GOVERNMENT

• Conventional long/short : conventional long form: People’s Republic of China, conventional short form: China
• Abbreviation: PRC
• Time Zone (one time zone): UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time), note: despite its size, all of China falls within one time zone; many people in Xinjiang Province observe an unofficial “Xinjiang time zone” of UTC+6, two hours behind Beijing
• Administrative divisions: 23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), and 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural)
• Map of provinces
• Chief of State/: President HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003);
• Head of government: Vice President XI Jinping (since 15 March 2008)
• Legislative branch unicameral National People’s Congress or Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (2,987 seats; members elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people’s congresses, and People’s Liberation Army to serve five-year terms)
• Judicial branch Supreme People’s Court (judges appointed by the National People’s Congress); Local People’s Courts (comprise higher, intermediate, and basic courts); Special People’s Courts (primarily military, maritime, railway transportation, and forestry courts)