The People's Republic of China is a vast coun- try with rich natural resources. The Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea lap its shores, and great mountains and rivers adorn its territory. Superior natural conditions provide not only a vast room of subsistence for the Chinese nation but also a strong material foundation for China's social progress.

China is one of the important birthplaces of an- cient human beings. More than one million years ago ancestors of the Chinese nation began a primi- tive social life on this vast land. More than 10 sites of primitive men have been discovered in the reaches of the Yangtze and the Yellow River. They include Yunnan's Yuanmei Man who lived about 1.7 million years ago, Shaanxi's Lantian Man of 800,000 years ago, and the Peking Man of 600,000 years ago.

The Chinese civilization is one of the earliest in the world: it has a recorded history of more than 5,000 years. Chinese agriculture and handicraft industry were among the most developed in the world in history. Chinese culture not only is rich and splendid but also has strong vitality. Among the best-known cultural attainments and pursuits of the Chinese people are silk, pottery-and-porce- lain making, architecture, gardening, stone caves, stone engraving, traditional Chinese medicine, wushu (martial arts) and ancient books and records. Many ancient construction projects, which are a crystallization of the wisdom and strength of the Chinese people, have become part of the cultural heritage of the nation. Such projects include the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, an ancient plank road built along the face of cliffs in Sichuan Province, the Dujiang Water Diversion Project in the same province, the Lingqu Canal in Guangxi and the karez -- an irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels used in the central Asian region of Xinjiang.

Places of historical interest, scenic areas and nature reserves for the protection of rare animal and plant species -- these are important heritages left behind by past generations and nature; they are also important conditions for the development of a tourist industry and scientific research. In China at present, with fast economic development propelled by the policies of reform and opening to the outside world, tourist resources are being de- veloped on a massive scale. Through a recent national poll, the following have been recognized as the Top Ten Places of Scenic Beauty and/or Historical Interest in China: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing, Mount Huangshan in Anhui, the West Lake in Hangzhou, Guilin land- scape, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze, gardens in Suzhou, the Terra-Cotta Soldiers and Horses of Emperor Qin Shihuang in Xi'an, the Summer Re- sort of Chengde and the Sun and Moon Lake in Taiwan. Mao Zedong said in one of his poems: "Our motherland is so rich in beauty." This is a most concise summation of China's geographical features.