Apprising China

The first thing that you have to try to get your mind around is the size of China. It is simply on a scale that is hard to fathom.

This post is based on what I have been reading in a book called "China, Inc." by Ted C. Fishman. It was published last year by Scribner.

According to Fishman, the offical estimate of China's population is 1.3 billion, which makes it five times more populous than the United States.

But the official estimate could be off by 200 million.

"Put another way, China's uncounted multitude, were it a country on its own, would be the fifth largest in the world."

Get this--China has between 100 and 160 cities with populations of 1 million or more. The United States has nine.