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China

China, officially known as the People's Republic of China, is located in Eastern Asia. It borders the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, South China Sea and shares borders with Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam. China is the world's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and the United States). Covering a land area of nearly 9,400,000 square kilometers; it is slightly larger than the land area of the United States.

China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. The last dynasty was established in 1644, when the Manchus overthrew the native Ming dynasty and established the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty with Beijing as its capital. During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and prosperity diminished. In 1912, the Qing (Ch'ing or Manchu) Dynasty was replaced by a republic; on October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established. After World War II, the Communists under Mao Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor Deng Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

The capital of China is Beijing; administrative divisions are made up of 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 4 municipalities. The terrain consists of mountains, deserts, and plateaus in the west; plains, deltas, and hills in the east. The climate is extremely diverse, from tropical in the south to subarctic in the north. Natural resources include coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, and the world’s largest hydropower potential. China’s natural hazards are frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts), damaging floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts, and land subsidence.

With a population officially just over 1.3 billion and an estimated growth rate of about 0.6%; , the government's goal is to stabilize the population in the first half of the 21st century, and current projections are that the population will peak at around 1.6 billion by 2050. The majority of people in China are Han Chinese (91.9%), with Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Yi, Tibetan, Miao, Manchu, Mongol, Buyi, Korean, and other nationalities constituting the rest (8.1%). Though officially atheist, major religions practiced in China are Taoism and Buddhism, others include Islam and Christianity. Ethnic languages include standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, and other minority languages.

- CIA World Factbook; U.S. Dept. of State Background Notes, 05/2007, 01/2007

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, conventionally known as the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, covers a total area of 144,000 sq. km. with a land area of 133,910 sq. km. and is slightly smaller than Iowa. The capital city is Dhaka (10 million); other major cities are Chittagong (2.8 million), Khulna (1.8 million), and Rajshahi (1 million). Bangladesh is a low-lying, riparian country located in South Asia, between Burma and India, with a largely marshy jungle coastline of 710 km. bordering the northern shore of the Bay of Bengal. Most of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas, where the Ganges unites with the Jamuna, a main channel of the Brahmaputra, and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal; the alluvial soil deposited by these rivers is highly fertile. Hills rise above the plain only in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the far southeast and the Sylhet division in the northeast.

Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladesh has a subtropical monsoonal climate characterized by heavy seasonal rainfall, moderately warm temperatures, and high humidity. Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores affect the country almost every year. Bangladesh also is affected by major cyclones--on average 16 times a decade. There are a number of current environmental issues facing Bangladesh: many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; water-borne diseases are prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water is contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; there are intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; rising soil degradation and erosion; increased deforestation; and severe overpopulation. Natural resources include natural gas, arable land, timber, and coal.

The official language is Bangla, also known as Bengali. The major ethnic groups are Bengali, comprising 98% of the population; indigenous tribal groups make up the remainder. The two major religions practiced are Muslim(83%) and Hindu(16%); other religions practiced include Buddhism and Christianity(1%).

Bangladesh’s government is a parliamentary democracy; the country has a caretaker government until a general election is held. President Iajuddin Ahmed, also chief of state, has held the post since September 2002. Although Iajuddin Ahmed is president and minister of defense, all of the other cabinet portfolios are held by caretaker advisers. Fakhruddin Ahmed is the chief advisor of the caretaker government, which is roughly equivalent to the prime minister. The president is elected by the legislature, or Parliament, every 5 years. The legislature is a unicameral, 300-seat body. All of its members are elected by universal suffrage at least every five years. The country has six administrative divisions: Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, and Sylhet.

- CIA World Factbook; U.S. Dept.of State Background Notes; LoC Federal Research Div.Country Studies, 05/2007, 05/2007, 09/1998

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