Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia’s Riau Islands to the South and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore is the gate to the Strait of Malacca, a main shipping lane between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The unique geographic location makes the country a global hub of marine transportation and an airline hub with flights to Asia, Europe and the Pacific. Today, Singapore has developed into an important business, transportation, traffic and tourism center.

Singapore has a total land area of 693 square kilometers. The Singapore area comprises mainland and more than 50 other islands. The mainland of Singapore takes up 91.6% of the total land area. Of Singapore’s smaller islands Pulau Island (24.4 km2), Ubin Island (10.2 km2) and Sentosa (3.5 km2) are the larger ones. Ubin and Sentosa have become popular tourist destinations, attracting large groups of tourists from all over the world. Pulau Island, however, has become an important industrial base.

Singapore lies between latitudes 1° 09 ' and 1° 29’ N, and longitudes 103° 36 ' and 104° 25’ E, 137 kilometers north of the equator. Singapore has an average altitude of 15 m with the highest point being 163 m above sea level. Singapore has a coastline of 193 km. Owing to its geographical location and maritime exposure, its climate is characterized by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and abundant rainfall. Therefore, it is almost always warm and wet. The annual average temperature of Singapore stands at 24～27℃ with a daily average temperature of 26.8℃. Singapore has an average annual rainfall of around 2,345 mm and an average annual humidity of 84.3%. Singapore’s climate is classified as tropical rainforest climate with a relative humidity of 64.7%-97.6%. There are no typhoons or earthquakes in Singapore. The country has 3000 hm2 of nature reserves and 500 hm2 of mangrove. Singapore is also home to about 80 mammal species, 300 bird species, 60 freshwater fish species and 110 reptiles and amphibians.

The tropical rainforest climate endows Singapore with rich plant resource reserves, mostly tropical lowland evergreen plants. There are more than 2000 plant species in total, including cash crops such as coconut, oil palm and rubber. Orchids are widely planted as a famous ornamental flowers that are exported to Europe, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong. Orchids are very important foreign exchange earning products of Singapore.

With a small territory, Singapore has limited resource reserves. Among the 50 islands, only Bukit Timah has small tin ores, molybdenite ores and chlorite ores which have already been fully exploited. Moreover, constrained by natural elements, such as topography and river distribution, Singapore has limited arable land, and therefore, relies solely on import for grain and freshwater supply. Surrounded by seas, Singapore doesn’t have huge fishery resources with an annual production of just slightly more than 10,000 t.

Singapore is country of immigrants. 76.8% of its residents were of Chinese descent, 13.9% of Malay descent, 7.7% of Indian descent and 1.6% of other (including Eurasian) descent. The Island used to be occupied by the indigenous Malay fishermen, however, since the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles and the establishment of British trading posts, Singapore began to attract tens of thousands of immigrants and businessmen. Many people moved to Singapore from the southern provinces of China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. With inter-racial marriage becoming common, immigrants from different parts of the world live harmoniously with each other to form a united Singapore. However, the culture and customs of different ethnic groups and races remain and integrate to form the diverse Singapore culture. The estimated population of Singapore was 4,185,200 people (as of June 2003), 3,437,300 of whom were citizens and permanent residents, while the remaining were foreigners having lived in the country for more than one year.

Singapore is a city-state that is divided into six districts from a geographical perspective: the central district, the inner city district, the outer city district, the new town, the outskirts and the suburbs. The country is divided into 75 constituencies during elections. The central government and ministries in direct leadership of all districts. Community organizations such as consultation committees, public liason offices and people’s associations are established to carry out the policies of the central government and act as bridges between the government and residents.