China vs New Zealand

China is 36 times larger than New Zealand — 9,596,960 against 268,838 km². China is 264 times more populous than New Zealand — 1,406,585,000 against 5,324,700 people.

Side by side

Population density

China is 7.4 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 147 against 20 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

Practical differences

• They drive on opposite sides — China on the right, New Zealand on the left.
• Different currencies: the Chinese yuan and the New Zealand dollar.
• New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
• Different continents — Asia and Oceania.

China

The largest country in the world using a single time zone, so the sun rises in the far west around three hours later by the clock than in Beijing. China has a land border with fourteen countries — more than any other state except Russia, which also has fourteen. Its terrain runs from Mount Everest on the Nepalese border to the Turpan Depression at 154 m below sea level.

New Zealand

Two main islands and around 600 smaller ones, roughly 1,600 km long. New Zealand broke away from Gondwana about 80 million years ago and had no land mammals except bats until people arrived, which is why so many of its birds are flightless. The Southern Alps run most of the South Island and reach 3,724 m at Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.