24 places on the atlas covering people, history, architecture, language, culture, festivals, folklore and crafts. Highlights include Confucius, Terracotta Army, Forbidden City and Tibetan.
See China on the map Etiquette guide
| President | Xi Jinping |
|---|---|
| Premier | Li Qiang |
Office-holders as of July 2026. Governments change, so check China’s official government website for the latest. Full list of heads of state and government.
A short, well-known selection rather than a ranking. People pinned on the map appear in the cards below.
Born in the state of Lu, near present-day Qufu, his teachings on ethics, family duty and good government shaped East Asian thought for more than two thousand years.
He combined martial arts with comedy and performed his own stunts in dozens of Hong Kong and Hollywood films.
He led seven large Ming-dynasty voyages across the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa, with some of the biggest wooden ships of his time.
A 2.29-metre centre who became a star in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and helped popularise the sport in China.
In 2011 she became the first player from Asia to win a Grand Slam singles title, and she won a second in 2014.
A former wushu champion who became an action star in films such as Once Upon a Time in China and Hero.
A pianist who rose from a childhood in Shenyang to play with the world's leading orchestras and inspire millions of young students.
Thousands of life-sized clay soldiers were buried to guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of unified China.
Many walls were built across northern China over some two thousand years. The Badaling section near Beijing was rebuilt in the Ming dynasty.
The imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with hundreds of buildings arranged along a strict central axis.
A white-and-red palace-fortress high above Lhasa, once the winter home of the Dalai Lamas, with over a thousand rooms.
Tibetan is written in a script based on Indian models from the 7th century and preserves a huge body of Buddhist literature.
Spoken by more native speakers than any other language. It is written in characters, each standing for a syllable and meaning, and uses four tones.
A Chinese language with six to nine tones, spoken in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau and by many overseas communities.
In Guangzhou and the wider Cantonese world, families gather over tea and small steamed dishes, often pouring tea for others before themselves.
The Shaolin Temple's monks developed a style of martial arts that is practised as a discipline of body and mind. The temple complex lies near Mount Song.
A dish of roasted duck with crisp skin, sliced at the table and eaten wrapped in thin pancakes with sauce and spring onions. It is closely associated with the Chinese capital.
Families reunite for a feast, give red envelopes and decorate with red lanterns. The date follows the lunar calendar.
Families gather to admire the full moon and share mooncakes. Hong Kong adds lantern displays in its parks.
Entire buildings and towers are built from huge blocks of ice cut from the frozen Songhua River and lit with coloured lights.
Teams paddle long decorated boats in time to drums, and families eat sticky rice parcels called zongzi. Tradition links the festival with the poet Qu Yuan, who is honoured at Miluo.
A theatre art that mixes song, speech, mime and acrobatics. Performers wear bold painted faces and rich costumes, with colours and patterns that signal each character's nature.
Known as the porcelain capital, Jingdezhen has produced fine white porcelain for more than a thousand years, including blue-and-white ware.
Embroiderers use very fine silk threads to create lifelike pictures, sometimes stitched on both sides of the same cloth.
This page brings together the people who lead China today, a short selection of well-known people from China, and the 24 places pinned for China on the atlas. Use the buttons at the top to see China on the map, where you can filter by theme, read a short summary of each pin and follow the link to Wikipedia for the full article. To browse the same themes across the whole world, see the people page, history page, architecture page, language page, culture page, festivals page, folklore page and crafts page.
As of July 2026: President: Xi Jinping; Premier: Li Qiang. Office-holders change, so check the official government site for the latest.
Well-known people connected with China include Confucius (philosopher), Laozi (traditional founder of Daoism), Sun Tzu (author of The Art of War), Qin Shi Huang (first emperor of unified China) and Li Bai (Tang-dynasty poet).
People pinned for China include Confucius, Jackie Chan, Zheng He, Yao Ming, Li Na and Jet Li. Open the map to read a short summary of each.
Festivals on the atlas for China include Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, Harbin Ice and Snow Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Notable buildings and sites in China on the atlas include Forbidden City and Potala Palace. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Historical places in China on the atlas include Terracotta Army and Great Wall of China (Badaling). Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Language entries for China on the atlas include Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Traditional crafts from China on the atlas include Jingdezhen porcelain and Suzhou silk embroidery. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Food and customs from China on the atlas include Yum cha and dim sum, Shaolin Kung Fu and Peking duck. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Folklore and music from China on the atlas include Peking opera. Open the map for photos and links to read more.
Choose See China on the map above, or search for China on the atlas. You can filter by theme, drag the Time travel slider to see who was alive and what was standing in different centuries, and open any pin for a short summary and a link to the full Wikipedia article.
Greeting: A handshake or nod is normal. Names are given family name first. Use titles such as Director Wang. Dining: Dishes are shared and the host often orders for the table. Leave a little food on the plate to show you are full. These are general customs, not legal advice.