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China is situated in eastern
Asia, bounded by the Pacific to the east. The third largest
country in the world after Canada and Russia, it has an area
of 9.6 million square kilometers, which is one-fifteenth of
the world's landmass. It begins at the confluence of the Heilong
and Wusuli Rivers (135 degrees and 5 minutes east longitude)
in the east and extends to the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (73 degrees and 40 minutes
east longitude) in the west, a distance of about 5,200 kilometers.
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from the midstream of the Heilong River north of Mohe (53 degrees
and 31 minutes north latitude) to the southernmost island of Zengmu'ansha
in the South China Sea (4 degrees and 15 minutes north latitude),
with about 5,500 kilometers in between.
The Chinese border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on
land and its coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed
by the waters of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the
South China Seas. The Bohai Sea is China's only inland sea.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square
meters, the largest being Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000
square kilometers, and the second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands
are China's southernmost island group.
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