The countries of China

China is an empire composed of several countries, similar to the old USSR.  Here are the countries of China. (SAR = Special Administrative Region; SEZ = Special Economic Zone; AR=Autonomous Region).  Countries have their own culture, language and history.

1.  Taiwan (pop. 23.3 million).  Capital: Taipei.  Primary language: Mandarin.
2.  Hong Kong SAR (pop. 7.1 million).  Primary language: Cantonese.
3.  Shenzhen SEZ (pop.  10.4 million).  Primary language: Mandarin.  Adjacent to Hong Kong.
4. Macau SAR (pop. 545,000).  Primary language: Cantonese.
5. Zhuhai SEZ (pop. 1.6 million). Primary language: Mandarin.  Adjacent to Macau.
6. Shantou SEZ  (pop. 5.4 million). Primary language: Teochew.  The Chaoshan metropolitan area has 13.9 million people.
7. Xiamen SEZ (pop. 3.5 million).  Primary language: Hokkien.   Near Taiwan.
8. Hainan SEZ (pop. 8.7 million). Capital: Haikou. Primary language: Hainanese.  This is an island off the tip of Guangdong province and near Vietnam.
9.  Guangdong Province (except for Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou).  Capital: Guangzhou.  Language: Cantonese.  Pop. 87 million.
10. Northeast China / Manchuria.  Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces.  Shares a border with Russia, and North Korea.  (Pop. 107 million.).  Capital: Changchun.  Language:  Mandarin.  Historically, Manchu was the main language, but it is almost extinct.
11. Inner Mongolia AR. (Pop. 24 million).  Capital: Hohhot.  Language: Mongolian.
12. Xinjiang Uyghur AR. (Pop. 21.8 million).  Capital: Urumqi.  Language: Uyghur.  In far west China. At 1.6 million sq. km, it is bigger than neighboring Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
13. Tibet AR (Pop. 3 million).  Capital: Lhasa.  Language: Tibetan.  The Dalai Lama is in exile in India.
14. Ningxia Hui AR (Pop. 6.3 million). Capital: Yinchuan.  Language: Mandarin.  They are predominantly Muslim.
15. Guangxi Zhuang AR (Pop. 46 million). Capital: Nanning.  Language: Southwestern Mandarin, which is a separate language from Mandarin.
16. Shanghai / Zhejiang province / southern Jiangsu province. (Pop. 77 million). Capital: Shanghai.  Language:  Wu.
17. Fujian province. (Pop. 33.4 million, not including Xiamen).  Capital: Fuzhou. Language: Min Dong.
18. Jiangxi province. (Pop. 44.6 million).  Capital: Nanchang. Language: Gan.
19. Hunan province. (Pop. 65.7 million). Capital: Changsha.  Language: Xiang.
20. Chongqing Municipality. (Pop. 28.8 million). Capital: Chongqing.  Language: Sichuanese (Southwestern Mandarin).  This is a city-state.
21.  China.   Remaining area.  Capital: Beijing.  Language: Mandarin.