Wanderlust World Wanderlust World China's mainland territory covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3.7 million square miles).
By total land area, China ranks as the third-largest country in the world, trailing only Russia (1st) and Canada (2nd). It is slightly larger than the United States (4th) when comparing land area exclusively (though the U.S. is larger if inland water bodies are included).
This vast expanse encompasses extreme geographic diversity: the Himalayan plateau and Mount Everest in the southwest, the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the north, the fertile Yangtze and Yellow River plains in the east, and subtropical forests in the south.