BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin arrived in Brazil on Wednesday for an official good-will visit. The following are basic facts about Brazil:

    Brazil lies in northeastern South America, with a very long eastern coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

    With an area of more than 8.5 million square km and Brasilia as its capital, Brazil is the largest country in Latin America, sharing borders with most countries in South America -- only Chileand Ecuador do not border Brazil.

    Brazil has a population of 189.6 million, and Roman Catholicismis the country's dominant religion. The official language is Portuguese.

    Under the 1998 constitution, the legislative power of Brazil is exercised by the bicameral National Congress, comprising the Federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

    Executive power is exercised by the president, elected for a four-year term by direct ballot. The president is the constitutional head of state and commander-in-chief of the army. He also appoints and leads the cabinet.

    Brazil is a member of the Rio Group, the South American Common Market, and the Group of 77.

    The country boasts the largest river in the world by volume -- the Amazon river, and a majority of the 7.5-million-square-km Amazon rainforest.

    As the biggest economic power in Latin America, Brazil has a developed agricultural industry, a sound industrial foundation and a full-fledged services industry.

    Its gross domestic product (GDP) ranks 10th in the world, with about 1.31 trillion U.S. dollars in 2007, according to statistics from the World Bank.

    The main principal trading partners of Brazil are the United States, China, Argentina, Germany and Japan.

    China and Brazil forged diplomatic ties in August 1974. The two countries established a strategic partnership in 1993.

    Brazil is currently the largest trading partner of China in Latin America, and in April this year, China became the largest trading partner of Brazil. The trade volume between China and Brazil reached 36.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, a 56-percent increase year-on-year.