Hu Jintao
General Secretary of the Communist Party

(pronounced "who-gin-TOW" [as in towel])

"We in China are working hard to build up a strong, prosperous, democratic, and culturally advanced modern socialist country. We need an international environment of lasting peace, and we long for living harmoniously with all countries of the world."

The People's Republic of China is located in central and eastern Asia. Its total area is 9,596,960 sq km (3,705,407 sq mi), making China the third-largest country in the world. With a population estimated at 1.3 billion in 2002, it is also the world's most populous nation. China is a climatically and geographically diverse nation with primarily temperate climate in most of the nation, but dense tropics in the south, warm and humid coastal regions, and frigid northern and Tibetan regions. Of the total land mass, only 10% is cultivated regularly. Some of the world's...