west. It consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,886 bays of rooms. A common myth states that there are 9,999 rooms including antechambers, based on oral tradition, but it is not supported by survey evidence. The layout of the Forbidden City protected the imperial code of ethics as a physical installation. The courtyard was built on a massive, luxurious scale but it has the appearance of a quadrangle courtyard. The Forbidden City was designed to be the centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing. It is enclosed in a larger, walled area called the Imperial City. The Imperial City is, in turn, enclosed by the Inner City; to its south lies the Outer City.

The Forbidden City remains important in the civic scheme of Beijing. The central north–south axis remains the central axis of Beijing. This axis extends to the south through Tiananmen Gate to Tiananmen Square, the ceremonial centre of the People's Republic of China, and on to Yongdingmen Gate. To the north, it extends through Jingshan Park to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower. This axis is not exactly aligned north–south, but is tilted by slightly more than two degrees. Researchers now believe that the axis was designed during the Yuan dynasty to be aligned with Shangdu, the other capital of their empire.

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 m (26 ft) high city wall and a 6 m (20 ft) deep by 52 m (171 ft) wide moat. The walls are 8.62 m (28.3 ft) wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 m (21.9 ft) at the top. These walls served as both defensive walls and retaining walls for the palace. They were constructed with a rammed earth core, and surfaced with three layers of specially baked bricks on both sides, with the interstices filled with mortar.

Architecture

The design of the Forbidden City, from its overall layout to the smallest detail, was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolize the majesty of Imperial power. Some noted examples of symbolic designs include:

Yellow is the color of the Emperor. Thus almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles. There are only two exceptions. The library at the Pavilion of Literary Profundity (文淵閣) had black tiles because black was associated with water, and thus fire-prevention. Similarly, the Crown Prince's residences have green tiles because green was associated with wood, and thus growth.

The main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three – the shape of the Qian trigram ☰, representing Heaven. The residences of the Inner Court on the other hand are arranged in clusters of six – the shape of the Kun trigram ☷, representing the Earth.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Forbidden City (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Geography and Climate of China

China's historical civilization dates to at least the 13th century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1046-221 B.C.) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 221 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from overextension by territorial conquest, insolvency, civil war, imperialism, military defeats, and foreign expropriation of ports and infrastructure. It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism, and continued foreign intervention. In the late 1920s, a civil war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government, led by CHIANG Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s, and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time of Japan’s defeat in 1945. The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity after the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949, under the leadership of MAO Zedong. MAO and the CCP established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring the PRC's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and launched agricultural, economic, political, and social policies -- such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) -- that cost the lives of millions of people. MAO died in 1976. Beginning in 1978, leaders DENG Xiaoping, JIANG Zemin, and HU Jintao focused on market-oriented economic development and opening up the country to foreign trade, while maintaining the rule of the CCP. Since the change, China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies, with real gross domestic product averaging over 9% growth annually through 2021, lifting an estimated 800 million people out of poverty and dramatically improving overall living standards. By 2011, the PRC’s economy was the second largest in the world. Current leader XI Jinping has continued these policies but has also maintained tight political controls. Over the past decade, China has increased its global outreach, including military deployments, participation in international organizations, and a global connectivity plan in 2013 called the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI). Many nations have signed on to BRI agreements to attract PRC investment, but others have expressed concerns about such issues as the opaque nature of the projects, financing, and potentially unsustainable debt obligations. XI Jinping assumed the positions of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2012 and President in 2013. In 2018, the PRC’s National People’s Congress passed an amendment abolishing presidential term limits, which allowed XI to gain a third five-year term in 2023.

Location

Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam.

Climate

Extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north.

Terrain

Mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east.

Highest point

Mount Everest (highest peak in Asia and highest point on earth above sea level) 8,849 m.

Lowest point

Turpan Pendi (Turfan Depression) -154 m.

Coastline

14,500 km.

Land borders

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.

Major rivers

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.

Major lakes

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; 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.

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.

Land use

Agricultural land: 55.3% (2023 est.); arable land: 11.6% (2023 est.); permanent crops: 2.1% (2023 est.); permanent pasture: 41.7% (2023 est.); forest: 23.8% (2023 est.); other: 20.6% (2023 est.)

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.

Geographic 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.

Languages

Standard Chinese or Mandarin (official; Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages; note - Zhuang is official in Guangxi Zhuang, Yue is official in Guangdong, Mongolian is official in Nei Mongol, Uyghur is official in Xinjiang Uygur, Kyrgyz is official in Xinjiang Uyghur, and Tibetan is official in Xizang (Tibet)

Religions

Folk religion 21.9%, Buddhist 18.2%, Christian 5.1%, Muslim 1.8%, Hindu < 0.1%, Jewish < 0.1%, other 0.7% (includes Daoist (Taoist)), unaffiliated 52.1% (2021 est.)

Ethnic groups

Han Chinese 91.1%, ethnic minorities 8.9% (includes Zhang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai, and other nationalities) (2021 est.)

Economy

World’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP; global leader in exports and manufacturing; historically strong growth slowing; challenges of aging workforce, weak productivity, rising youth unemployment, struggling property sector, and public debt; state-sponsored economic controls and infrastructure investments.

From the CIA World Factbook (public domain), archived edition of 2026-01-22. The Factbook is no longer updated, so figures reflect that edition.

China in Numbers

Population

1.41 billion

2025

GDP

US$19.50 trillion

2025

GDP per person

US$13,862

2025

Life expectancy

78.0 years

2024

Population growth

-0.17% a year

2025

Population density

150 per km²

2024

Urban population

66.3%

2025

Surface area

9,562,910 km²

2024

Forest cover

24.0%

2024

Arable land

11.6%

2024

Access to electricity

100.0%

2024

Internet users

91.6%

2025

Indicators from World Bank Open Data (CC BY 4.0). The year under each figure is its reference year.

China in Depth

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: China (CC BY-SA 4.0).

China: Key Facts

Facts from Wikidata Q148 (CC0).

History of China: Empires and States

The atlas records 132 polities whose mapped territory included part of China, from Shang Dynasty in 1600 BCE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.

Also recorded: Western Qin, Northern Wei, Later Qin, Northern Liang, Southern Yan, Rouran Khaganate, Northern Yan, Xia, Liu Song Dynasty, Southern Qi, Liang Dynasty, Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Qi, Göktürk Khaganate, Later Western Liang, Northern Zhou, Chen Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Eastern Göktürks, Western Göktürks, Tibetan Empire, The Tang Dynasty, Turks, Türgesh, Balhae, Uyghur Khaganate, Nanzhao, Kara-Khanids, Tibetans, Ganzhou Kingdom, Qocho Kingdom, Kingdom of Khotan, Yan Kingdom, Former Shu, Later Liang Dynasty, Later Jin, Min, Southern Chu, Southern Wu, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Southern Han, Wuyue, Liao Dynasty, Later Tang, Jingnan, Later Shu, Later Han, Kingdom of Dali, Southern Tang, Northern Song, The Song Dynasty, Western Xia, Eastern Kara-Khanids, Vassalage of Western Xia to Great Jin, Great Jin, Kara-Khitans, Southern Song, The Mongol Empire, Yuan Dynasty, Chagatai Khanate, Tibet, Northern Yuan, The Ming Dynasty, Four Oirats, East Turkestan, Mongol Khanate, Moghulistan, Eastern Moghulistan, Golden Horde, Tümed, Khoshut Khanate, Dzungar Khanate, Later Jin Dynasty, Oirat Confederation, Li Zicheng, Southern Ming, The Qing Dynasty, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Panthay Rebellion, The Russian Empire, Republic of China, Empire of Japan, Kuomintang, Communist Party of China, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, People's Republic of China.

Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.

Visiting China

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: China (CC BY-SA 4.0).

States and Provinces of China

24 first-level divisions with their own map.

• Anhui map13 cities
• Fujian map12 cities
• Gansu map18 cities
• Guangdong map18 cities
• Guangxi map11 cities
• Guizhou map6 cities
• Hebei map16 cities
• Heilongjiang map41 cities
• Henan map16 cities
• Hubei map18 cities
• Hunan map13 cities
• Jiangsu map14 cities
• Jiangxi map11 cities
• Jilin map24 cities
• Liaoning map18 cities
• Nei Mongol map28 cities
• Shaanxi map10 cities
• Shandong map22 cities
• Shanxi map11 cities
• Sichuan map17 cities
• Xinjiang Uygur map16 cities
• Xizang map7 cities
• Yunnan map14 cities
• Zhejiang map13 cities

China: Quick Answers

What is the capital of China?

The capital of China is Beijing.

What is the population of China?

China has a population of about 1.41 billion, the #2 largest of 225 countries in YearMaps. Source: World Bank, 2025.

How big is China?

China covers 9.60M km², ranking #5 by area, with about 147 people per square kilometre.

Which continent is China in?

China is in Asia.

Which countries border China?

China shares a land or maritime border with Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, India, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, South Korea, Afghanistan, Bhutan.

What is the largest city in China?

Shanghai is the largest city in China, with a metropolitan population of about 14.99 million.

What is the highest mountain in China?

The highest summit recorded for China in YearMaps is Mount Everest at 8,848 m (29,029 ft). Summits on a border are counted for both countries.

What is the largest lake in China?

The largest lake recorded in or bordering China is Qinghai Hu, at roughly 4,457 km².

What are the famous wonders and monuments of China?

China's great monuments in YearMaps are Great Wall of China (Badaling Pass), Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang, The Forbidden City (Zijincheng). Each is written up on this page with photographs and its history.

What is the tallest dam in China?

The tallest dam recorded for China is Jinping-I Dam at 305 m, on the Yalong.