The World's Airlines, past, present & future                 by David Lyall

China is a country in East Asia, the world's third largest country by area (after Russia and Canada) and the largest by population. It is bordered on the north by the Republic of Mongolia and Russia, on the northeast by Russia and North Korea, on the east by the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, on the south by the South China Sea, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal, on the west by Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and on the northwest by Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. China includes more than 3400 offshore islands. The total area of China is 9,571,300 sq km (3,695,500 sq mi), not including Hong Kong, Macau, and land under the control of the Republic of China on Taiwan. The capital of China is Beijing; the country's most populous urban centre is Shanghai.