Published on : 20/02/2023
China has a territory of 9.6 million square kilometres, often described as vast and resource-rich, but what exactly does 9.6 million square kilometres mean?
It turns out to be almost the same size as the whole of Europe!
Territory of 9.6 million square kilometres
The full name of China is the People's Republic of China. It is located in the east of Asia. Its territory includes the mainland and islands such as Taiwan, Hainan, and the South China Sea Islands, with a total land area of about 9.6 million square kilometres.
9.6 million square kilometres is equivalent to 1/15 of the total land area of the world.
If we compare it with European countries, it's hard to say which European countries together are equivalent in size to China, because China is already more than 94% of the total area of Europe (Europe is about 10.18 million square kilometres).
The UK's size is one of the largest in Europe, but it only accounts for about 1/36 of the size of China.
Read more: China's population breaks through 1.4 billion
So what if compare China to its neighbouring Asian countries?
For example, Japan, a popular destination for people from Hong Kong, is only 1/25 the size of China; South Korea is only 1/96.
Moreover, geography books and materials would mention that China's territory starts in the north from the centre of the Heilongjiang river, near Mohe in Heilongjiang Province (53°30′N), and extends south to Zengmu Ansha in the South China Sea Islands of Hainan Province (4°N).
At the same time, it extends east to the junction of the Amur river and Ussuri river in Heilongjiang (135°05′E), and west to the Pamir Plateau to the west of Wuqia county in Xinjiang (73°40′E).
What is the concept of the "north and south, east and west" here?
3rd largest area in the world: it takes 6 hours to fly from south to north
According to official data, China spans 5,200 kilometres from east to west and 5,500 kilometres from north to south. This is roughly the distance from London to New York across the Atlantic.
Based on an average flight speed of 900 km/h for civil aviation, it would take more than 6 hours to fly from China's northernmost point to its southernmost point.
It is worth mentioning that in 2004, China and Russia re-determined the border, dividing Heixiazi Island at the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers into two parts, with the westward section returning to China, which may have caused a slight shift in China's "easternmost point", but the general position has not changed.
In addition, official confirmation puts China's territorial area as the third largest in the world, after Russia and Canada, and ahead of the United States.
Read more: We will surely protect the youngest land in the republic!
However, some foreign media or institutions will swap the rankings of China and the U.S, which involves not only the recognition of some disputed territories, but also the calculation methods, such as whether to include the area of certain lakes, for example, the "Great Lakes" in the U.S. are really big.
Finally, a few words to add, the capital of China is Beijing, and the country is currently divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the central government and 2 special administrative regions, of which Hong Kong is one of the special administrative regions.
We will detail these provincial data in another article.
