China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific to the east. The third largest country in the world after Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, which is one-fifteenth of the world's landmass. It begins at the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli Rivers (135 degrees and 5 minutes east longitude) in the east and extends to the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (73 degrees and 40 minutes east longitude) in the west, a distance of about 5,200 kilometers.
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From the north, it stretches from the midstream of the Heilong River north of Mohe (53 degrees and 31 minutes north latitude) to the southernmost island of Zengmu'ansha in the South China Sea (4 degrees and 15 minutes north latitude), with about 5,500 kilometers in between.
The Chinese border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and its coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China Seas. The Bohai Sea is China's only inland sea.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square meters, the largest being Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, and the second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands are China’s southernmost island group.
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