China’s land area covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, which is nearly one-fifteenth of the world’s land, and which makes China--next to Russia and Canada--the third largest country in the world.

Lying in the northern half of the eastern hemisphere, China is situated in the eastern part of Asia on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean.

From north to south, the territory of China extends 5,500 kilometers from the center line of the main navigation channel of the Heilong River north of the town of Mohe in Heilongjiang Province to the Zengmu Reef of the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea (near Latitude 4°N.). From west to east, it measures 5,200 kilometers, stretching from the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region to where the main navigation channels of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers meet in Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang Province. The time variation between the westernmost and easternmost regions is a little more than four hours.