Distillers China
A one-page guide to China for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Beijing
- Official languages
- Standard Chinese (Mandarin)
- Currency
- Renminbi (yuan, CNY)
- Time zone
- UTC+8
- Area
- 9,562,910 km²
People
- Population
- 1.4 billion (2025)
- Population growth
- -0.2% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 66.3%
- Aged under 15
- 15.4%
- Aged 65 and over
- 14.9%
- Life expectancy
- 78.0 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$19.50 trillion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$13,862 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 4.95994886240992% (2025)
- Inflation
- 0.0595646916565402% (2025)
Climate
Dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, giving strong seasonal swings: cold dry winters from the north, warm moist summers from the coast. The northwest deserts receive as little as 50 mm of rain; much of the south exceeds 1,000 mm.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 (Law on the Protection of Minors; no minimum age to consume)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 4.1 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 34%, wine 1%, spirits 65% (2022)
- Traditional drinks
- Baijiu (sorghum-based), Huangjiu (yellow rice wine), Beer
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia: China (basics, climate, ports); Wikipedia: Legal drinking age; World Bank Open Data (population, GDP, growth, inflation, area); WHO Global Health Observatory: total alcohol per capita; UN Comtrade (HS 2208 trade); Wikipedia: Baijiu; Wikipedia: Kweichow Moutai; Wikipedia: Beer in China. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.