On The Guardian’s Data Blog I found the following graphic that does a nice job of depicting the statistical differences between China and the United States. The chart shows comparisons of things like GDP per capita, government bank accounts, population, pollution, and Internet use. A full explanation of the graphic including explanations of data points and commentary from readers is available here.  

Applications for Education
China v the U.S. could be a good graphic to use in an introductory lesson social studies lesson on China. I would use the graphic and ask students to share their ideas for possible explanations in the statistical differences in the various categories on the chart.