The official language is Mandarin Chinese. Among the enormous number of local dialects, large groups speak Cantonese, Shanghainese, Fuzhou, Hokkien-Taiwanese, Xiang, Gan and Hakka dialects in the south. Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang, which are autonomous regions, have their own languages. Translation and interpreter services are good. English is spoken by many guides and in hotels. Many taxi drivers do not speak English, even in big cities.

The United Nations estimate of China's total population was 1.3 billion as of 2006. This amounts to roughly a quarter of the world’s population.