Whether you need a general overview or specific facts on China, encyclopedias are a good place to start your search for information. When choosing an encyclopedia, ask yourself how broad your question is. If you're looking for basic information on the population size, history, major ethnic groups, and so forth, a general encyclopedia like Encyclopaedia Britannica would be a wise choice. For more specific needs like the artistic significance of the terracotta warriors of Xi-an, you will probably need a more specialized resource. You may also want to visit the reference rooms in Davis Library or the Undergraduate Library to look through reference books on the shelves.

Several good general encyclopedias are:

Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1996-.
Available electronically as Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2002.
Davis Reference, Undergrad Reference, and many departmental libraries AE5 .E363 2002
Also available electronically as Britannica Online.

Some good encyclopedias about China are:

China Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the People's Republic. Ed. Jing Luo et al. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Chinese-American scholars in many academic fields worked together to create this two-volume set. Cultural, political, economic, and many other topics are discussed. Note that the commentary only addresses China since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
Davis Library Reference DS777.6 .C458 2005; also available in electronic format

Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. Ed. Wang Ke-wen. New York, NY: Garland, 1998.
Modern China focuses on Chinese politics, putting them into understandable yet detailed terms for the layperson.
Davis Library Reference JC311 .M54 1998

Hint: You can find more encyclopedias about China by entering the keywords "China and encyclopedia" into the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Catalog.