Figure 1.-- Britain's control of Hong Kong for about 150 years has left an impact in law government, education, clothing, and other cultural aspects. Some of the few private schools in China are found in Hing Kong. Some Hong Kong schools adopted British-style school uniforms.

A now dated source indicates that China consisted of 35 provinces, not counting Outer Mongolia and Tibet. Presumably the number of provinces in modern China may now be different. The term "China Proper" is generally applied to the 18 densely populated ethnic Han provinces which comprise southeastern China. This includes Taiwan which returned to Chinese control in 1945 after 50 years of Japanese occupation. Taiwan is currently governed by the democratically elected government that evolved from the Nationalist regime defeated by the Communists on the mainland in 1949. The term "Outer China" is applied to the outlying northern and western regions of China. These areas exceed the Area of China proper, but are sparsely populated--with only about 10 percent of China's total population. In addition, in many of the western provinces the ethnic Han population is a minority. These provinces include Jehol, Manchuria, Iner-Mongolia, Sinkiang, Chinhai, and Sikang. A great symbol of the Chinese cultural sphere was once the Great Wall which now is well within China's borders, extending 1,250 miles from the western Asuiatic deserts to the Pacific coast. China seized control of Tibet in 1956, but this is not reciognized by many other countries. The two last European enclaves (Hong Kong and Macao) returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Not only are there numerous regions within China, but the Chinese have emmigrated to countries all around the globe. There are important overseas Chinese ethnic minorities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and many other countries.

Created: August 29, 2001
Last updated: August 29, 2002