People's Republic of China Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo

Over thousands of years China evolved almost isolated from the western hemisphere and today's visitors will come face to face with an unusual and different world. They will ask themselves searching questions and seek explanations. China is a ''Kingdom of Symbols'' - symbols which need to be decoded: from the Chinese characters to the dialects, from the shan-shui silk painting to the limestone mountains of Guilin, from the seemingly incomprehensible concepts of its religion to the complicated nature of contemporary politics. Everything is different and it can be difficult to unravel the many mysteries of Chinese life. Allow plenty of time to examine and reflect on the people and their environment. There is probably no other country in the world where external reality and superficial impressions count for so little.

China occupies by far the major part of the mainland of eastern Asia. The People's Republic of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54°N and longitudes 71° and 135°E - extending from the Pamir Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean, or more precisely the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the South China Sea, in the east.