China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the 2nd most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, it covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3.7 million square miles), the world's second-largest by land area and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau.
