Opinions, knowledge and resources from China Checkup's expert contributors
Whilst looking at a map of China during data gathering, we noticed that the shape of China’s Shaanxi Province is uncannily similar to that of Great Britain. We put together this animation to demonstrate:
If you’re wondering, Shaanxi is the red one and Great Britain is the green one!
We thought that this be a great way to look at how China’s provinces are actually more comparable to entire countries than to individual states in other countries. We’ll actually look at England rather than the United Kingdom as a whole, though, as this makes a closer point of comparison for Shaanxi.
Some quick facts show the how England and Shaanxi are somewhat comparable:
Of course, England’s economic situation is vastly different to that of Shaanxi Province. However, Chinese provinces can be compared to other countries economically, for example:
And what about China as a whole? In some aspects, it makes more sense to compare China to the whole of Europe than to another individual country:
This is certainly an interesting angle to take when trying to understand the scale of China compared to other regions in the world. Its provinces are often like countries, and as a whole it is more akin to a continent or economic region than a country.
This list of Chinese AMR websites includes links to the AMR branch website for each province/administrative region in China.
In case you're wondering, the acronym "AMR" stands for "Administration for Market Regulation", which is a newly-launched Chinese government agency created by the merger of many previous agencies, including the AIC and AQSIQ.
This super regulator is now responsible for a wide range of regulatory matters in Mainland China, so if you need to get in touch with them you should find this list of Chinese AMR websites useful.
The China AEO Certificate is a document held by companies in China engaged in import and export activities.
Issued by China Customs, the certificate specifies the company's enterprise classification, which determines their level of inspections and more.
Requesting and verifying a supplier's China AEO certificate can be a sensible measure to understand if they are registered with China Customs as an "Authorized Economic Operator" and to check their AEO type.
Did you know that China province abbreviations can be made using both Chinese and English languages?
Not only can all provinces in China be abbreviated to a two-letter code, but there is also a single Chinese character used to represent each.
This article introduces these methods as well as providing a full list of each China province abbreviation, from Anhui to Zhejiang.
Matt Slater
Author
Hi there, I'm Matt, the Founder & CEO of China Checkup. Originally from the UK, I am now based in Brisbane, Australia.
Frustrated by the scarcity of concise, high-quality and timely information about Chinese companies, I setup China Checkup whilst living in Shanghai in 2013.
My team are proud that China Checkup's company verification reports have now helped thousands of clients from all corners of the world to do business in China more safely.