Read a St Andrew's Day Message from Scotland's First Minister
The People's Republic of China is a vast and vibrant nation with a geographical area roughly equivalent to that of the United States of America and a population of 1.3 billion (that's one fifth of the world's population).
The rapidly expanding economy of China was measured as the second largest by GDP out of any single country in the world in May 2008, behind the United States, and is predicted to overtake the US economy by 2010.
China's rapid growth is not just restricted to economy, but covers areas such as energy production, communications and education. For instance, China now offers over 5 million university places, up from 1 million in 1998.
On an international level, Chinese citizens are now travelling abroad more than ever before - in 2006, 32 million Chinese business and leisure tourists travelled to destinations worldwide, of which around 160,000 were issued visas to the UK.
In this section you can find out more about the links between Scotland and China.