China

Population: 1.36 billion (2013)

Geography: 9,596,961 square kilometres

Climate: Complicated terrain causes radically changing weather patterns, experiences rain, monsoons and snow in the winter and has hot, humid summers

World heritage sites: The Great Wall, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Mount Huangshan

Capital city: Beijing

Language(s): Mandarin, Cantonese, Jin, Tibetan, Mongolian, Wu

Official language: Mandarin

Political system: Socialist republic run by a single party. State power is executed by the Communist Party.

Value of Australia exports: AUD$94.7 billion (per year)

Australia and China

• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: factsheets, country briefs, travel advisory information
• Australia's State and territory relationships (PDF: 700 KB) with China
• Embassy websites: Australian Embassy in Beijing and Chinese Embassy in Canberra
• Comprehensive update on the Australia–China Free Trade Agreement Negotiations.
• Australia-China Council fosters people-to-people relations
• Chinese Government's English language portal

China in the media

• China Daily
• Shanghai Daily
• Xinhua English language portal, China's official news agency
• BBC country profiles
• The Economist country briefings 
• CIA World Factbook
• China news and facts, with sections on the Environment and Business from The New York Times

Other links

• World Student China – Visiting China for the first time: a guide for students