About 200 years ago, Napoleon said, "China is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep! When he wakes, he will shake the world." Indeed, China is now not only waking up, but has also overtaken Japan as the second-largest economy in the world. Despite the financial crisis in 2009, the world’s worst in 30 years, the Chinese economy is still growing fast and becoming stronger. Goldman Sachs has predicted that China will overtake the USA as the largest economy in the world by 2027.

China's rapid economic growth, low labour costs and increasing number of wealthy consumers have attracted foreign companies to invest in the country. In 2009, more than a quarter of the world’s luxury goods were consumed by China.

China's economy continues to grow fast and strong. However, it is also an embryonic economy that has many product, technology and service “gaps” that need to be filled. As China continues to develop, a continual stream of new gaps will emerge and create opportunities to start exciting, new companies and joint ventures. Hence, more Chinese businesspersons and companies are investing abroad to search for the right Western partners to fill those gaps.

Click the picture to enlarge the map of China

Area: 9,956,960 sq km (UK:244,100 sq km), 41 times the size of the UK

Population: 1.33 billion (2011), one-fifth of the world's population

Major language: Mandarin Chinese

The Basic Facts about China:

• China is the world's biggest market with more than 1.33 billion consumers.
• China had the world's fastest growing group of millionaires last year, an elite club that rose 31 percent from 2008 to encompass 477,000 people. The robust growth helped China overtake Britain as the world's fourth largest home to rich people.
• China also has one of the world's fastest growths of GDP.
• China is the most attractive destination for foreign investment, according to a survey conducted by leading global professional services firm Ernst & Young in July 2007.
  
• China is the biggest recipient of Foreign Direct Invesetment (FDI) in the World.
• China had overtaken the Japan, UK, France & Germany as the world's 2nd largest economy in 2010.
• China overtook the UK as the world's second-biggest destination for venture capital investments in 2006.
• China overtook the United States to become the world's second largest exporter in 2007.
• China is the world's biggest furniture exporter.
• China becaome the largest world luxury goods consumer in 2009. More than 25% of the luxury goods in the world are consumed by China..
• China is the 3rd largest investor in Africa in 2007.
• Labour costs in China are about one tenth those in the UK.
• China is producing 2 million graduates a year including 270,000 in science and engineering.
• There are more than 4,400 joint ventures involving UK companies and Chinese partners, and each year an additional 400 new joint ventures are being entered into.
• The world's largest user of mobile phones, steel, copper, cement, cotton, TV sets, cotton fabric, the internet and PCs, auto market etc.
• China is the largest oil consumer after the US, and the world's biggest producer and consumer of coal. The country spends billions of dollars in pursuit of foreign energy supplies. There has been a massive investment in hydro-power, including the $25bn Three Gorges Dam project.
• China overtakes US as world's biggest car market in 2010.
• China became the world's largest gold producer in 2008.
• It is estimated that over 300 million Chinese people currently speak English. And in twenty years time the number of English speakers in China is likely to exceed the number of speakers of English as a first language in the all of the rest of the world.
• China is the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in the world.
• 25 per cent of the world's washing machines are produced in China.
• 30 per cent of the world's television sets.
• 40 per cent of the world's microwaves.
• 50 per cent of the world's cameras.
• 50 per cent of the world's shoes.
• 70 per cent of the world's photocopiers.
• 60 per cent of the world's toys.
  

GDP - real growth rate: 9.2% ( 2011), 10.3% ( 2010), 8.7% (2009), 9.4%( 2008), 11.9% (2007), 10.7% (2006) , 9.9% (2005)

Main exports: Manufactured goods, including textiles, garments, electronics and arms.

Currency: yuan (CNY) or Renminbi (RMB)

Exchange rates: yuan per US dollar - 6.58 (2010), 6.98 (May 2008), 7.20 (2007), 7.90 (2006), 8.10 (2005), 8.26 (2003)

International dialling code: 0086

Major religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Taoism