Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators
Administrative
Division refers to the division
of administrative areas by the state. The Constitution of the People’s Republic
of China stipulates that the administrative areas in China are divided as: 1)
The whole Country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the central government; 2) Provinces and
autonomous regions are divided into autonomous prefectures, counties,
autonomous counties and cities; 3) Autonomous prefectures are divided into
counties, autonomous counties and cities; 4) Counties and autonomous counties
are divided into townships, nationality townships and towns; 5) Municipalities
and large cities are divided into districts and counties, 6) The state shall,
when necessary, establish special administrative regions.
Territory refers to territorial land, sea and air space under the
administration of a sovereign state.
Climate refers to the natural environmental status formed by the
long-time exchange of energy and mass between the earth and the air, and is the
results of interaction of many factors. Climate is both one of the environment
factors and the important resources for the living and production activities of
the human being. The average values across several years of meteorological
factors such as temperature, rainfall and humidity are used as important
parameters to describe the climate of a region, while the average values (or
total values) of a given year or month of meteorological factors reflect the
key characteristics of climate for that period of time.
Natural
Resources refer to material
resources that could be obtained from the nature by human being and used for
production and living. Natural resources in general can be classified as
renewable resources and non-renewable resources. Renewable resources refer to
resources that could be renewed and recycled during a relatively short period
of time, including land resource, water resource, climate resource, biology
resource and marine resource. Non-renewable resources include resources that
could not be renewed, such as minerals and geothermal resource.
Land
Resource Land refers to the
surface of the earth, consisting of mainly rocks and its whethering and earth.
Land resource can be classified, by its utilization, as land for agriculture,
land for construction and unused land. Land for agriculture includes cultivated
land, plantation land, forestland, grassland and waters. Land for construction
includes land for residential purpose, for manufacturing and mining, for
transportation and for water-conservancy projects. Unused land refers to land
other than land for agriculture and construction, including beaches, deserts,
Gobi, glaciers and rock mountains.
Area
of Cultivated Land refers
to land for the cultivation of various farm crops, including irrigated land,
manual-watered land, dry land and vegetable land.
Area
of Afforestated Land
refer to land for trees bamboo, bushes and mangrove, including forest-cover
land, bush-covered land, sparse forest land, land planned for afforestation and
nurseries of young trees.
Area
of Grassland refers to areas of
grassland, grass-slopes and grass-covered hills with a vegetation-covering rate
of over 5% that are used for animal husbandry or harvesting of grass. It includes
natural, cultivated and improved grassland areas.
Forest
Resource refers to forests,
trees, forestland and wild animals, plants and microorganism that live on
forest and trees. Trees include trees and bamboo. Forest refers to the
population of clusters of trees
and other plants, animals and microorganism as well as the earth and climate
that have interactions with the trees.
Total
Standing Stock Volume
refers to the total stock volume of trees growing in land，including trees in
forest， tress in sparse forest, scattered trees and trees planted by
the side of farm houses and along the roads, rivers and fields.
Forest
Area refers to the area of
forest land where trees and bamboo grow with canopy density above 0.2，including land of
natural woods and planted woods, but excluding bush land and thin forest land.
It reflects the total areas of afforestation．
Stock
Volume of Forest refers to total stock
volume of wood growing in forest area，which shows the total size and level of forest resources of a
Country or a region．It is also an important indicator illustrating the richness
of forest resource and the status of forest ecological environment.
Forest
Coverage Rate refers to the ratio of
area of afforested land to total land area．This indicator shows the forest resources and afforestation
progress of a Country or a region．According to regulations of the government， in addition to
afforested land，the area of bush forest, the area of forest land inside farm
land and the area of trees planted by the side of farm houses and along the
roads, rivers and fields should also be included in the area of afforested land
in the calculation of the forest coverage-rate. The formula for calculating
forest coverage rate is as follows：
Forestry
coverage rate (%)= (Area of Afforested Land/Area of Total Land)×100%
Water
Resource Water exists in the
nature in solid, liquid and gaseous states, is distributed in the ocean, land
(including earth) and air, and constitutes the water resource through the
circulation of water. Water resource includes the surface water and underground
water that is controlled by the human being for irrigation, power-generation,
water supply, navigation and cultivation. It also includes rivers, lakes,
wells, springs, tides, gulf and water area for cultivation. Water resource as
an important natural resource is indispensable for the development of the
national economy.
Surface
Water and Underground Water. Water
on earth can be divided into surface water and underground water accordingo its
distribution. Surface water refers to moisture exists in rivers, lakes, swamps,
glaciers, icecaps and so on. It is also called land water. The underground
water refers to water deposited underground in the cranny and the hole of
saturated rock soil and in the water-eroded cave.
Inland
Water Area refers to water area of
rivers，lakes，ponds，reservoir，etc．
Runoff
refers to the water gathered at
the way out of the cross section of drainage area either from the surface or
underground after deducting the wastage of the precipitation. Runoff can be divided into surface runoff,
underground runoff and within soil runoff. Surface runoff refers to water flow
to the rivers, lakes, swamps, and seas on the surface of the earth. Underground
runoff refers to water flow to rivers, lakes, swamps, and seas through the
water-bearing stratum of confined layer or unconfined layer.
Volume
of Runoff refers to the total
volume of water running through a certain cross section of a river during a
certain period of time, reflecting the water resource condition in a Country or
a region. The formula for calculating volume or runoff is as follows：
Runoff
=Precipitation-Evaporation
Mineral
Resources refer to useful minerals
that can be used for industrial or agricultural purposes enriched in
lithosphere or on earth due to the geological process.
Ensured
Mineral Reserves refer to the actual
mineral reserves, which equal to the proven mineral reserves (including
industrial reserves and prospective reserves) minus extracted parts and
underground losses. This indicator shows the current condition of the mineral
resources of a Country．
Drainage
Area Each river has its own
main stream and branches to form the water system of the river. Each river has
its own catchment area, which is also called as the drainage area of the river.
Out-flowing
Rivers refer to rivers
directly or indirectly flowing into the sea. The area providing water to the
out-flowing rivers is called as out-flowing area.
Inland
Rivers refer to rivers in
inland dry areas that die away in desert on the way or infuse into inland
lakes. The area providing water to the inland rivers is called as inland area.
Temperature refers to the air temperature. China uses centigrade as the
unit. The thermometry used for weather observation is put in a breezy shutter,
which is 1.5 meters high from the ground. Therefore, the commonly used
temperature refers to the temperature in the breezy shutter 1.5 meters away
from the ground. The calculation method is as follows:
Monthly average temperature is the summation of average daily
temperature of one month divided by the actual days of that particular month.
Annual average temperature is the summation of monthly
average of a year divided by 12 months.
Relative
Humidity refers to the ratio of
actual water vapor pressure to the saturation water vapor pressure under the
current temperature. The calculation method is the same as that of temperature.
Volume
of Precipitation refers to the deepness
of liquid state or solid state (thawed) water falling from the sky to the
ground that has not been evaporated, infiltrated or run off. The calculation
method is as follows:
Monthly precipitation is the summation of daily precipitation
of a month.
Annual precipitation is the summation of 12 months
precipitation of a year.
Sunshine
Hours
refer to the actual hours of
sun irradiating the earth. The calculation method is the same as that of the
precipitation.