China - Country Information

China

Fu Wai Hospital in Beijing, China, the largest center in China, performs over 7000 open heart operations per year.

For centuries China has stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. But in the first half of the 20th century, China was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship 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 gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Output quadrupled in the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP. Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to weaken.

Location:	Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam 35 00 N, 105 00 E
Population:	1,273,111,290 (July 2001 est.)
Area:	total: 9,596,960 sq km land: 9,326,410 sq km water: 270,550 sq km slightly smaller than the US
Climate:	extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north
Terrain:	mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Elevation:	lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)
Natural resources:	coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)

Shanghai Children's Medical Center
Located in Pudong, Shanghai performs over 3000 pediatric cardiac open heart operations per year. Supported by Project Hope and Boston Children's Hospital, the program is the premier center for pediatric cardiac surgery in China.

China continues to emerge, blending old and new, as well as assimilating traditional values and evolving technology.