China at a Glance

• Population: 1.3 billions


• Capital city: Peking (Beijing), approx. 13.82 million inhabitants


• Language: Standard-Chinese, Dialects of Chinese


• Religions: Atheistic State-ideology, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Protestant und Catholic „State-Churches“


• Form of government: Socialist People's Republic

Economy

Amicable and good, relations between the two governments have proliferated in many directions over the past years, developing remarkably close ties of increasing political substance. China is now Germany's most important economic partner in Asia and Germany is China's leading trading partner in Europe. Since 2002, China has been Germany's second biggest export market outside Europe after the USA, even ahead of Japan. Germany is by far China's largest European trading partner and ranks sixth amongst China's trading partners overall. The principal products sold to China by German companies are machinery and equipment, as well as electronic goods, special devices and vehicles. The main Chinese imports to Germany are electronic products, textiles, clothing, machinery and equipment.

Culture and Science

Beginning 1979, bilateral cultural relations between Germany and China are governed by a cultural treaty as the basis for agreeing on two-year cultural exchange programmes. Both countries are currently negotiating a new cultural treaty to cater for new developments in relations and lay a broader foundation for future work by the cultural intermediaries: the People's Republic of China plans to set up a cultural centre in Berlin; established in Beijing since 1988, the branch office of the Goethe Institute will enlarge the scope of its activities. China's progressive open-door policy is also evidenced by the numerous direct exchanges in both directions (orchestral tours, exhibitions).

Begun under an intergovernmental agreement concluded 27 years ago, scientific and technological cooperation between Germany and China has stepped up in recent years. Measured by the number of joint projects and financial volume, China is now Germany's most important cooperation partner under this kind of agreement. Nearly all major research institutions, numerous universities and industrial partners (in projects) are involved in cooperation on both sides. In 2004, the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences celebrated the 30th anniversary of their close and successful cooperation and have decided to found an institute for computational biology in Shanghai. The Frauenhofer Society and the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres have opened representative offices in Beijing.

There has also been a rise in the number of joint projects in the education sector, e.g. joint Masters courses, the establishment of technical colleges in China and a training centre for laser technology.

Links

www.china-botschaft.de (Official representation of China in Germany)
www.peking.diplo.de (German Embassy in China)
www.oav.de (German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV))
www.goethe.de/peking (Goethe-Institute in Peking)