The first thing that strikes visitors about China is the extraordinary density of its population. In central and eastern China, villages, towns and cities seem to sprawl endlessly into one another along the grey arteries of busy expressways. These are the Han Chinese heartlands, a world of chopsticks, tea, slippers, massed bicycles, shadow-boxing, exotic pop music, teeming crowds, chaotic train stations, smoky temples, red flags and the smells of soot and frying tofu. Move west or north away from the major cities, and the population thins out. Here the landscape begins to dominate: green paddy fields and misty hilltops in the southwest, the scorched, epic vistas of the old Silk Road in the northwest, and the magisterial mountains of Tibet. The tourist highlights - the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Army and Yangzi gorges are well worth visiting.

Capital City = Beijing
Time Zone = GMT + 8
Currency = Yuan Renminbi (Hong Kong = Hong Kong dollar)
Official Language = Mandarin