China

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China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"PRC" redirects here. For other uses, see PRC (disambiguation).
This article is about the People's Republic of China. For other uses, see China (disambiguation).

People's Republic of China
 中华人民共和国
 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó

Flag

National Emblem

Anthem:



"义勇军进行曲"

"Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ" (Pinyin)


"March of the Volunteers"

Menu
0:00

Area controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green;
claimed but uncontrolled regions shown in light green.

Capital
Largest city
Official languages

Recognised regional languages

Official written language
Official script

Ethnic groups

Beijing[b]
39°55′N 116°23′E

Shanghai[1][2]
Standard Chinese[3]


Mongolian



Tibetan



Uyghur



Zhuang



various others

Vernacular Chinese
Simplified Chinese[3]


91.51% Han[4]



55 minorities[a]

[show]

-

-

Demonym
Chinese
Government
Single-party socialist state
President
Xi Jinping[c]
Premier
Li Keqiang
Congress Chairman
Zhang Dejiang
Conference Chairman
Yu Zhengsheng
Legislature
National People's Congress
Establishment
Unification of China under 221 BC

the Qin Dynasty
- Republic established
People's Republic
proclaimed
- Total
- Water (%)
- 2012 estimate
- 2010 census
- Density
GDP (PPP)
- Total
- Per capita
GDP (nominal)
- Total
- Per capita
Gini (2012)
HDI (2012)
Currency
Time zone

Date format

Drives on the
Calling code
ISO 3166 code

Internet TLD

a.

1 January 1912
1 October 1949
Area
9,706,961 km2[d] (3rd/4th)
3,747,879 sq mi
2.8
Population
1,353,821,000[4][5] (1st)
1,339,724,852[6] (1st)
139.6/km2 (81st)
363.3/sq mi
2012 estimate
$12.405 trillion[7] (2nd)
$9,161[7] (91st)
2012 estimate
$8.227 trillion[7] (2nd)
$6,075[7] (90th)
47.4[8]
high
0.699[9]
medium · 101st
Renminbi (yuan) (¥) (CNY)
China Standard Time
(UTC+8)


yyyy-mm-dd



or yyyy 年 m 月 d




(CE; CE-1949)

right[f]
+86
CN


.cn



.中國[10]



.中国

^ Minorities that are recognized officially.
^ Or (previously) "Peking".
^ Xi Jinping holds four concurrent positions: General Secretary of the
c.
Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, and
Chairman of the Central Military Commission for both state and party.[11]

b.

^ The area given is the official United Nations figure for the mainland and
expressly excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.[12] It also excludes the
Trans-Karakoram Tract 5,800 km2 (2,200 sq mi), Aksai Chin 37,244 km2
d.
(14,380 sq mi) and other territories in dispute with India. The total area of China
is listed as 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) by the Encyclopædia Britannica.[13]
For further information, see Territorial changes of the People's Republic of
China.
f.

^ Except Hong Kong and Macau.

China ( i/ˈ tʃaɪ nə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of
China (PRC), is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country,
with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a single-party state governed by the
Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing.[14] It exercises
jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities
(Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special
administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau).[15] The PRC also claims Taiwan – which is
controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity – as its 23rd province, a
claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese
Civil War.
Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, China is the world's second-largest
country by land area,[16] and the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the definition
of total area.[17] China's landscape is vast and diverse, with forest steppes and the Gobi and
Taklamakan deserts occupying the arid north and northwest near Mongolia and Central Asia, and
subtropical forests prevalent in the wetter south near Southeast Asia. The terrain of western China
is rugged and elevated, with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges
separating China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and
sixth-longest in the world, have their sources in the Tibetan Plateau and continue to the densely
populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres
(9,000 mi) long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.
The ancient Chinese civilization – one of the world's earliest – flourished in the fertile basin of
the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on
hereditary monarchies, known as dynasties, beginning with the semi-mythological Xia of the
Yellow River basin (c. 2000 BC). Since 221 BC, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several
states to form a Chinese empire, the country has expanded, fractured and been reformed
numerous times. The Republic of China overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and ruled the Chinese
mainland until 1949. After the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Communist
Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang in mainland China and established the People's
Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the Kuomintang relocated the ROC
government to Taipei. The ROC's jurisdiction is now limited to Taiwan and several outlying
islands, including Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and it now receives limited diplomatic
recognition.
Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become the world's fastestgrowing major economy. As of 2013, it is the world's second-largest economy by both nominal
total GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world's largest exporter and
importer of goods.[18] China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest
standing army, with the second-largest defense budget. The PRC has been a United Nations

member since 1971, when it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U.N. Security
Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations,
including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BCIM and the
G-20. China has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of academics,[19]
military analysts,[20][21] and public policy and economics analysts.[22][23]

Contents


1 Etymology



2 History
o 2.1 Prehistory
o 2.2 Early dynastic rule
o 2.3 Imperial China
o 2.4 Late dynastic rule
o 2.5 Republic of China (1912–1949)
o 2.6 People's Republic of China (1949–present)



3 Geography
o 3.1 Political geography
o 3.2 Landscape and climate
o 3.3 Biodiversity


3.3.1 Fauna



3.3.2 Flora



3.3.3 Fungi

o 3.4 Environmental issues


4 Politics

o 4.1 Administrative divisions
o 4.2 Foreign relations


4.2.1 Trade relations



4.2.2 Territorial disputes



4.2.3 Emerging superpower status

o 4.3 Sociopolitical issues and reform


5 Military



6 Economy



7 Science and technology
o 7.1 Historical
o 7.2 Modern era



8 Infrastructure
o 8.1 Communications
o 8.2 Transport



9 Demographics
o 9.1 Ethnic groups
o 9.2 Languages
o 9.3 Urbanization
o 9.4 Education
o 9.5 Health
o 9.6 Religion



10 Culture
o 10.1 Cuisine
o 10.2 Sports



11 See also



12 References



13 Further reading



14 External links

Etymology
Main article: Names of China
China
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese: 中国
Traditional Chinese: 中國
Literal meaning:
Middle Kingdom[24][25]
[show]Transliterations
People's Republic of China
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国
Traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國
[show]Transliterations
Mongolian name
Mongolian:
[show]Transliterations

Tibetan name
Tibetan:

ཀྲུང་ཧྭ་མམི་དམངས་སམི
མཐུན་རྒྱལ་ཁབ

[show]Transliterations

Uyghur name

Uyghur:

‫جۇڭخۇا خەلق جۇمھۇرىيىت‬

[show]Transliterations

Zhuang name
Zhuang:
Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz
This article contains Chinese text. Without
proper rendering support, you may see question
marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of
Chinese characters.
The word "China" is derived from Persian Cin (‫)چين‬, which is from Sanskrit Cīna (चचन).[26] It is
first recorded in 1516 in the journal of Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[27] It appears in
English in a translation published in 1555.[28] It is commonly thought that it is derived from the
"Qin" (秦) Dynasty.[29] In China, common names for the present country include Zhōngguó
(Chinese: 中国; literally "the Middle State(s)") and Zhōnghuá (Chinese: 中华), although the
country's official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern
governments. The term Zhongguo appeared in various ancient texts, such as the Classic of
History of the 6th century BC,[30] and in pre-imperial times it was often used as a cultural concept
to distinguish the Huaxia tribes from perceived "barbarians". The term, which can be either
singular or plural, referred to the group of states or provinces in the central plain but was not used
as a name for the country as a whole until the nineteenth century. The Chinese were not unique in
regarding their country as "central", since other civilizations had the same view of themselves.[31]

History
Main articles: History of China and Timeline of Chinese history

Prehistory
Main article: Chinese prehistory
Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 250,000 and 2.24
million years ago.[32] A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) exhibits fossils dated at
between 300,000 and 780,000 BC.[33][34][35] The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo
erectus who used fire.[36] The Peking Man site has also yielded remains of Homo sapiens dating
back to 18,000–11,000 BC.[37]

Early dynastic rule
See also: Dynasties in Chinese history

Jade deer ornament dating from the Shang Dynasty (16th-11th centuries BC).
Chinese tradition names the first imperial dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until
scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province in 1959.[38]
Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations
cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the
Xia without written records from the period.

Some of the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, ca. 210 BC.
The first Chinese dynasty that left historical records, the loosely feudal Shang (Yin), settled along
the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century BC. The oracle bone script of
the Shang Dynasty represents the oldest form of Chinese writing yet found, and the direct
ancestor of the modern Chinese characters used throughout East Asia. The Shang were invaded
from the west by the Zhou, who ruled between the 12th and 5th centuries BC, until their
centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many independent states eventually
emerged out of the weakened Zhou state, and continually waged war with each other in the 300year-long Spring and Autumn Period, only occasionally deferring to the Zhou king. By the time
of the Warring States Period of the 5th–3rd centuries BC, there were seven powerful sovereign
states in what is now China, each with its own king, ministry and army.[39]

The Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the
sedentary agricultural regions of the Chinese interior from incursions by nomadic pastoralists of
the northern steppes.

Imperial China
The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state in 221 BC. Qin
Shi Huang proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (始皇帝), and imposed many reforms
throughout China, notably the forced standardization of the Chinese language, measurements,
length of cart axles, and currency. The Qin Dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after
Qin Shi Huang's death, as its harsh legalist and authoritarian policies led to widespread rebellion.
[40][41]

The subsequent Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BC and 220 AD, and created a lasting
Han cultural identity among its populace that has endured to the present day.[40][41] The Han
Dynasty expanded the empire's territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea,
Vietnam, Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped establish the Silk Road in Central Asia.
Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world.[42] After the collapse of
Han, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three
Kingdoms.[43] Independent Chinese states of this period such as Wu opened diplomatic relations
with Japan,[44] introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited
under the Sui.[45] However, the Sui Dynasty declined following its defeat in the Goguryeo–Sui
War (598–614).[46][47]
Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture entered a golden
age.[48] The Tang Empire was at its height of power until the middle of the 8th century, when the
An Shi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire.[49] The Song Dynasty was the first
government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a
permanent standing navy.[50] Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China
doubled in size to around 100 million people, mostly due to the expansion of rice cultivation in
central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song Dynasty
also saw a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and portrait painting were
brought to new levels of maturity and complexity, and social elites gathered to view art, share
their own and trade precious artworks. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Chu Hsi reinvigorated
Confucianism with new commentary, infused Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new
organization of classic texts that brought about the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

Detail from Along the River During the Qingming Festival, a 12th-century painting showing
everyday life in the Song Dynasty's capital city, Bianjing (today's Kaifeng).
In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty; the Yuan conquered the
last remnant of the Song Dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, Song Cina reportedly had
approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported
roughly 60 million people.[51]

Late dynastic rule
A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and founded the Ming
Dynasty.[52] Under the Ming Dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the
strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and
culture. It was during this period that Zheng He led explorations throughout the world, reaching
as far as Africa.[53] In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, China's capital was moved from
Nanjing to Beijing.
During the Ming Dynasty, thinkers such as Wang Yangming further critiqued and expanded NeoConfucianism with concepts of individualism and innate morality that would have tremendous
impact on later Japanese thought. Chosun Korea also became a nominal vassal state of Ming
China, and adopted much of its Neo-Confucian bureaucratic structure.
In 1644, Beijing was sacked by a coalition of rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, a minor Ming
official who led the peasant revolt. The last Ming Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when
the city fell. The Manchu Qing Dynasty then allied with Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui and
overthrew Li's short-lived Shun Dynasty, and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which
became the new capital of the Qing Dynasty. In total, the Manchu conquest of China cost as
many as 25 million lives.[54]
The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. In the 19th
century, the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism, even
though it engaged in an imperialistic expansion of its own into Central Asia. At this time, China
awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, the West in particular. As China opened up to
foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing
China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control. Western imperialism
proved to be disastrous for China:

"The end of the Opium War marked the beginning of Western imperialism in China. Unequal
treaties, imposed at the end of the war, forced China to relinquish Hong Kong, open new "Treaty
Ports" to foreign trade, pay indemnities to her vanquishers, and allow foreigners to live and work
on Chinese soil free of the jurisdiction of Chinese law (extraterritoriality). Over the years new
wars with Western powers would expand these impositions on China's national sovereignty,
culminating in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95."[55]

A 19th-century painting depicting the Taiping Rebellion of 1850–1864.
The weakening of the Qing regime, and the apparent humiliation of the unequal treaties in the
eyes of the Chinese people, led to increasing domestic disorder. In late 1850, southern China
erupted in the Taiping Rebellion, a violent civil war which lasted until 1864. The rebellion was
led by Hong Xiuquan, who was partly influenced by an idiosyncratic interpretation of
Christianity. Hong believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus.
Although the Qing forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in
human history, costing at least 20 million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in World
War I), with some estimates of up to 40 million. Other costly rebellions followed the Taiping
Rebellion, such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (1855–67), Nien Rebellion (1851–1868), Miao
Rebellion (1854–73), Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873) and the Dungan revolt (1862–1877).[56][57]
These rebellions each resulted in an estimated loss of several million lives, and had a devastating
impact on the fragile economy.[58][59][60] The flow of British opium hastened the empire's decline.
In the 19th century, the age of colonialism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora
began; today, about 35 million overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asia.[61] Emigration rates were
strengthened by domestic catastrophes such as the Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879,
which claimed between 9 and 13 million lives in northern China.[62] From 108 BC to 1911 AD,
China experienced 1,828 known famines,[63] or nearly one per year, somewhere in the empire.[64]

In the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, which was fought over influence in Korea, Japanese
troops defeated Qing forces.

While China was wracked by continuous war, Meiji Japan succeeded in rapidly modernizing its
military, and set its sights on the conquest of Korea and Manchuria. At the request of the Korean
emperor, the Qing government sent troops to aid in suppressing the Tonghak Rebellion in 1894.
However, Japan also sent troops to Korea, leading to the First Sino-Japanese War, which resulted
in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula as well as the cession of Taiwan
(including the Pescadores) to Japan in 1895.[65]
Following this series of defeats, a reform plan for the empire to become a modern Meiji-style
constitutional monarchy was drafted by the Guangxu Emperor in 1898, but was opposed and
stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who placed Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in a
coup d'état. The ill-fated Boxer Rebellion of 1898–1901, in which westerners in Beijing were
targeted en masse, resulted in as many as 115,000 deaths.[66] Slavery was formally abolished in
1906.[67]
By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform and revolution
were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu died under house arrest on 14
November 1908, suspiciously just a day before Cixi's own death. With the throne empty, he was
succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his two-year-old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong
Emperor. Guangxu's consort became the Empress Dowager Longyu. In another coup d'état in
1912, Yuan Shikai overthrew Puyi, and forced Longyu to sign the abdication decree as regent,
ending over two thousand years of imperial rule in China.[citation needed] Longyu died, childless, in
1913.[citation needed]

Republic of China (1912–1949)
Main articles: Republic of China (1912–1949) and History of the Republic of China

Sun Yat-sen, the father of modern China (seated on right), and Chiang Kai-shek, later President of
the Republic of China.
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of Imperial China.
[68]
Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional
president of the republic.[69] However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former
Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire
to the revolution. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China, but was forced to abdicate

and reestablish the republic in the face of popular condemnation, not only from the general
population but also from among his own Beiyang Army and its commanders.[70]
After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally
recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Beijing. Regional warlords
exercised actual control over their respective territories.[71][72] In the late 1920s, the nationalist
Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control with a
series of deft military and political maneuverings, known collectively as the Northern Expedition.
[73][74]
The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political
tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's San-min
program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage
meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang, but the party was politically divided into competing
cliques.[75][76] This political division made it difficult for Chiang to battle the Communists, which
the Kuomintang had been warring against since 1927 in the Chinese Civil War. This war
continued successfully for the Kuomintang, especially after the Communists retreated in the Long
March, until the Xi'an Incident and Japanese aggression forced Chiang to confront Imperial
Japan.[77][78]
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a part of World War II, forced an uneasy alliance
between the Kuomintang and the Communists. The Japanese "three-all policy" in northern China
– "kill all, burn all and destroy all" – led to numerous war atrocities being committed against the
civilian population; in all, as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died.[79][80] An estimated
200,000 Chinese were massacred in the city of Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation.[81]
Japan unconditionally surrendered to China in 1945. Taiwan, including the Pescadores, was put
under the administrative control of the Republic of China, which immediately claimed
sovereignty. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued
distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. In 1947,
constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing unrest many provisions of the
ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.[82][83][84]

People's Republic of China (1949–present)
Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of
mainland China, and the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing the ROC's territory to only
Taiwan, Hainan, and their surrounding islands. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the
People's Republic of China,[85] which was commonly known in the West as "Communist China"
or "Red China" during the Cold War.[86] In 1950, the People's Liberation Army succeeded in
capturing Hainan from the ROC, occupying Tibet, and defeating the majority of the remaining
Kuomintang forces in Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces, though some Kuomintang holdouts
survived until much later.

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Mao encouraged population growth, and under his leadership the Chinese population almost
doubled from around 550 million to over 900 million.[87] However, Mao's Great Leap Forward, a
large-scale economic and social reform project, resulted in an estimated 45 million deaths
between 1958 and 1961, mostly from starvation.[88] Between 1 and 2 million landlords were
executed as "counterrevolutionaries."[89] In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural
Revolution, which would last until Mao's death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution,
motivated by power struggles within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major
upheaval in Chinese society. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China in the
United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. In that same
year, for the first time, the number of countries recognizing the PRC surpassed those recognizing
the ROC in Taipei as the government of China.[90] In February 1972, at the peak of the SinoSoviet split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard Nixon in Beijing. However, the US did not
officially recognise the PRC as China's sole legitimate government until 1 January 1979.
After Mao's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, who were blamed for the excesses
of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrested power from Mao's anointed successor
Hua Guofeng. Although he never became the head of the party or state himself, Deng was in fact
the "paramount leader" of China at that time, his influence within the Party led the country to
significant economic reforms. The Communist Party subsequently loosened governmental control
over citizens' personal lives and the communes were disbanded with many peasants receiving
multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production. This turn of
events marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an
increasingly open market environment, a system termed by some "market socialism";[91] the
Communist Party of China officially describes it as "socialism with Chinese characteristics".
China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982.
The death of pro-reform official Hu Yaobang helped to spark the Tiananmen Square protests of
1989, during which students and others campaigned for several months, speaking out against
corruption and in favour of greater political reform, including democratic rights and freedom of
speech. However, they were eventually put down on 4 June when PLA troops and vehicles
entered and forcibly cleared the square, resulting in numerous casualties. This event was widely
reported and brought worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the government.[92][93] The
"Tank Man" incident in particular became famous.

The city of Shanghai has become a symbol of China's rapid economic expansion since the 1990s.
President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both former mayors of Shanghai, led the nation
in the 1990s. Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of administration, China's economic performance
pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross
domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.[94][95] The country formally joined the World Trade
Organization in 2001.
Although rapid economic growth has made the Chinese economy the world's second-largest, this
growth has also severely impacted the country's resources and environment.[96] Another concern is
that the benefits of economic development has not been distributed evenly, resulting in a wide
development gap between urban and rural areas. As a result, under President Hu Jintao and
Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese government initiated policies to address these issues of
equitable distribution of resources, though the outcome remains to be seen.[97] More than
40 million farmers have been displaced from their land,[98] usually for economic development,
contributing to the 87,000 demonstrations and riots which took place across China in 2005 alone.
[99]
Living standards have improved significantly but political controls remain tight.[100] Although
China largely succeeded in maintaining its rapid rate of economic growth despite the late-2000s
recession, its growth rate began to slow in the early 2010s, and the economy remains overly
focused on fixed investment.[101][102][103]
Preparations for a major Communist Party leadership change in late 2012 were marked by
factional disputes and political scandals, such as the fall from power of Chongqing official Bo
Xilai.[104] During China's decadal leadership reshuffle in November 2012, Hu Jintao and Wen
Jiabao were replaced as President and Premier by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, who formally took
office in 2013.[105][106]

Geography
Main article: Geography of China

A composite satellite image showing the topography of China.

Longsheng Rice Terrace in Guangxi.

The Li River in Guangxi.

Political geography
The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after
Russia[16] and is either the third- or fourth-largest by total area, after Russia, Canada and,
depending on the definition of total area, the United States.[107][108] China's total area is generally
stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi).[109] Specific area figures range
from 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,[110] 9,596,961
km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook,[12] to 9,596,961 km2
(3,705,407 sq mi) according to the CIA World Factbook,[111] and 9,640,011 km2 (3,722,029 sq mi)
including Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, which are controlled by China and claimed
by India.[112] None of these figures include the 1,000 square kilometres (386.1 sq mi) of territory
ceded to China by Tajikistan following the ratification of a Sino-Tajik border agreement in
January 2011.[113]
China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) from
the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin. China borders 14 nations, more than any other
country except Russia, which also borders 14. China extends across much of East Asia, bordering
Vietnam, Laos, and Burma in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan[114] in South
Asia; Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; a small section of
Russian Altai and Mongolia in Inner Asia; and the Russian Far East and North Korea in Northeast
Asia. China's border with India is disputed, and was a key cause of the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the
Philippines and Taiwan. The PRC and the Republic of China (Taiwan) make mutual claims over
each other's territory and the frontier between areas under their respective control is closest near
the islands of Kinmen and Matsu, off the Fujian coast, but otherwise run through the Taiwan
Strait. The PRC and ROC assert identical claims over the entirety of the Spratly Islands in the
South China Sea, and the southernmost extent of these claims reaches James Shoal, which would
form a maritime frontier with Malaysia.

Landscape and climate

Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, in Tibet.

The South China Sea coast at Hainan.
The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° E.
China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast width. In the east, along the shores of the
Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains,
while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate.
Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the
deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers
include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west, major mountain ranges, most
notably the Himalayas, and high plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north,
such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mt. Everest (8848m), lies
on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's fourth-lowest, is the
dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154m) in the Turpan Depression.
A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the
Gobi Desert, which is currently the world's fifth-largest desert.[115][116] Although barrier tree lines
planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor
agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which
then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Korea and Japan. According to China's
environmental watchdog, Sepa, China is losing a million acres (4,000 km²) per year to
desertification.[117] Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in
China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could potentially lead to
water shortages for hundreds of millions of people.[118]
China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to
pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds
coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas
at lower latitudes are warm and moist. The climate in China differs from region to region because
of the country's highly complex topography.

Biodiversity
Main article: Wildlife of China

A giant panda, China's most famous endangered and endemic species, at the Wolong National
Nature Reserve in Sichuan.
China is one of 17 megadiverse countries,[119] lying in two of the world's major ecozones: the
Palearctic and the Indomalaya. By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and
vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and
Colombia.[120] The country signed the Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biological Diversity on 11
June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 5 January 1993.[121] It later produced a
National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, with one revision which was received by the
convention on 21 September 2010.[122]
Fauna
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest such number in the world),
[123]
1,221 species of birds (eighth),[124] 424 species of reptiles (seventh)[125] and 333 species of
amphibians (seventh).[126] China is the most biodiverse country in each category outside of the
tropics. Wildlife in China share habitat with and bear acute pressure from the world's largest
population of homo sapiens. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger
of local extinction in China, due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution
and poaching for food, fur and ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine.[127] Endangered
wildlife is protect by law and the country has over 360 nature reserves. The giant panda, the
country's most famous endangered and endemic species, lives in protected nature reserves in
Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi province. A number of other species, such as the South China tiger,
Chinese alligator and Pere David's deer, are virtually extinct in the wild and survive only in
captive breeding programs.
As the country has grown wealthier in recent years, domestic appetite has grown for wildlife
products, leading to a sharp rise in Illegal trading in endangered species such as ivory, rhino
horns, shark fins, and threatening wildlife in other countries. Laws prohibiting illegal animal
trade are unevenly enforced.[128]
Flora

China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants[129] and is home to a variety of forest types. Cold
coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as
moose and the Asian black bear, along with over 120 bird species. Moist conifer forests can have
thickets of bamboo as an understorey, replaced by rhododendrons in higher montane stands of
juniper and yew. Subtropical forests, which dominate central and southern China, support as
many as 146,000 species of flora. Tropical and seasonal rainforests, though confined to Yunnan
and Hainan Island, contain a quarter of all the animal and plant species found in China.[130]
Fungi
The number of species of fungi recorded in China, including lichen-forming species, is not
known with precision, but probably exceeds 10,000. More than 2,400 species were listed by the
mycologist S.C. Teng in the first modern treatment of Chinese fungi in the English language,
which was published in 1996.[131] More than 5,000 species of "higher fungi" – mainly
basidiomycetes with some ascomycetes – were reported in 2001 for tropical China alone,[132] and
nearly 4,000 species of fungi were reported in 2005 for northwestern China.[133] The exploration
and classification of the fungi of China is currently being pursued under the auspices of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the production of many volumes in the Flora Fungorum
Sinicorum series of publications. The issue of fungal conservation, long overlooked in China, was
first addressed in the early 2010s, with pioneer publications evaluating the conservation status of
individual species.[134]

Environmental issues
Main article: Environment in the People's Republic of China
See also: Water resources of the People's Republic of China

Wind turbines in Xinjiang. The Dabancheng project is Asia's largest wind farm.
In recent decades, China has suffered from severe environmental deterioration and pollution.[135]
[136]
While regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, they
are poorly enforced, as they are frequently disregarded by local communities and government
officials in favour of rapid economic development. As a result, public protests and riots over
environmental issues have become increasingly common.[137]
Environmental campaigners have warned that water pollution is becoming a severe threat to
Chinese society.[138][139] According to the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, roughly
300 million Chinese do not have access to safe drinking water, and 40% of China's rivers had
been polluted by industrial and agricultural waste by late 2011.[140] This crisis is compounded by

increasingly severe water shortages (particularly in northeastern China),[141] with 400 out of 600
surveyed Chinese cities reportedly short of drinking water.[142][143] Additionally, numerous major
Chinese coastal cities, including Shanghai, are deemed to be highly vulnerable to large-scale
flooding.[144]
However, China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy commercialisation, with
$52 billion invested in 2011 alone.[145][146][147] China produces more wind turbines and solar panels
than any other country,[148] and renewable energy projects, such as solar water heating, are widely
pursued at the local level.[149] By 2009, over 17% of China's energy was derived from renewable
sources – most notably hydroelectric power plants, of which China has a total installed capacity
of 197 GW.[150] In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to invest four trillion yuan
(US$618.55 billion) in water infrastructure and desalination projects over a ten-year period, and
to complete construction of a flood prevention and anti-drought system by 2020.[151][141]

Politics
Main article: Politics of the People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China, along with Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, is one of the world's four
remaining socialist states espousing communism.[152][153] The Chinese government has been
variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian, with heavy restrictions
remaining in many areas, most notably on the Internet, the press, freedom of assembly,
reproductive rights, and freedom of religion.[154] Its current political/economic system has been
termed by its leaders as "socialism with Chinese characteristics".
The country is ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC), whose power is enshrined in
China's constitution.[155] The Chinese electoral system is hierarchical, whereby local People's
Congresses are directly elected, and all higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National
People's Congress (NPC) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately
below.[156] The political system is partly decentralized,[157] with limited democratic processes
internal to the party and at local village levels, although these experiments have been marred by
corruption. There are other political parties in China, referred to in China as democratic parties,
which participate in the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the National People's Congress convenes.

Compared to its closed-door policies until the mid-1970s, the liberalization of China has resulted
in the administrative climate being less restrictive than before. China supports the Leninist
principle of "democratic centralism",[158] but the elected National People's Congress has been
described as a "rubber stamp" body.[159] The incumbent President is Xi Jinping, who is also the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and the Chairman of the Central Military
Commission.[105] The current Premier is Li Keqiang, who is also a senior member of the CPC
Politburo Standing Committee.
There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are
now held at the village and town levels.[160][161] However, the Party retains effective control over
government appointments: in the absence of meaningful opposition, the CPC wins by default
most of the time. Political concerns in China include lessening the growing gap between rich and
poor and fighting corruption within the government leadership.[162] Nonetheless, the level of
public support for the government and its management of the nation is among the highest in the
world, with 86% of Chinese citizens expressing satisfaction with their nation's economy
according to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey.[163]

Administrative divisions
Main articles: Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, Districts of Hong
Kong, and Municipalities of Macau
See also: Administrative divisions of the Republic of China
The People's Republic of China has administrative control over 22 provinces, and considers
Taiwan to be its 23rd province, although Taiwan is currently governed by the Republic of China,
which disputes the PRC's claim.[164] China also has five subdivisions officially termed
autonomous regions, each with a designated minority group; four municipalities; and two Special
Administrative Regions (SARs), which enjoy a degree of political autonomy. These 22 provinces,
five autonomous regions, and four municipalities can be collectively referred to as "mainland
China", a term which usually excludes the SARs of Hong Kong and Macau. None of these
divisions are recognized by the ROC government, which claims the entirety of PRC territory.
Provinces (省)


Anhui (安徽
省)



Hainan (海南
省)



Hunan
(湖南省)



Qinghai
(青海省)



Taiwan
(台湾省)†



Fujian (福
建省)



Hebei (河北
省)



Jiangsu
(江苏省)



Shaanxi
(陕西省)



Yunnan
(云南省)



Gansu (甘
肃省)



Heilongjiang
(黑龙江省)



Jiangxi
(江西省)



Shandong
(山东省)



Zhejiang
(浙江省)



Guangdong
(广东省)



Henan (河南
省)



Jilin (吉
林省)



Shanxi (山
西省)



Guizhou (贵
州省)



Hubei (湖北
省)



Liaoning
(辽宁省)



Sichuan
(四川省)



Taiwan is claimed by the PRC but governed by the Republic of China
Autonomous regions (自治区)



Guangxi (广西壮族自治区)



Inner Mongolia / Nei Mongol (内
蒙古自治区)



Ningxia (宁夏回族自治区)



Xinjiang (新疆维吾尔自治区)



Tibet / Xizang (西藏自治区)

Municipalities (直辖市)



Beijing (北京市)



Chongqing (重庆市)



Shanghai (上海市)



Tianjin (天津市)

Special
administrative
regions (特别行
政区)


Hong
Kong /
Xianggan
g (香港特
别行政
区)



Macau /
Aomen
(澳门特
别行政
区)

Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of China

Hu Jintao with former US President George W. Bush in 2006.
The PRC has diplomatic relations with 171 countries and maintains embassies in 162.[165] Its
legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest
and most populous state with limited recognition. Sweden was the first western country to
establish diplomatic relations with the PRC on 9 May 1950.[166] In 1971, the PRC replaced the
Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[167] China was also a former member
and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing
countries.[168] Along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS
group of emerging major economies, and hosted the group's third official summit at Sanya,
Hainan in April 2011.[169]
Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, Beijing has made it a precondition to
establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and
severs official ties with the government of the Republic of China. Chinese officials have
protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to
Taiwan,[170] especially in the matter of armament sales.[171] Political meetings between foreign
government officials and the 14th Dalai Lama are also opposed by China, as the latter considers
Tibet to be formally part of China.[172]
Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Zhou Enlai's Five Principles of
Peaceful Coexistence, and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which
encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. This policy has
led China to support states that are regarded as dangerous or repressive by Western nations, such
as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran.[173] Conflicts with foreign countries have occurred at times
in China's recent history, particularly with the United States; for instance, the U.S. bombing of the
Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict in May 1999 and the Hainan Island
incident involving a U.S. spy plane in April 2001. Relations with many Western nations suffered
for a time following the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, although
in recent years China has improved its diplomatic links with the West.[174][175] China furthermore
has an increasingly close economic relationship with Russia, and the two states often vote in
unison in the UN Security Council.[176][177][178] In recent decades, China has followed a policy of
engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation;[179][180][181] in 2012, SinoAfrican trade totalled over US$160 billion.[182] China has furthermore strengthened its ties with
major South American economies, becoming the largest trading partner of Brazil and building
strategic links with Argentina.[183][184]

A meeting of G5 leaders in 2007, with China's Hu Jintao second from right.
Trade relations
In recent decades, China has played an increasing role in calling for free trade areas and security
pacts amongst its Asia-Pacific neighbors. In 2004, it proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit
(EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues, pointedly excluding the United States.
[185]
The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its
inaugural summit in 2005. China is also a founding member of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO), along with Russia and the Central Asian republics.
In 2000, the United States Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with
China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries.[186]
Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush asserted that free trade would gradually open China to
democratic reform.[187] Bush was furthermore an advocate of Chinese entry into the World Trade
Organization (WTO).[188] China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most
important export market.[189] In the early 2010s, US politicians argued that the Chinese yuan was
significantly undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage.[190][191][192]
Territorial disputes

Map depicting territorial disputes between the PRC and neighboring states. For a larger map, see
here.
Main article: Foreign relations of China#International territorial disputes
See also: List of wars involving the People's Republic of China

In addition to claiming all of Taiwan, China has been involved in a number of other international
territorial disputes. Since the 1990s, China has been involved in negotiations to resolve its
disputed land borders, including a disputed border with India and an undefined border with
Bhutan. China is additionally involved in multilateral disputes over the ownership of several
small islands in the East and South China Seas.[193][194][195]
Emerging superpower status
China is regularly hailed as a potential new superpower, with certain commentators citing its
rapid economic progress, growing military might, very large population, and increasing
international influence as signs that it will play a prominent global role in the 21st century.[23][196]
Others, however, warn that economic bubbles and demographic imbalances could slow or even
halt China's growth as the century progresses.[197][198][199][200][201] Some authors also question the
definition of "superpower", arguing that China's large economy alone would not qualify it as a
superpower, and noting that it lacks the military and cultural influence of the United States.[202]

Sociopolitical issues and reform
See also: Human rights in China, Hukou system, Social welfare in China, Elections in the
People's Republic of China, Censorship in China, and Feminism in the People's Republic of
China
The Chinese democracy movement, social activists, and some members of the Communist Party
of China have all identified the need for social and political reform. While economic and social
controls have been greatly relaxed in China since the 1970s, political freedom is still tightly
restricted. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights"
of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of
religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, in practice, these provisions do not
afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the state.[203][204][205] Rural migrants to
China's cities often find themselves treated as second-class citizens by the hukou household
registration system, which controls access to state benefits.[206][207] Property rights are often poorly
protected,[206] and taxation disproportionately affects poorer citizens.[207] However, a number of
rural taxes have been reduced or abolished since the early 2000s, and additional social services
provided to rural dwellers.[208][209]
Censorship of political speech and information, most notably on the Internet,[210][211][212][213] is
openly and routinely used in China to silence criticism of the government and the ruling
Communist Party.[214][215][216] In 2005, Reporters Without Borders ranked China 159th out of 167
states in its Annual World Press Freedom Index, indicating a very low level of perceived press
freedom.[217] The government has suppressed demonstrations by organizations that it considers a
potential threat to "social stability", as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
The Communist Party has had mixed success in controlling information: a powerful and
pervasive media control system faces equally strong market forces, an increasingly educated
citizenry, and technological and cultural changes that are making China more open to the wider
world.[218][219]

A number of foreign governments and NGOs also routinely criticize China's human rights record,
alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention without trial, forced confessions,
torture, restrictions of fundamental rights,[154][220][221] and excessive use of the death penalty.[222][223]
The government has responded to foreign criticism by arguing that the notion of human rights
should take into account a country's present level of economic development, and focus more on
the people's rights to subsistence and development in poorer countries.[224] It emphasizes the rise
in the standard of living, literacy, and life expectancy for the average Chinese since the 1970s, as
well as improvements in workplace safety and efforts to combat natural disasters such as the
perennial Yangtze River floods.[224][225][226] Furthermore, some Chinese politicians have spoken out
in support of democratisation, although others remain more conservative. In 2010, Premier Wen
Jiabao stated that China needs "to gradually improve the democratic election system so that state
power will truly belong to the people and state power will be used to serve the people." Despite
his status, Wen's comments were later censored by the government.[227] Although the Chinese
government is increasingly tolerant of NGOs which offer practical, efficient solutions to social
problems, such "third sector" activity remains heavily regulated.[228]

Military
Main article: People's Liberation Army

A PLAAF Chengdu J-10 fighter aircraft.
With 2.3 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing
military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC).[229] The
PLA consists of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), the People's Liberation
Army Navy (PLAN), the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and a strategic nuclear
force, the Second Artillery Corps. According to the Chinese government, China's military
expenditure in 2012 totalled US$100 billion, constituting the world's second-largest military
budget.[230] However, other nations, such as the United States, have claimed that China does not
report its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher than the official budget.
[231]
A 2007 report by the US Secretary of Defense noted that "China's actions in certain areas
increasingly appear inconsistent with its declaratory policies".[232] For its part, China claims it
maintains an army purely for defensive purposes.[233]
As a recognised nuclear weapons state, China is considered both a major regional military power
and a potential military superpower.[234] As of August 2011, China's Second Artillery Corps is
believed to maintain at least 195 nuclear missiles, including 75 ICBMs.[235] Nonetheless, China is
the only one of the UN Security Council Permanent Members to have relatively limited power

projection capabilities.[236] To offset this, it has developed numerous power projection assets – its
first aircraft carrier entered service in 2012,[237][238][239][240] and it maintains a substantial fleet of
submarines, including several nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines.[241] China
has furthermore established a network of foreign military relationships that has been compared to
a string of pearls.

Members of a Chinese military honor guard. China possesses the largest standing army in the
world, with around 2.3 million active personnel. Its ground forces alone total 1.7 million soldiers.
China has made significant progress in modernizing its air force since the early 2000s, purchasing
Russian fighter jets such as the Sukhoi Su-30, and also manufacturing its own modern fighters,
most notably the Chengdu J-10 and the Shenyang J-11, J-15 and J-16.[237][242] China is furthermore
engaged in developing an indigenous stealth aircraft, the Chengdu J-20, and numerous combat
drones.[243][244][245][246] China has also updated its ground forces, replacing its ageing Soviet-derived
tank inventory with numerous variants of the modern Type 99 tank, and upgrading its battlefield
C3I and C4I systems to enhance its network-centric warfare capabilities.[247] In addition, China
has developed or acquired numerous advanced missile systems,[248][249] including anti-satellite
missiles,[250] cruise missiles[251] and submarine-launched nuclear ICBMs.[235] As a result of these
breakthroughs, China has been perceived as attempting to match the United States in military
technology,[252] although some analysts note that the American military remains far more capable
than the PLA.[253]

Economy
Main articles: Economy of the People's Republic of China, Agriculture in China, and List of
Chinese administrative divisions by GDP

The Shanghai Stock Exchange building in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district. Shanghai has the
25th-largest city GDP in the world, totalling US$304 billion in 2011.[254]

As of 2013, China has the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, totalling
approximately US$8.227 trillion according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[7]
However, China's 2012 nominal GDP per capita of US$6,075 puts it behind around ninety
countries (out of 183 countries on the IMF list) in global GDP per capita rankings.[7] If PPP is
taken into account in total GDP figures, China is again second only to the United States – in
2012, its PPP GDP reached $12.405 trillion, corresponding to $9,161 per capita.[7]
From its founding in 1949 until late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style
centrally planned economy, without private businesses or capitalism. To propel the country
towards a modern, industrialized communist society, Mao Zedong instituted the Great Leap
Forward in the early 1960s, although this had decidedly mixed economic results.[255] Following
Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the
new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented
mixed economy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands
were privatized to increase productivity. Foreign trade was focused upon as a major vehicle of
growth, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), first in Shenzhen and then in
other Chinese cities. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured by introducing
western-style management systems, with unprofitable ones being closed outright, resulting in
massive job losses. Modern-day China is mainly characterized as having a market economy
based on private property ownership,[256][257] and is one of the leading examples of state
capitalism.[258][259] The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" industries (such as energy and
heavy industries), but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private
businesses recorded in 2008.[260][261][262][263]

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated China's market-oriented reforms.
Since economic liberalization began in 1978, China's investment- and export-led[264] economy has
grown more than a hundredfold[265] and is the fastest-growing major economy in the world.[266]
According to the IMF, China's annual average GDP growth between 2001 and 2010 was 10.5%,
and the Chinese economy is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 9.5% between 2011
and 2015. Between 2007 and 2011, China's economic growth rate was equivalent to all of the G7
countries' growth combined.[267] According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by
Citigroup in February 2011, China has a very high 3G growth rating.[268] Its high productivity, low
labor costs and relatively good infrastructure have made it a global leader in manufacturing, but

its undervalued exchange rate has caused friction with other major economies,[191][269][270] and it
has also been widely criticised for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods.[271][272]
China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international
trade value of US$3.87 trillion in 2012.[18] Its foreign exchange reserves reached US$2.85 trillion
by the end of 2010, an increase of 18.7% over the previous year, making its reserves by far the
world's largest.[273][274] China owns an estimated $1.6 trillion of US securities.[275] China, holding
over US$1.16 trillion in US Treasury bonds,[276] is the largest foreign holder of US public debt.[277]
[278]
China is the world's third-largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI),
attracting $115 billion in 2011 alone, marking a 9% increase over 2010.[279][280] China also
increasingly invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $68 billion in 2010, and a number of
major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies.[281][282][283]

A graph comparing the 2012 nominal GDPs of major economies
in US$ billions, according to IMF data.[284]

China now ranks 29th in the Global Competitiveness Index,[285] although it is only ranked 135th
among the 179 countries measured in the Index of Economic Freedom.[286] In 2011, 61 Chinese
companies were listed in the Fortune Global 500.[287] Measured by total revenues, three of the
world's top ten most valuable companies are Chinese, including fifth-ranked Sinopec Group,
sixth-ranked China National Petroleum and seventh-ranked State Grid (the world's largest electric
utilities company).[287]
China's middle-class population (defined as those with annual income of at least US$17,000) had
reached more than 100 million by 2011,[288] while the number of individuals worth more than
10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) was estimated to be 1.02 million in 2012, according to the
Hurun Report.[289] Based on the Hurun rich list, the number of US dollar billionaires in China
increased from 130 in 2009 to 251 in 2012, giving China the world's second-highest number of
billionaires.[290][291] China's domestic retail market was worth over 20 trillion yuan (US$3.2
trillion) in 2012,[292] and is now growing at over 12% annually.[293] China is also now the world's
second-largest consumer of luxury goods behind Japan, with 27.5% of the global share.[294]
However, in recent years, China's rapid economic growth has contributed to severe consumer
inflation,[295][296] leading to increased government regulation.[297] In the early 2010s, China's
economic growth rate began to slow amid global economic turmoil, although it remains the
world's fastest-growing major economy.[101][103][297][298][299][300]

Nanjing Road, a major shopping street in Shanghai.
The Chinese economy is highly energy-intensive and inefficient;[301] China became the world's
largest energy consumer in 2010,[302] and still relies on coal to supply over 70% of its energy
needs.[303] Coupled with lax environmental regulations, this has led to massive water and air
pollution, leaving China with 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities.[301] Consequently, the
government has promised to use more renewable energy, planning to make renewables constitute
30% of China's total energy production by 2050.[147][304] Efforts have also been made to streamline
bureaucracy and reduce wastefulness by government enterprises.[305]

Science and technology
Main articles: Science and technology in the People's Republic of China and Chinese space
program

History of science and
technology in China
Inventions
Discoveries
By era
Han Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
Song Dynasty
People's Republic of China
Present-day China

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Value in dollars of high-tech exports by country in 2009. The value of Chinese high-tech exports
was more than twice that of any other nation.

Historical
China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming Dynasty. Ancient Chinese
discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder (the
Four Great Inventions), later became widespread in Asia and Europe. However, Chinese
scientific activity entered a prolonged decline in the fourteenth century. Unlike the European
scientists of the Scientific Revolution, medieval Chinese thinkers did not attempt to reduce
observations of nature to mathematical laws, and they did not form a scholarly community
offering peer review and progressive research. There was an increasing concentration on
literature, the arts, and public administration, while science and technology were seen as trivial or
restricted to limited practical applications.[306] The causes of this Great Divergence continue to be
debated.
After repeated military defeats by Western nations in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began
promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the
Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and
technology based on the model of the Soviet Union. However, Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution
of 1966–76 had a catastrophic effect on Chinese research, as academics were persecuted and the
training of scientists and engineers was severely curtailed for nearly a decade. After Mao's death
in 1976, science and technology was established as one of the Four Modernizations, and the
Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.[306]

The launch of China's Shenzhou 6 manned spacecraft in 2005.

Modern era
Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has become one of the world's leading
technological powers,[307] spending over US$100 billion on scientific research and development in
2011 alone.[308] Science and technology are seen as vital for achieving economic and political
goals, and are held as a source of national pride to a degree sometimes described as "technonationalism".[309]
China is rapidly developing its education system with an emphasis on science, mathematics and
engineering; in 2009, it produced over 10,000 Ph.D. engineering graduates, and as many as
500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.[310] China is also the world's second-largest
publisher of scientific papers, producing 121,500 in 2010 alone, including 5,200 in leading
international scientific journals.[311] Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo
have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing,[312][313][314] and
Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful.[315] China is
furthermore the world's largest investor in renewable energy technology.[147]
The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active, and is a major source of national
pride.[316][317] In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I ("The East is Red"). In
2003, China became the third country to independently send humans into space, with Yang
Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; as of April 2013, eight Chinese nationals have journeyed
into space. In 2008, China conducted its first spacewalk with the Shenzhou 7 mission. In 2011,
China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, was launched, marking the first step in a project
to assemble a large manned station by 2020.[318] The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program includes
a planned lunar rover launch in 2013, and possibly a manned lunar landing in 2025.[319][320]
Experience gained from the lunar program may be used for future programs such as the
exploration of Mars and Venus.[321] However, some foreign analysts have accused China of

covertly using its civilian space missions for military purposes, such as the launch of surveillance
satellites.[322]

Infrastructure
Communications
Main article: Telecommunications in the People's Republic of China
China currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with
over 1 billion users as of May 2012.[323][324] It also has the world's largest number of internet and
broadband users.[325] By December 2010, China had around 457 million internet users, an increase
of 19% over the previous year, and by the end of 2011 the number of internet users had exceeded
500 million.[326][327] According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC),
China's average internet connection speed in 2011 was 100.9 kbit/s, less than half of the global
average of 212.5 kbit/s.[328]
China Telecom and China Unicom, the country's two largest broadband providers, accounted for
20% of global broadband subscribers, whereas the world's ten largest broadband service
providers combined accounted for 39% of the world's broadband customers. China Telecom
alone serves 55 million broadband subscribers, while China Unicom serves more than 40 million.
The massive rise in internet use in China continues to fuel rapid broadband growth, whereas the
world's other major broadband ISPs operate in the mature markets of the developed world, with
high levels of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth.[329] Several Chinese
telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have become highly profitable in
overseas markets, but have also been accused of spying for the Chinese military.[330]

Transport
Main article: Transport in China

There are over 85,000 km (52,800 mi) of divided expressways in China.

A high-speed maglev train leaving Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, in 2006.
Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the
creation of a network of expressways, known as the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS).
By the end of 2011, China's expressways had reached a total length of 85,000 km (53,000 mi),
second only to the highway network of the United States.[331] Private car ownership is growing
rapidly in China, which surpassed the United States as the world's largest automobile market in
2009, with total car sales of over 13.6 million.[332] Analysts predict that annual car sales in China
may rise as high as 40 million by 2020.[333] A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road
network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents, mostly caused by poorly enforced traffic
laws – in 2011 alone, around 62,000 Chinese died in road accidents, and efforts to improve traffic
safety have had limited success.[334][335]
China also possesses the world's longest high-speed rail network, with over 9,676 km (6,012 mi)
of service routes.[336] Of these, 3,515 km (2,184 mi) serve trains with top speeds of 300 km/h
(190 mph).[337] In 2011, China produced its first high-speed trains built entirely without foreign
assistance.[338] China intends to operate approximately 16,000 km (9,900 mi) of high-speed rail
lines by 2020.[339] Rapid transit systems are also rapidly developing in China's major cities, in the
form of networks of underground or light rail systems. China is additionally developing its own
satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services
across Asia in 2012,[340] and is planned to offer global coverage by 2020.[341]
As of 2012, China is the world's largest constructor of new airports, and the Chinese government
has begun a US$250 billion five-year project to expand and modernize domestic air travel.[342]
However, long-distance transportation remains dominated by railways and charter bus systems.
Railways are the vital carrier in China; they are monopolized by the state, and divided into
various railway bureaux in different regions. Due to huge demand, the system is regularly subject
to overcrowding, particularly during holiday seasons, such as Chunyun during the Chinese New
Year. The Chinese rail network carried an estimated 1.68 billion total passengers in 2010 alone.
[339]
In urban areas, bicycles remain an extremely common mode of transport, despite the
increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2012, there are approximately 470 million bicycles
in China.[343]

Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of China and List of cities in the People's Republic of China by
population

A 2009 population density map of the People's Republic of China. The eastern coastal provinces
are much more densely populated than the western interior.
The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China as
approximately 1,338,612,968. About 21% of the population (145,461,833 males; 128,445,739
females) were 14 years old or younger, 71% (482,439,115 males; 455,960,489 females) were
between 15 and 64 years old, and 8% (48,562,635 males; 53,103,902 females) were over 65 years
old. The population growth rate for 2006 was 0.6%.[344]
By end of 2010, the proportion of mainland Chinese people aged 14 or younger was 16.60%,
while the number aged 60 or older grew to 13.26%, giving a total proportion of 29.86%
dependents. The proportion of the population of workable age was thus around 70%.[345]
Although a middle-income country by Western standards, China's rapid growth has pulled
hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese
population lives below the poverty line of US$1 per day, down from 64% in 1978. Urban
unemployment in China reportedly declined to 4% by the end of 2007, although true overall
unemployment may be as high as 10%.[346]
With a population of over 1.3 billion and dwindling natural resources, China is very concerned
about its population growth and has attempted, with mixed results,[347] to implement a strict
family planning policy, known as the "one-child policy." The government's goal is one child per
family, with exceptions for ethnic minorities and a degree of flexibility in rural areas. It is hoped
that population growth in China will stabilize in the early decades of the 21st century, though
some projections estimate a population of anywhere between 1.4 billion and 1.6 billion by 2025.
China's family planning minister has indicated that the one-child policy will be maintained until
at least 2020.[348]

Population of China from 1949 to 2008.
The one-child policy is resisted, particularly in rural areas, because of the need for agricultural
labour and a traditional preference for boys (who can later serve as male heirs). Families who
breach the policy often lie during the census.[349]
The decreasing reliability of Chinese population statistics since family planning began in the late
1970s has made evaluating the effectiveness of the policy difficult.[349] Data from the 2010 census
implies that the total fertility rate may now be around 1.4.[350] The government is particularly
concerned with the large imbalance in the sex ratio at birth, apparently the result of a combination
of traditional preference for boys and family planning pressure, which led to a ban on using
ultrasound devices for non-emergency applications, in an attempt to prevent sex-selective
abortion.[351]
According to the 2010 census, there were 118.06 boys born for every 100 girls, which is 0.53
points lower than the ratio obtained from a population sample survey carried out in 2005.[352]
However, the gender ratio of 118.06 is still beyond the normal range of around 105 percent, and
experts warn of increased social instability should this trend continue.[353] For the population born
between the years 1900 and 2000, it is estimated that there could be 35.59 million fewer females
than males.[354] Other demographers argue that perceived gender imbalances may arise from the
underreporting of female births.[355][356][357][358] A recent study suggests that as many as three million
Chinese babies are hidden by their parents every year.[358] According to the 2010 census, males
accounted for 51.27 percent of the total population, while females made up 48.73 percent of the
total.[352]

Ethnic groups
Main articles: List of ethnic groups in China, Ethnic minorities in China, and Ethnic groups in
Chinese history
China officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Han Chinese,
who constitute about 91.51% of the total population.[359] The Han Chinese – the world's largest
single ethnic group – outnumber other ethnic groups in every province, municipality and
autonomous region except Tibet and Xinjiang, and are descended from ancient Huaxia tribes
living along the Yellow River.

Ethnic minorities account for about 8.49% of the population of China, according to the 2010
census.[359] Compared with the 2000 population census, the Han population increased by
66,537,177 persons, or 5.74%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined
increased by 7,362,627 persons, or 6.92%.[359]
The 2010 census recorded a total of 593,832 foreign citizens living in China. The largest such
groups were from South Korea (120,750), the United States (71,493) and Japan (66,159).[360]

Languages
Main articles: Languages of China and List of endangered languages in China

1990 map of Chinese ethnolinguistic groups.
The languages most spoken in China belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family. There are also
several major linguistic groups within the Chinese language itself. The most spoken varieties are
Mandarin (the first language of over 70% of the population), Wu (includes Shanghainese), Yue
(includes Cantonese and Taishanese), Min (includes Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan, and
Hakka. Non-Sinitic languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Zhuang, Mongolian,
Tibetan, Uyghur, Hmong and Korean.[361] Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the
Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca between
people of different linguistic backgrounds.
Classical Chinese was the written standard in China for thousands of years, and allowed for
written communication between speakers of various unintelligible languages and dialects in
China. Written vernacular Chinese, or baihua, is the written standard, based on the Mandarin
dialect and first popularized in Ming Dynasty novels. It was adopted, with significant
modifications, during the early 20th century as the national standard. Classical Chinese is still
part of the high school curriculum, and is thus intelligible to some degree to many Chinese. Since
their promulgation by the government in 1956, Simplified Chinese characters have become the
official standardized written script used to write the Chinese language within mainland China,
supplanting the use of the earlier Traditional Chinese characters.

Urbanization
See also: List of cities in the People's Republic of China, List of cities in the People's Republic of
China by population, and Metropolitan regions of China
Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that
China's urban population will increase by 400 million people by 2025,[362] when its cities will
house a combined population of over one billion.[363] The country's urbanization rate increased
from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009, a scale unprecedented in human history.[364]
Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home
to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[365][366]
Today, China has dozens of cities with one million or more long-term residents, including the
three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; by 2025, the country will be home to
221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[363] The figures in the table below are from the 2008
census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a
different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes
suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make
conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[367] the figures below include only long-term
residents.

v
t
e

Largest cities or towns of the People's Republic of China
Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010)

Shanghai

Ran City Provinc
Ran City
Pop.
Province
k
name
e
k
name
Shangha Shangha 22,315,4
Shenyan
1
11
Liaoning
i
i
26
g
18,827,0
Hangzho
2 Beijing Beijing
12
Zhejiang
00
u
11,090,3
Chongqi Chongqin
3 Tianjin Tianjin
13
14
ng
g
Guangz Guangd 11,070,6
Heilongji
4
14 Harbin
hou
ong
54
ang
5 Shenzhe Guangd 10,357,9 15 Suzhou Jiangsu
n
ong
38

Pop.
5,743,7
18
5,695,3
13
5,402,7
21
4,517,5
49
4,074,0
00

Tianjin

Donggua Guangd 8,220,93
16 Jinan
Shandong
n
ong
7
Chengd
7,123,69
7
Sichuan
17 Xi'an
Shaanxi
u
7
Hong
Hong
7,055,07
8
18 Wuxi
Jiangsu
Kong
Kong
1
6,852,98
9 Nanjing Jiangsu
19 Hefei
Anhui
4
6,434,37
Changch
10 Wuhan Hubei
20
Jilin
3
un
6

3,922,1
80
3,890,0
98
3,542,3
19
3,352,0 Guangzhou
76
3,341,7
00

Education
Main article: Education in the People's Republic of China

Tsinghua University in Beijing.
In 1986, China set the long-term goal of providing compulsory nine-year basic education to every
child. As of 2007, there were 396,567 primary schools, 94,116 secondary schools, and 2,236
higher education institutions in China.[368] In February 2006, the government advanced its basic
education goal by pledging to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks
and fees.[369] Free compulsory education in China consists of elementary school and middle
school between the ages of 6 and 15; almost all children in urban areas continue with three years
of high school.
As of 2007, 93.3% of the population over age 15 are literate,[344][370] compared to only 20% in
1950.[371] In 2000, China's literacy rate among 15-to-24-year-olds was 98.9% (99.2% for males
and 98.5% for females).[372] In March 2007, the Chinese government declared education a
national "strategic priority"; the central budget for national scholarships was tripled between
2007 and 2009, and 223.5 billion yuan (US$28.65 billion) of extra state funding was allocated
between 2007 and 2012 to improve compulsory education in rural areas.[373]
In 2009, Chinese students from Shanghai achieved the world's best results in mathematics,
science and literacy, as tested by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a
worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance.[374]

The quality of Chinese colleges and universities varies considerably across the country. The
consistently top-ranked universities in mainland China are:[375][376][377]


Beijing: Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China



Changchun: Jilin University



Chengdu: Sichuan University



Guangzhou: Sun Yat-sen University



Hangzhou: Zhejiang University



Harbin: Harbin Institute of Technology



Hefei: University of Science and Technology of China



Jinan: Shandong University



Nanjing: Nanjing University, Southeast University



Shanghai: Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University



Tianjin: Nankai University, Tianjin University



Wuhan: Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology



Xi'an: Xi'an Jiaotong University

Health
Main article: Health in China
See also: Pharmaceutical industry in China
The Ministry of Health, together with its counterparts in the provincial health bureaux, oversees
the health needs of the Chinese population.[378] An emphasis on public health and preventive
medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the
Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving
sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as
cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by
the campaign. After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the
Chinese public improved rapidly due to better nutrition, although many of the free public health
services provided in the countryside disappeared along with the People's Communes. Healthcare
in China became mostly privatised, and experienced a significant rise in quality. The national life
expectancy at birth rose from about 35 years in 1949 to 73.18 years in 2008,[379][380] and infant

mortality decreased from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to around 23 per thousand in 2006.[35][381]
Malnutrition as of 2002 stood at 12% of the population, according to United Nations FAO
sources.[382] In 2009, the government began a large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth
US$124 billion, which is expected to eventually cover 90% of China's population.[383]
As of 2012, China's national average life expectancy at birth is 74.8 years,[384] and its infant
mortality rate is 15.6 per thousand births.[385] Despite significant improvements in health and the
construction of advanced medical facilities, China has several emerging public health problems,
such as respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution[386] and hundreds of millions of
cigarette smokers,[387][388] a possible future HIV/AIDS epidemic, and an increase in obesity among
urban youths.[389][390] China's large population and densely populated cities have led to serious
disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of SARS, although this has since
been largely contained.[391] Pollution is proving to be a particularly severe threat – in 2007,
estimates of annual excess deaths in China from air and water pollution were placed at 760,000
people,[392][393] and as many as 500 million Chinese lacked access to clean drinking water in 2005.
[394][395]

In 2011, China was estimated to be the third-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals in the world.
However, the Chinese population has suffered from the development and distribution of
counterfeit medications.[396]

Religion
Main article: Religion in China

The Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai is the initial site of the Tiantai branch of Chinese
Buddhism, originally built in 598 AD during the Sui Dynasty.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations which
lack official approval can be subject to state persecution.[220][397] An accurate estimate of the
number of religious adherents is hard to obtain because of a lack of official data, but there is a
general consensus that religious belief has been enjoying a resurgence in China since the late
1980s.[398] A 1998 survey reported by Adherents.com found that 59% (over 700 million) of the
population was non-religious.[399] A later survey, conducted in 2007, found that there were
300 million religious believers in China, constituting 23% of the population, as distinct from the
official figure of 100 million.[398]
Over its history, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religions, including local
Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Shamanism, Islam, Manicheism,
Zoroastrianism and numerous new religions. Of these, Taoism and Buddhism have had the
greatest impact in shaping Chinese culture. Taoism is the most notable Chinese indigenous
institutional religion, often including and managing local folk religion, while Buddhism spread to
China from India in the 1st century and became widely influential in certain periods of the history
of China.

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin, northeast China. By 1921, Harbin had a Russian population of
around 100,000, feeding the growth of Christianity in the city.[400]

The Huaisheng Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the world.
Today, according to different surveys, local ethnic religions, which sometimes fall under the label
of Taoism or are administered by the Taoist clergy, are the dominant, being practiced by over
30% of the Chinese population.[401] Buddhism is practiced by between 10.85%[401] and 18% of the
Chinese.[402][403][404] Christianity is practiced by 3.2%,[403][404][405] 4%[401] to 5%[406] of the population,
while Islam by 2% of the population.

Some of the ethnic minorities of China practice their indigenous religions, for example
Dongbaism is the traditional religion of the Nakhi people, Moism that of the Zhuang people, and
Ruism that of the Qiang people. The traditional indigenous religion of Tibet is Bön, while most of
Tibetans follow Tibetan Buddhism, a form of Vajrayana. However, Tibetan Buddhism has also
spread to other areas of China adopted by many Han Chinese.[407]
Mahayana Buddhism (Dacheng) and its subsets Pure Land (Amidism), Tiantai and Chán (better
known in English by its Japanese pronunciation Zen) are the most widely practiced
denominations of Buddhism. Theravada is practiced largely by ethnic minorities along the
Southern geographic fringes of the Chinese mainland.[408]
Christianity was first introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty, with the arrival of Nestorian
Christianity in 635 AD. Official government statistics put the number of Christians at 25 million,
including 10 million Catholics,[409] but these count only members of officially sanctioned church
bodies.[410]
Islam in China dates to a mission in 651; over the following centuries, Muslim traders and
scholars became prominent in China.[411][412][413] Accurate statistics on China's current Muslim
population are hard to find; the State Administration for Religious Affairs states there are more
than 21 million Muslims in the country (1.5%–2% of the total population), with unofficial
estimates ranging as high as 50 million.[414][415][416][417]
China also has numerous minority religions, including Hinduism, and a number of more modern
religions and sects, such as Xiantiandao (Yiguandao), Zailiism and Deism.[418] In July 1999, the
Falun Gong spiritual practice was officially banned by the authorities,[221] and many international
organizations have criticized the government's recent treatment of Falun Gong.[419] There are no
reliable estimates of the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China,[420] although informal
estimates have given figures as high as 70 million.[421][422]

Culture
Main articles: Culture of the People's Republic of China and Chinese culture

A traditional Beijing opera being performed.[423]

Beijing's Forbidden City, showing its classical Chinese architectural style.
Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism and
conservative philosophies. For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social
advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious Imperial examinations,
which were instituted in 605 AD to help the Emperor select skilful bureaucrats. The literary
emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the
belief that calligraphy, poetry, and literati painting were higher forms of art than dancing or
drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking
national perspective.[23] Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today.
In recent years, a number of New Confucians have claimed that modern democratic ideals and
human rights are compatible with traditional Confucian values.[424]
The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the traditional imperial order,
but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change
some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian
system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and culture of
obedience to the state. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRC in
1949 as a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim that the
Communist Party's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through
political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, where many aspects of
traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounced as "regressive and harmful' or
'vestiges of feudalism'. Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as
Confucianism, art, literature, and performing arts like Peking opera, were altered to conform to
government policies and propaganda at the time.
Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as
being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural
Revolution, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and
architecture have seen a vigorous revival,[425][426] and folk and variety art in particular have
sparked interest nationally and even worldwide.[427] Only 34 foreign films a year are allowed to be
shown in Chinese cinemas.[428] China is now the third-most-visited country in the world, with
55.7 million inbound international visitors in 2010.[429] It also experiences an enormous volume of
domestic tourism; an estimated 740 million Chinese holidaymakers travelled within the country
in October 2012 alone.[430]

Traditional Chinese food in Tianjin, including dumpling and guobacai.

Cuisine
Main article: Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history. The dynastic
emperors of ancient China were known to host banquets with over 100 dishes served at a time,[431]
employing countless imperial kitchen staff and concubines to prepare the food. Such royal dishes
gradually became a part of wider Chinese culture. China's staple food is rice, but the country is
also well known for its meat dishes. Spices are endemic to Chinese cuisine.
Numerous foreign offshoots of Chinese food, such as Hong Kong cuisine and American Chinese
food, have emerged in the various nations which play host to the Chinese diaspora.

Sports
Main articles: Sport in the People's Republic of China and China at the Olympics

Dragon boat racing, a popular traditional Chinese sport.
China has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world. There is evidence that a form of
association football was played in China around 1000 AD.[432] Today, some of the most popular
sports in the country include martial arts, basketball, football, table tennis, badminton, swimming
and snooker. Board games such as go (known as weiqi in China), xiangqi, and more recently
chess, are also played at a professional level.[433]

Physical fitness is widely emphasized in Chinese culture. Morning exercises are a common
activity, with elderly citizens encouraged to practice qigong and t'ai chi ch'uan.[434] Young people
in China are also keen on football and basketball, especially in urban centers with limited space
and grass areas. The American National Basketball Association has a huge following among
Chinese youths, with ethnic Chinese players such as Yao Ming being held in high esteem.[435]
Commercial gyms and fitness clubs are rapidly gaining popularity in China, with over 3,000 such
establishments serving around 3 million active subscribers in China's major cities in 2010.[436] In
addition, China is home to a huge number of cyclists, with an estimated 470 million bicycles as
of 2012.[343] Many more traditional sports, such as dragon boat racing, Mongolian-style wrestling
and horse racing are also popular.[437]
China has participated in the Olympic Games since 1932, although it has only participated as the
PRC since 1952. China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where its athletes received
51 gold medals – the highest number of gold medals of any participating nation that year.[438]
China also won the most medals of any nation at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, with 231
overall, including 95 gold medals.[439][440] China will host the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin
and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing.

See also
China portal
People's Republic of China portal
Asia portal



Outline of China



Index of China-related articles



International rankings of China

References
1.

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Further reading


Meng, Fanhua (2011). Phenomenon of Chinese Culture at the Turn of the 21st century.
Singapore: Silkroad Press. ISBN 978-981-4332-35-4.



Farah, Paolo (2006). "Five Years of China's WTO Membership: EU and US Perspectives
on China's Compliance with Transparency Commitments and the Transitional Review
Mechanism". Legal Issues of Economic Integration. Kluwer Law International. Volume
33, Number 3. pp. 263–304. Abstract.



Heilig, Gerhard K. (2006/2007). China Bibliography – Online. China-Profile.com.



Jacques, Martin (2009).When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and
the Birth of a New Global Order. Penguin Books. Revised edition (28 August 2012).
ISBN 978-1-59420-185-1.



Sang Ye (2006). China Candid: The People on the People's Republic. University of
California Press. ISBN 0-520-24514-8.



Selden, Mark (1979). The People's Republic of China: Documentary History of
Revolutionary Change. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 0-85345-532-5.

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