China: Facts & Stats

Demographics

Population:

1,321 million inhabitants (2007) Density: 137 inhabitants per sq. km China has 99 urban areas with over 100,000,000 inhabitants.

The five largest are:

1. Shanghai 10,03 million
2. Beijing 7,6 million
3. Tianjin 4,9 million
4. Guangzhou 4,6 million
5. Wuhan 4,5 million

Welfare:

Social welfare in the People's Republic of China has undergone various changes throughout history. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is responsible for the social welfare system.

In pre-1980s reform China, the socialist state fulfilled the needs of society from cradle to grave. Child care, education, job placement, housing, subsistence, health care, and elder care were largely the responsibility of the work unit as administered through state-owned enterprises and agricultural communes and collectives. As those systems disappeared or were reformed, the "iron rice bowl" approach to welfare changed. Article 14 of the constitution stipulates that the state "builds and improves a welfare system that corresponds with the level of economic development."

In 2004 China experienced the greatest decrease in its poorest population since 1999. People with a per capita income of less than 668 renminbi (RMB; US$80.71) decreased 2.9 million or 10 percent; those with a per capita income of no more than 924 RMB (US$111.64) decreased by 6.4 million or 11.4 percent, according to statistics from the State Council’s Poverty Reduction Office.

Welfare reforms since the late 1990s have included unemployment insurance, medical insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, maternity benefits, communal pension funds, and individual pension accounts.

Education:

Education in the People's Republic of China is a state-run system of public education run by the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for at least nine years. The government provides primary education for six years, starting at age six or seven, followed by six years of secondary education for ages 12 to 18. Some provinces may have five years of primary school but four years for middle school. There are three years of middle school and three years of high school. The Ministry of Education reported a 99 percent attendance rate for primary school and an 80 percent rate for both primary and middle schools. In 1985, the government abolished tax-funded higher education, requiring university applicants to compete for scholarships based on academic ability. In the early 1980s the government allowed the establishment of the first private schools. The population has had on average only 6.2 years of schooling, but in 1986 the government set the goal of nine years of compulsory education for students by the year 2000.

The United Nations Development Program reported that in 2003 China had 116,390 kindergartens with 613,000 teachers and 20 million students. At that time, there were 425,846 primary schools with 5.7 million teachers and 116.8 million students. General secondary education had 79,490 institutions, 4.5 million teachers, and 85.8 million students. There also were 3,065 specialized secondary schools with 199,000 teachers and 5 million students. Among these specialized institutions were 6,843 agricultural and vocational schools with 289,000 teachers and 5.2 million students and 1,551 special schools with 30,000 teachers and 365,000 students.

China has already pulled off one of the most remarkable expansions of education in modern times, increasing the number of undergraduates and people who hold doctoral degrees fivefold in 10 years. In 2003 China supported 1,552 institutions of higher learning (colleges and universities) and their 725,000 professors and 11 million students (see List of universities in the People's Republic of China). Beijing and Tsinghua universities and more than 100 other National Key Universities are some of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The percentage of China's college-age population in higher education has increased from 1.4% in 1978 to roughly 20% in 2005. Every year 450,000 engineering students graduate from college, 50,000 graduate with masters degrees, and 8,000 graduate with Ph.Ds.

In 2002, the literacy rate in China was 90.8%; 95.1% of males and 86.5% of females.

Laws regulating the system of education include the Regulation on Academic Degrees, the Compulsory Education Law, the Teachers Law, the Education Law, the Law on Vocational Education, and the Law on Higher Education.

Religion:

Religion in China has been characterized by pluralism since the beginning of Chinese history. The Chinese religions are family-oriented and do not demand the exclusive adherence of members. Some scholars question the use of the term "religion" in reference to Buddhism and Daoism, and suggest "cultural practices" or "thought systems" as more appropriate names. The questions of who should be called religious in China, and what religion or religions they should be called are up to debate. Generally, the percentage of people who call themselves religious in China have been the lowest in the world. Buddhism remains the largest organized religion in China since its introduction in the 1st century.

Ancestor worship is the original basic Chinese religion. According to ancient law, the highest King of China, also called the Son of Heaven (Tianzi), sacrificed to Heaven (Tian or Shangdi), Earth (Di) and other gods especially the gods of famous mountains and rivers. Seigneurs or officials were accredited to sacrifice to respective gods.

Daoism was formed in Han Dynasty. About the time Buddhism was introduced to China, and it rose to predominance during the Tang Dynasty, which initially tolerated its coexistence. Tensions between Buddhism and the Chinese Tang state led to the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution in 845 CE when the emperor felt that force of the religion was threatening the government. The Chinese religious tradition of Three Religions Combining into One which means combining Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism into one religion was greatly developed during Sui and Tang Dynasty.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, with the introduction of Western freethinking ideology into China, and as the country developed industrially, traditional religions began to fade. Western religions took a foothold, notably causing the Taiping Rebellion. The communist and atheist CPC came to power in 1949. It viewed traditional religions as backwards, and Western religions such as Christianity as the tool of Western colonialism. This led to China being among the least religious countries in the world since 1950s. After the "opening up" of the 1980s, more religious freedoms were granted, and traditional beliefs like Taoism and Buddhism were supported as an integral part of the Chinese culture. Now Buddhism is the largest and fastest-growing religion in China, thriving throughout the country as the government is allowing it to spread.

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