Chinese population and geography: currently the world's largest nation.

This population density grid was extracted from eas-grid.zip, produced at the NCGIA and available from the EROS Data Center. The image has been somewhat degrated in comparison with the original in order to produce a .jpg file of appropriate size that will load reasonably quickly over the Internet. The population density levels have been set at the same break points as used on the map on page 16 of the Population Atlas of China (Oxford U. P., 1987), as displayed in the adjacent Key.

World population data comparisons

Comments:

l. At first glance, the gridded populatoni data look really great. However, a more careful look begins to reveal some strange things. For instance, there appears to be a huge city in eastern Jiangxi to the upper left of the numeral 1 on the image. Take a closer look

2.Shanghai may be China's most populous city, but does the densely settled urban area really spread throughout the Municipality? Take a close look at Shanghai.

3. Most large lakes show up as white, meaning that there is no population data in the grid. But what about Dongting Hu in Hunan Province?

4. If you have a very good screen, you may be able to make out a tiny white dot in the middle of Xian Shi. Zoom in on Xian.

China's Geographical regions

China Sources
June 16, 2004