中国历史（英文版）.doc

The History of China
摘自大英百科全书2004版
officially People's Republic of China, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Chung-hua or Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo, (Pinyin) Zhonghua or ZhonghuaRenmin Gongheguo country of East Asia. It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it stretches for about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles from north to south and covers an area of about 3,696,100 square miles (9,572,900 square km), which isapproximately one-fourteenth of the land area of the Earth. Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area only by Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe.
China's land frontier is about 12,400 miles in length, and its coastline extends for some8,700 miles. The country is bounded by Mongolia to the north; Russia and North Korea to the northeast; the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east; the South China Sea to the southeast; Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal to the south; Pakistan to the southwest; and Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakstan to the west. In addition to the 14 countries that border directly on it, China also faces South Korea and Japan, across the Yellow Sea, and the Philippines, which lie beyond the South China Sea.
China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government; these consist of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities (Chungking, Peking, Shanghai, and Tientsin), and two special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The island province of Taiwan, which has been under separate administration since 1949, is discussed in the article Taiwan. Peking (Beijing), the capital of the People's Republic, is also the cultural, economic, munications centre of the nation. Shanghai is the main industrial city; Hong Kong is the mercial centre and port.
Within China's boundaries exists a highly