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China From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "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). Page semi-protected People's Republic of China ??????? Zhonghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó

Flag National Emblem Anthem: "??????" "Yìyongjun Jìnxíngqu" (Pinyin) "March of the Volunteers"

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Area controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green; claimed b ut uncontrolled regions shown in light green. Area controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green; claimed b ut uncontrolled regions shown in light green. Capital Beijing[b] 39°55'N 116°23'E Largest city Shanghai[1][2] Official languages Standard Chinese[3]

Recognised regional languages Mongolian· Tibetan· Uyghur· Zhuang· various others Official written language Vernacular Chinese Official script Simplified Chinese[3] Ethnic groups 91.51% Han[4] 55 minorities[a] 1.30% Zhuang 0.86% Manchu 0.79% Uyghur 0.79% Hui 0.72% Miao 0.65% Yi 0.62% Tujia 0.47% Mongol 0.44% Tibetan 0.26% Buyei 0.15% Korean 1.05% others

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 the Qin Dynasty 221 BC - Republic established 1 January 1912 - People's Republic proclaimed 1 October 1949 Area - Total 9,706,961 km2[d] (3rd/4th) 3,747,879 sq mi - Water (%) 2.8 Population - 2012 estimate 1,353,821,000[4][5] (1st) - 2010 census 1,339,724,852[6] (1st) - Density 139.6/km2 (81st)

363.3/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2012 estimate - Total $12.405 trillion[7] (2nd) - Per capita $9,161[7] (91st) GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate - Total $8.227 trillion[7] (2nd) - Per capita $6,075[7] (90th) Gini (2012) 47.4[8] high HDI (2012) Increase 0.699[9] medium · 101st Currency Renminbi (yuan) (¥) (CNY) Time zone China Standard Time (UTC+8) Date format yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy?m?d? (CE; CE-1949) Drives on the right[f] Calling code +86 ISO 3166 code CN Internet TLD .cn .??[10] .?? a. ^ Minorities that are recognized officially. b. ^ Or (previously) "Peking". c. ^ Xi Jinping holds four concurrent positions: General Secretary of the Commun ist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission for both state and party.[11] d. ^ The area given is the official United Nations figure for the mainland and e xpressly excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.[12] It also excludes the Trans-Ka rakoram Tract 5,800 km2 (2,200 sq mi), Aksai Chin 37,244 km2 (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 info rmation, see Territorial changes of the People's Republic of China. f. ^ Except Hong Kong and Macau. China (Listeni/'t?a?n?/; Chinese: ??; pinyin: Zhongguó), officially the People's R epublic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the wor ld'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, Tianj in, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrati

ve regions (Hong Kong and Macau).[15] The PRC also claims Taiwan which is contro lled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity as its 23rd pro vince, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and t he unresolved Chinese Civil War.[16] Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, China is the world's secon d-largest country by land area,[17] and the third or fourth-largest by total are a, depending on the definition of total area.[18] China's landscape is vast and diverse, with forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts occupying the a rid 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 mounta in ranges separating China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow R ivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, have their sources in the Tibe tan Plateau and continue to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coas tline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long and is bounde d by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas. The ancient Chinese civilization one of the world's earliest flourished in the f ertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China' s political system was based on hereditary monarchies, known as dynasties, begin ning with the semi-mythological Xia of the Yellow River basin (c. 2000 BC). Sinc e 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. Th e Republic of China overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and ruled the Chinese ma inland 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 establ ished the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the Kuo mintang relocated the ROC government to Taipei. The ROC's jurisdiction is now li mited 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 fastest-growing major economy. As of 2013, it is the world's second-largest eco nomy by both nominal total GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also th e world's largest exporter and importer of goods.[19] China is a recognized nucl ear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army, with the second-lar gest defense budget. The PRC has been a United Nations member since 1971, when i t 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, includ ing the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BCIM and th e G-20. China has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of ac ademics,[20] military analysts,[21][22] and public policy and economics analysts .[23][24]

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Prehistory 2.2 Early dynastic rule 2.3 Imperial China 2.4 Late dynastic rule 2.5 Republic of China (1912 1949) 2.6 People's Republic of China (1949 present) 3 Geography 3.1 Political geography 3.2 Landscape and climate 3.3 Biodiversity 3.3.1 Fauna 3.3.2 Flora

3.3.3 Fungi 3.4 Environmental issues 4 Politics 4.1 Administrative divisions 4.2 Foreign relations 4.2.1 Trade relations 4.2.2 Territorial disputes 4.2.3 Emerging superpower status 4.3 Sociopolitical issues and reform 5 Military 6 Economy 7 Science and technology 7.1 Historical 7.2 Modern era 8 Infrastructure 8.1 Communications 8.2 Transport 9 Demographics 9.1 Ethnic groups 9.2 Languages 9.3 Urbanization 9.4 Education 9.5 Health 9.6 Religion 10 Culture 10.1 Cuisine 10.2 Sports 11 12 13 14

See also References Further reading External links

Etymology Main article: Names of China China Chinese name Simplified Chinese: ?? Traditional Chinese: ?? Literal meaning: Middle Kingdom[25][26] Transliterations Gan - Romanization: Tung-koe?t Kejia - Romanization: Dung24 Gued2 Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguó - Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguó - Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo - Postal Map: Chungkuo - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Jong'gwo

- Bopomofo ??? ???´ - Xiao'erjing ??? ????? Min - Hokkien POJ: Tiong-kok - Min Dong BUC: D??ng-guók Wu - Romanization: Tson? koh? Xiang - Romanization: /tan33 kw?24/ Yue - Jyutping: Zung1 gwok3 - Yale Romanization: Junggwok People's Republic of China Alternative Chinese name Simplified Chinese: ??????? Traditional Chinese: ??????? Transliterations Gan - Romanization: Chungfa Ninmin Khungfokoet Hakka - Romanization: Dung24 fa11 ngin11 min11 kiung55 fo11 gued2 Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin: Zhonghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó - Bopomofo ??? ???´ ??´ ???´ ???` ??´ ???´ - Xiao'erjing ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????? Min - Hokkien POJ: Tiong-hôa jîn-bîn kiong-hô-kok - Min Dong BUC: D??ng-huà Ìng-mìng Gê??ng-huò-guók Wu - Romanization: Tson? gho? zin? min? gon? ghu? koh? Xiang - Romanization: /tan33 go13 ?in13 min13 gan45 gu13 kw?24/ Yue - Jyutping: Zung1 waa4 jan4 man4 gung6 wo4 gwok3 - Yale Romanization: Jungwàh Yàhnmàhn Guhngwòhgwok Mongolian name Mongolian: Bügüde nayiramdaqu dumdadu arad ulus, ?????? ??????????? ??????? ???? ??? ? Transliterations - SASM/GNC Bügüde nayiramdaqu dumdadu arad ulus Tibetan name Tibetan: ???????????????????? ???????????? Transliterations - Wylie: krung hwa mi dmangs spyi mthun rgyal khab - Zangwen Pinyin: Zhunghua Mimang Jitun Gyalkab

Uyghur name Uyghur: ?????? ???? ?????????? Transliterations -

Latin Yëziqi: Jungxua Xelq Jumhuriyiti Yengi Yezik?: Junghua H?lk? Jumh?uriyiti SASM/GNC: Junghua Hälk^ Jumhuriyiti Siril Yëziqi: ?????? ???? ???h???????

Zhuang name Zhuang: Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may s ee question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. The word "China" is derived from Persian Cin (???), which is from Sanskrit Cina (???).[27] It is first recorded in 1516 in the journal of Portuguese explorer Du arte Barbosa.[28] It appears in English in a translation published in 1555.[29] It is commonly thought that it is derived from the "Qin" (?) Dynasty.[30] In Chi na, common names for the present country include Zhongguó (Chinese: ??; literally "the Middle State(s)") and Zhonghuá (Chinese: ??), although the country's official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern governm ents. The term Zhongguo appeared in various ancient texts, such as the Classic o f History of the 6th century BC,[31] and in pre-imperial times it was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia tribes from perceived "barbaria ns". 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 coun try as a whole until the nineteenth century. The Chinese were not unique in rega rding their country as "central", since other civilizations had the same view of themselves.[32] 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.[33] A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Bei jing) exhibits fossils dated at between 300,000 and 780,000 BC.[34][35][36] The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire.[37] The Pek ing Man site has also yielded remains of Homo sapiens dating back to 18,000 11,000 BC.[38] 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 my thical until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou in H

enan Province in 1959.[39] Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bron ze 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 writt en 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 11t h 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 t he Zhou, who ruled between the 12th and 5th centuries BC, until their centralize d authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many independent states eventu ally emerged out of the weakened Zhou state, and continually waged war with each other in the 300-year-long Spring and Autumn Period, only occasionally deferrin g to the Zhou king. By the time of the Warring States Period of the 5th 3rd centur ies BC, there were seven powerful sovereign states in what is now China, each wi th its own king, ministry and army.[40]

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 incur sions by nomadic pastoralists of the northern steppes. Imperial China The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin stat e in 221 BC. Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (???), and imp osed many reforms throughout China, notably the forced standardization of the Ch inese language, measurements, length of cart axles, and currency. The Qin Dynast y lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after Qin Shi Huang's death, as its ha rsh legalist and authoritarian policies led to widespread rebellion.[41][42] 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.[41][42] 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 l argest economy of the ancient world.[43] After the collapse of Han, another peri od of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three King doms.[44] Independent Chinese states of this period such as Wu opened diplomatic relations with Japan,[45] introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited under the Sui.[46] However, the Sui Dynasty declined foll owing its defeat in the Goguryeo Sui War (598 614).[47][48] Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture ent ered a golden age.[49] The Tang Empire was at its height of power until the midd le of the 8th century, when the An Shi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire.[50] 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 .[51] Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in si ze 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. T

he 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 artw orks. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Chu Hsi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of cl assic texts that brought about the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

Detail from Along the River During the Qingming Festival, a 12th-century painti ng showing everyday life in the Song Dynasty's capital city, Bianjing (today's K aifeng). In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty; the Yuan co nquered the last remnant of the Song Dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion , Song Cina reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census w hich followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people.[52] Late dynastic rule A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty.[53] Under the Ming Dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, dev eloping one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous econo my amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that Zheng H e led explorations throughout the world, reaching as far as Africa.[54] In the e arly years of the Ming Dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijin g. During the Ming Dynasty, thinkers such as Wang Yangming further critiqued and ex panded Neo-Confucianism 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 bur eaucratic 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 M ing Dynasty general Wu Sangui and overthrew Li's short-lived Shun Dynasty, and s ubsequently 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 .[55] The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of Chin a. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards Eur opean imperialism, even though it engaged in an imperialistic expansion of its o wn 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 mi ssionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing China. T wo Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control. Western imperialism p roved 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 vanquish ers, and allow foreigners to live and work on Chinese soil free of the jurisdict ion of Chinese law (extraterritoriality). Over the years new wars with Western p owers would expand these impositions on China's national sovereignty, culminatin g in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 95."[56]

A 19th-century painting depicting the Taiping Rebellion of 1850 1864. The weakening of the Qing regime, and the apparent humiliation of the unequal tr eaties in the eyes of the Chinese people, led to increasing domestic disorder. I n late 1850, southern China erupted in the Taiping Rebellion, a violent civil wa r which lasted until 1864. The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan, who was partly influenced by an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity. Hong believed hi mself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the Qing f orces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in huma n history, costing at least 20 million lives (more than the total number of fata lities in World War I), with some estimates of up to 40 million. Other costly re bellions followed the Taiping Rebellion, such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (1855 6 7), Nien Rebellion (1851 1868), Miao Rebellion (1854 73), Panthay Rebellion (1856 1873 ) and the Dungan revolt (1862 1877).[57][58] These rebellions each resulted in an estimated loss of several million lives, an d had a devastating impact on the fragile economy.[59][60][61] The flow of Briti sh opium hastened the empire's decline. In the 19th century, the age of colonial ism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora began; today, about 35 mill ion overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asia.[62] Emigration rates were strengthe ned by domestic catastrophes such as the Northern Chinese Famine of 1876 1879, whi ch claimed between 9 and 13 million lives in northern China.[63] From 108 BC to 1911 AD, China experienced 1,828 known famines,[64] or nearly one per year, some where in the empire.[65]

In the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894 95, which was fought over influence in Kor ea, Japanese troops defeated Qing forces. While China was wracked by continuous war, Meiji Japan succeeded in rapidly mode rnizing 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 K orea, leading to the First Sino-Japanese War, which resulted in Qing China's los s of influence in the Korean Peninsula as well as the cession of Taiwan (includi ng the Pescadores) to Japan in 1895.[66] Following this series of defeats, a reform plan for the empire to become a moder n 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 Gu angxu under house arrest in a coup d'état. The ill-fated Boxer Rebellion of 1898 190 1, in which westerners in Beijing were targeted en masse, resulted in as many as 115,000 deaths.[67] Slavery was formally abolished in 1906.[68] By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform a nd revolution were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu die d 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, hi s two-year-old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor. Guangxu's consort b ecame the Empress Dowager Longyu. In another coup d'état in 1912, Yuan Shikai over threw Puyi, and forced Longyu to sign the abdication decree as regent, ending ov er two thousand years of imperial rule in China.[citation needed] Longyu died, c hildless, 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 I mperial China.[69] Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president of the republic.[70] However, the presidenc y was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the def ection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution. In 191 5, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China, but was forced to abdicate and rees tablish the republic in the face of popular condemnation, not only from the gene ral population but also from among his own Beiyang Army and its commanders.[71] After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an int ernationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Be ijing. Regional warlords exercised actual control over their respective territor ies.[72][73] In the late 1920s, the nationalist Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-she k, was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft m ilitary and political maneuverings, known collectively as the Northern Expeditio n.[74][75] 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 s tate. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang, bu t the party was politically divided into competing cliques.[76][77] This politic al division made it difficult for Chiang to battle the Communists, which the Kuo mintang had been warring against since 1927 in the Chinese Civil War. This war c ontinued successfully for the Kuomintang, especially after the Communists retrea ted in the Long March, until the Xi'an Incident and Japanese aggression forced C hiang to confront Imperial Japan.[78][79] 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 pol icy" 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 2 0 million Chinese civilians died.[80][81] An estimated 200,000 Chinese were mass acred in the city of Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation.[82] Japan unc onditionally surrendered to China in 1945. Taiwan, including the Pescadores, was put under the administrative control of the Republic of China, which immediatel y 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.[83][84][85] 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 Octo ber 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China,[86] which was co mmonly known in the West as "Communist China" or "Red China" during the Cold War .[87] In 1950, the People's Liberation Army succeeded in capturing Hainan from t

he ROC, occupying Tibet, and defeating the majority of the remaining Kuomintang forces in Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces, though some Kuomintang holdouts survive d until much later.

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 19 49. Mao encouraged population growth, and under his leadership the Chinese populatio n almost doubled from around 550 million to over 900 million.[88] 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. [89] Between 1 and 2 million landlords were executed as "counterrevolutionaries. "[90] 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 pow er struggles within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major uph eaval in Chinese society. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of Chin a 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 recogni zing the PRC surpassed those recognizing the ROC in Taipei as the government of China.[91] In February 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet 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 fo r the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrested power f rom Mao's anointed successor Hua Guofeng. Although he never became the head of t he party or state himself, Deng was in fact the "paramount leader" of China at t hat time, his influence within the Party led the country to significant economic reforms. The Communist Party subsequently loosened governmental control over ci tizens' personal lives and the communes were disbanded with many peasants receiv ing multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural pr oduction. This turn of events marked China's transition from a planned economy t o a mixed economy with an increasingly open market environment, a system termed by some "market socialism";[92] the Communist Party of China officially describe s it as "socialism with Chinese characteristics". China adopted its current cons titution 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 month s, speaking out against corruption and in favour of greater political reform, in cluding democratic rights and freedom of speech. However, they were eventually p ut 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 bro ught worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the government.[93][94] The "T ank Man" incident in particular became famous.

The city of Shanghai has become a symbol of China's rapid economic expansion si nce the 1990s. President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both former mayors of Shanghai, le d the nation in the 1990s. Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of administration, Ch ina's economic performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of pover ty and sustained an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.[ 95][96] The country formally joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Although rapid economic growth has made the Chinese economy the world's second-l argest, this growth has also severely impacted the country's resources and envir onment.[97] 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 distr ibution of resources, though the outcome remains to be seen.[98] More than 40 mi llion farmers have been displaced from their land,[99] usually for economic deve lopment, contributing to the 87,000 demonstrations and riots which took place ac ross China in 2005 alone.[100] Living standards have improved significantly but political controls remain tight.[101] Although China largely succeeded in mainta ining its rapid rate of economic growth despite the late-2000s recession, its gr owth rate began to slow in the early 2010s, and the economy remains overly focus ed on fixed investment.[102][103][104] Preparations for a major Communist Party leadership change in late 2012 were mar ked by factional disputes and political scandals, such as the fall from power of Chongqing official Bo Xilai.[105] During China's decadal leadership reshuffle i n 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.[106][107] 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 lan d area after Russia[17] and is either the third- or fourth-largest by total area , after Russia, Canada and, depending on the definition of total area, the Unite d States.[108][109] China's total area is generally stated as being approximatel y 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi).[110] Specific area figures range from 9,572,9 00 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,[111] 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,[112] and 9,640,011 k m2 (3,722,029 sq mi) including Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract, which a re controlled by China and claimed by India.[113] None of these figures include the 1,000 square kilometres (386.1 sq mi) of territory ceded to China by Tajikis tan following the ratification of a Sino-Tajik border agreement in January 2011. [114] 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 1 4 nations, more than any other country except Russia, which also borders 14. Chi na extends across much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Burma in South east Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan[115] in South Asia; Afghanistan, Ta jikistan, 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 No rtheast 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 mut ual claims over each other's territory and the frontier between areas under thei r respective control is closest near the islands of Kinmen and Matsu, off the Fu jian 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 f orm 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 13 5° E. China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast width. In the east, al ong 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 pl ateau 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 land scapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's hig hest 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 La ke (-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 deser t.[116][117] Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced th e frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices hav e 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 en vironmental watchdog, Sepa, China is losing a million acres (4,000 km²) per year t o desertification.[118] Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have becom e important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers i n the Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millio ns of people.[119] 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, sout hern 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 Wolon g National Nature Reserve in Sichuan. China is one of 17 megadiverse countries,[120] 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.[121] The country signed the Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biological Diversity on 11 June 1992, and became a par ty to the convention on 5 January 1993.[122] It later produced a National Biodiv ersity Strategy and Action Plan, with one revision which was received by the con vention on 21 September 2010.[123] Fauna China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest such number in the world),[124] 1,221 species of birds (eighth),[125] 424 species of reptile s (seventh)[126] and 333 species of amphibians (seventh).[127] China is the most biodiverse country in each category outside of the tropics. Wildlife in China s hare 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 dang er of local extinction in China, due mainly to human activity such as habitat de struction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine.[128] 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 S haanxi province. A number of other species, such as the South China tiger, Chine se alligator and Pere David's deer, are virtually extinct in the wild and surviv e 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 othe r countries. Laws prohibiting illegal animal trade are unevenly enforced.[129] Flora China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants[130] and is home to a variety o f 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 ov er 120 bird species. Moist conifer forests can have thickets of bamboo as an und erstorey, 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 spec ies found in China.[131] Fungi

The number of species of fungi recorded in China, including lichen-forming speci es, is not known with precision, but probably exceeds 10,000. More than 2,400 sp ecies were listed by the mycologist S.C. Teng in the first modern treatment of C hinese fungi in the English language, which was published in 1996.[132] More tha n 5,000 species of "higher fungi" mainly basidiomycetes with some ascomycetes we re reported in 2001 for tropical China alone,[133] and nearly 4,000 species of f ungi were reported in 2005 for northwestern China.[134] The exploration and clas sification of the fungi of China is currently being pursued under the auspices o f the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the production of many volumes in the Fl ora 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.[135] Environmental issues Main article: Environment 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 an d pollution.[136][137] While regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protecti on Law are fairly stringent, they are poorly enforced, as they are frequently di sregarded by local communities and government officials in favour of rapid econo mic development. As a result, public protests and riots over environmental issue s have become increasingly common.[138] Environmental campaigners have warned that water pollution is becoming a severe threat to Chinese society.[139][140] 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 was te by late 2011.[141] This crisis is compounded by increasingly severe water sho rtages, particularly in the north-east of the country.[142][143][144] Additional ly, numerous major Chinese coastal cities, including Shanghai, are deemed to be highly vulnerable to large-scale flooding.[145] However, China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy commercialisa tion, with $52 billion invested in 2011 alone.[146][147][148] China produces mor e wind turbines and solar panels than any other country,[149] and renewable ener gy projects, such as solar water heating, are widely pursued at the local level. [150] By 2009, over 17% of China's energy was derived from renewable sources mos t notably hydroelectric power plants, of which China has a total installed capac ity of 197 GW.[151] In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to invest fo ur trillion yuan (US$618.55 billion) in water infrastructure and desalination pr ojects over a ten-year period, and to complete construction of a flood preventio n and anti-drought system by 2020.[152][142] 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 th e world's four remaining socialist states espousing communism.[153][154] The Chi nese government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but als o as authoritarian, with heavy restrictions remaining in many areas, most notabl y on the Internet, the press, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights, and free

dom of religion.[155] Its current political/economic system has been termed by i ts leaders as "socialism with Chinese characteristics". The country is ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC), whose power is enshr ined in China's constitution.[156] The Chinese electoral system is hierarchical, whereby local People's Congresses are directly elected, and all higher levels o f People's Congresses up to the National People's Congress (NPC) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.[157] The politi cal system is partly decentralized,[158] with limited democratic processes inter nal to the party and at local village levels, although these experiments have be en marred by corruption. There are other political parties in China, referred to in China as democratic parties, which participate in the National People's Cong ress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the National People's Congress c onvenes. Compared to its closed-door policies until the mid-1970s, the liberalization of China has resulted in the administrative climate being less restrictive than bef ore. China supports the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism",[159] but the elected National People's Congress has been described as a "rubber stamp" bo dy.[160] The incumbent President is Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretar y of the Communist Party of China and the Chairman of the Central Military Commi ssion.[106] The current Premier is Li Keqiang, who is also a senior member of th e CPC Politburo Standing Committee. There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contest ed elections are now held at the village and town levels.[161][162] 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 conc erns in China include lessening the growing gap between rich and poor and fighti ng corruption within the government leadership.[163] Nonetheless, the level of p ublic support for the government and its management of the nation is among the h ighest in the world, with 86% of Chinese citizens expressing satisfaction with t heir nation's economy according to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey.[164] Administrative divisions Main articles: Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, Distr icts 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.[165] China also has f ive subdivisions officially termed autonomous regions, each with a designated mi nority group; four municipalities; and two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) , which enjoy a degree of political autonomy. These 22 provinces, five autonomou s 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 t hese divisions are recognized by the ROC government, which claims the entirety o f the PRC's territory.

Provinces (?)

Anhui (???) Fujian (???) Gansu (???) Guangdong (???) Guizhou (???) Hainan (???) Hebei (???) Heilongjiang (????) Henan (???) Hubei (???) Hunan (???) Jiangsu (???) Jiangxi (???) Jilin (???) Liaoning (???) Qinghai (???) Shaanxi (???) Shandong (???) Shanxi (???) Sichuan (???) Taiwan (???) Yunnan (???) Zhejiang (???) Taiwan is claimed by the PRC but governed by the Republic of China Autonomous regions (???) Municipalities (???) Special administrative regions (?????) Guangxi (???????) Inner Mongolia / Nei Mongol (??????) Ningxia (???????) Xinjiang (????????) Tibet / Xizang (?????) Beijing (???) Chongqing (???) Shanghai (???) Tianjin (???) Hong Kong / Xianggang (???????) Macau / Aomen (???????)

China administrative claimed included.svg About this image

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 1 62.[166] Its legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other cou ntries; 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.[167] 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 perman ent members of the United Nations Security Council.[168] China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an ad vocate for developing countries.[169] Along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS group of emerging major economies, and h osted the group's third official summit at Sanya, Hainan in April 2011.[170] Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, Beijing has made it a precondi tion to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges it s claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the government of the Republic o f China. Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign cou ntries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan,[171] especially in the matter o f armament sales.[172] Political meetings between foreign government officials a nd the 14th Dalai Lama are also opposed by China, as the latter considers Tibet to be formally part of China.[173] 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 "harmon y without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states desp ite ideological differences. This policy has led China to support states that ar e regarded as dangerous or repressive by Western nations, such as Zimbabwe, Nort h Korea and Iran.[174] Conflicts with foreign countries have occurred at times i n 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 M ay 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 Chi na has improved its diplomatic links with the West.[175][176] China furthermore has an increasingly close economic relationship with Russia, and the two states often vote in unison in the UN Security Council.[177][178][179] In recent decade s, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bi lateral co-operation;[180][181][182] in 2012, Sino-African trade totalled over U S$160 billion.[183] China has furthermore strengthened its ties with major South American economies, becoming the largest trading partner of Brazil and building strategic links with Argentina.[184][185]

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 propos ed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional secu rity issues, pointedly excluding the United States.[186] The EAS, which includes

ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit i n 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.[187] Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush asserted th at free trade would gradually open China to democratic reform.[188] Bush was fur thermore an advocate of Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).[1 89] China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most impor tant export market.[190] In the early 2010s, US politicians argued that the Chin ese yuan was significantly undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage.[ 191][192][193] 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 ot her international territorial disputes. Since the 1990s, China has been involved in negotiations to resolve its disputed land borders, including a disputed bord er with India and an undefined border with Bhutan. China is additionally involve d in multilateral disputes over the ownership of several small islands in the Ea st and South China Seas.[194][195][196] Emerging superpower status China is regularly hailed as a potential new superpower, with certain commentato rs citing its rapid economic progress, growing military might, very large popula tion, and increasing international influence as signs that it will play a promin ent global role in the 21st century.[24][197] Others, however, warn that economi c bubbles and demographic imbalances could slow or even halt China's growth as t he century progresses.[198][199][200][201][202] Some authors also question the d efinition of "superpower", arguing that China's large economy alone would not qu alify it as a superpower, and noting that it lacks the military and cultural inf luence of the United States.[203] Sociopolitical issues and reform See also: Human rights in China, Hukou system, Social welfare in China, Election s in the People's Republic of China, Censorship in China, and Feminism in the Pe ople's Republic of China The Chinese democracy movement, social activists, and some members of the Commun ist 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 P eople's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights" of citizens inclu de freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom o f religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, in practice, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the state.[204][205][206] Rural migrants to China's cities often find themselve

s treated as second-class citizens by the hukou household registration system, w hich controls access to state benefits.[207][208] Property rights are often poor ly protected,[207] and taxation disproportionately affects poorer citizens.[208] However, a number of rural taxes have been reduced or abolished since the early 2000s, and additional social services provided to rural dwellers.[209][210] Censorship of political speech and information, most notably on the Internet,[21 1][212][213][214] is openly and routinely used in China to silence criticism of the government and the ruling Communist Party.[215][216][217] 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.[218] The government has suppressed demonstrations by organizations that it considers a po tential threat to "social stability", as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The Communist Party has had mixed success in controlling infor mation: a powerful and pervasive media control system faces equally strong marke t forces, an increasingly educated citizenry, and technological and cultural cha nges that are making China more open to the wider world.[219][220] A number of foreign governments and NGOs also routinely criticize China's human rights record, alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention wit hout trial, forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights,[155 ][221][222] and excessive use of the death penalty.[223][224] The government has responded to foreign criticism by arguing that the notion of human rights shoul d 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. [225] It emphasizes the rise in the standard of living, literacy, and life expec tancy for the average Chinese since the 1970s, as well as improvements in workpl ace safety and efforts to combat natural disasters such as the perennial Yangtze River floods.[225][226][227] 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 democ ratic election system so that state power will truly belong to the people and st ate power will be used to serve the people." Despite his status, Wen's comments were later censored by the government.[228] Although the Chinese government is i ncreasingly tolerant of NGOs which offer practical, efficient solutions to socia l problems, such "third sector" activity remains heavily regulated.[229] 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 larges t standing military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commis sion (CMC).[230] The PLA consists of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force ( PLAGF), the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the People's Liberation Army A ir Force (PLAAF), and a strategic nuclear force, the Second Artillery Corps. Acc ording to the Chinese government, China's military expenditure in 2012 totalled US$100 billion, constituting the world's second-largest military budget.[231] Ho wever, other nations, such as the United States, have claimed that China does no t report its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher tha n the official budget.[232] A 2007 report by the US Secretary of Defense noted t hat "China's actions in certain areas increasingly appear inconsistent with its declaratory policies".[233] For its part, China claims it maintains an army pure ly for defensive purposes.[234]

As a recognised nuclear weapons state, China is considered both a major regional military power and a potential military superpower.[235] As of August 2011, Chi na's Second Artillery Corps is believed to maintain at least 195 nuclear missile s, including 75 ICBMs.[236] Nonetheless, China is the only one of the UN Securit y Council Permanent Members to have relatively limited power projection capabili ties.[237] To offset this, it has developed numerous power projection assets its first aircraft carrier entered service in 2012,[238][239][240][241] and it main tains a substantial fleet of submarines, including several nuclear-powered attac k and ballistic missile submarines.[242] China has furthermore established a net work of foreign military relationships that has been compared to a string of pea rls.

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 manuf acturing its own modern fighters, most notably the Chengdu J-10 and the Shenyang J-11, J-15 and J-16.[238][243] China is furthermore engaged in developing an in digenous stealth aircraft, the Chengdu J-20, and numerous combat drones.[244][24 5][246][247] China has also updated its ground forces, replacing its ageing Sovi et-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 wa rfare capabilities.[248] In addition, China has developed or acquired numerous a dvanced missile systems,[249][250] including anti-satellite missiles,[251] cruis e missiles[252] and submarine-launched nuclear ICBMs.[236] As a result of these breakthroughs, China has been perceived as attempting to match the United States in military technology,[253] although some analysts note that the American mili tary remains far more capable than the PLA.[254] Economy Main articles: Economy of China, Agriculture in China, and List of Chinese admin istrative 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 i n 2011.[255] 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 Monet ary 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 glo bal GDP per capita rankings.[7] If PPP is taken into account in total GDP figure s, 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 d ecidedly mixed economic results.[256] Following Mao's death in 1976 and the cons equent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leaders

hip began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed ec onomy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and far mlands 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-ow ned 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 bas ed on private property ownership,[257][258] and is one of the leading examples o f state capitalism.[259][260] The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" in dustries (such as energy and heavy industries), but private enterprise has expan ded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.[261] [262][263][264]

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated China's market-oriented reforms. Since economic liberalization began in 1978, China's investment- and export-led[ 265] economy has grown more than a hundredfold[266] and is the fastest-growing m ajor economy in the world.[267] 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' gr owth combined.[268] According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by Citigroup in February 2011, China has a very high 3G growth rating.[269] Its hi gh 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,[192][270][271] and it has also been widely criticised for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods.[272][273] China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a to tal international trade value of US$3.87 trillion in 2012.[19] Its foreign excha nge reserves reached US$2.85 trillion by the end of 2010, an increase of 18.7% o ver the previous year, making its reserves by far the world's largest.[274][275] China owns an estimated $1.6 trillion of US securities.[276] China, holding ove r US$1.16 trillion in US Treasury bonds,[277] is the largest foreign holder of U S public debt.[278][279] 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.[280][281] China also increasingly invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $68 billion in 2010, and a number of major takeovers of f oreign firms by Chinese companies.[282][283][284]

A graph comparing the 2012 nominal GDPs of major economies in US$ billions, according to IMF data.[285] China now ranks 29th in the Global Competitiveness Index,[286] although it is on ly ranked 135th among the 179 countries measured in the Index of Economic Freedo m.[287] In 2011, 61 Chinese companies were listed in the Fortune Global 500.[288 ] Measured by total revenues, three of the world's top ten most valuable compani es are Chinese, including fifth-ranked Sinopec Group, sixth-ranked China Nationa l Petroleum and seventh-ranked State Grid (the world's largest electric utilitie s company).[288] 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,[289] 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.[290] Based on the Hurun ri ch list, the number of US dollar billionaires in China increased from 130 in 200 9 to 251 in 2012, giving China the world's second-highest number of billionaires .[291][292] China's domestic retail market was worth over 20 trillion yuan (US$3 .2 trillion) in 2012,[293] and is now growing at over 12% annually.[294] China i s also now the world's second-largest consumer of luxury goods behind Japan, wit h 27.5% of the global share.[295] However, in recent years, China's rapid econom ic growth has contributed to severe consumer inflation,[296][297] leading to inc reased government regulation.[298] In the early 2010s, China's economic growth r ate began to slow amid global economic turmoil, although it remains the world's fastest-growing major economy.[102][104][298][299][300][301]

Nanjing Road, a major shopping street in Shanghai. The Chinese economy is highly energy-intensive and inefficient;[302] China becam e the world's largest energy consumer in 2010,[303] and still relies on coal to supply over 70% of its energy needs.[304] Coupled with lax environmental regulat ions, this has led to massive water and air pollution, leaving China with 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities.[302] Consequently, the government has promi sed to use more renewable energy, planning to make renewables constitute 30% of China's total energy production by 2050.[148][305] Efforts have also been made t o streamline bureaucracy and reduce wastefulness by government enterprises.[306] Science and technology Main articles: Science and technology in the People's Republic of China and Chin ese space program

A man in black armor standing in front of a rocket, attached to a stick, with th e stick being held up by two X shaped wooden brackets. 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 This box: view· talk· edit

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. Ancie nt Chinese discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compas s, and gunpowder (the Four Great Inventions), later became widespread in Asia an d Europe. However, Chinese scientific activity entered a prolonged decline in th e fourteenth century. Unlike the European scientists of the Scientific Revolutio n, medieval Chinese thinkers did not attempt to reduce observations of nature to mathematical laws, and they did not form a scholarly community offering peer re view and progressive research. There was an increasing concentration on literatu re, the arts, and public administration, while science and technology were seen as trivial or restricted to limited practical applications.[307] The causes of t his 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-Stre ngthening 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 catastro phic effect on Chinese research, as academics were persecuted and the training o f 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 Mode rnizations, and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.[307]

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 le ading technological powers,[308] spending over US$100 billion on scientific rese arch and development in 2011 alone.[309] Science and technology are seen as vita l for achieving economic and political goals, and are held as a source of nation al pride to a degree sometimes described as "techno-nationalism".[310] China is rapidly developing its education system with an emphasis on science, ma thematics and engineering; in 2009, it produced over 10,000 Ph.D. engineering gr aduates, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.[311] China is also the world's second-largest publisher of scientific papers, produc ing 121,500 in 2010 alone, including 5,200 in leading international scientific j ournals.[312] Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing,[313][314][315] and Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful.[ 316] China is furthermore the world's largest investor in renewable energy techn ology.[148] The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active, and is a major sour ce of national pride.[317][318] In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Don g Fang Hong I ("The East is Red"). In 2003, China became the third country to in dependently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzho u 5; as of June 2013, ten 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 i n a project to assemble a large manned station by 2020.[319] The Chinese Lunar E xploration Program includes a planned lunar rover launch in 2013, and possibly a manned lunar landing in 2025.[320][321] Experience gained from the lunar progra

m may be used for future programs such as the exploration of Mars and Venus.[322 ] However, some foreign analysts have accused China of covertly using its civili an space missions for military purposes, such as the launch of surveillance sate llites.[323] 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 th e world, with over 1 billion users as of May 2012.[324][325] It also has the wor ld's largest number of internet and broadband users.[326] By December 2010, Chin a had around 457 million internet users, an increase of 19% over the previous ye ar, and by the end of 2011 the number of internet users had exceeded 500 million .[327][328] According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China's average internet connection speed in 2011 was 100.9 kbit/s, less than ha lf of the global average of 212.5 kbit/s.[329] China Telecom and China Unicom, the country's two largest broadband providers, a ccounted for 20% of global broadband subscribers, whereas the world's ten larges t broadband service providers combined accounted for 39% of the world's broadban d customers. China Telecom alone serves 55 million broadband subscribers, while China Unicom serves more than 40 million. The massive rise in internet use in Ch ina continues to fuel rapid broadband growth, whereas the world's other major br oadband ISPs operate in the mature markets of the developed world, with high lev els of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth.[330] 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.[331] 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 20 06. Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expan ded through the creation of a network of expressways, known as the National Trun k Highway System (NTHS). By the end of 2011, China's expressways had reached a t otal length of 85,000 km (53,000 mi), second only to the highway network of the United States.[332] Private car ownership is growing rapidly in China, which sur passed the United States as the world's largest automobile market in 2009, with total car sales of over 13.6 million.[333] Analysts predict that annual car sale s in China may rise as high as 40 million by 2020.[334] A side-effect of the rap id growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic acciden ts, mostly caused by poorly enforced traffic laws in 2011 alone, around 62,000 C hinese died in road accidents, and efforts to improve traffic safety have had li mited success.[335][336]

China also possesses the world's longest high-speed rail network, with over 9,67 6 km (6,012 mi) of service routes.[337] Of these, 3,515 km (2,184 mi) serve trai ns with top speeds of 300 km/h (190 mph).[338] In 2011, China produced its first high-speed trains built entirely without foreign assistance.[339] China intends to operate approximately 16,000 km (9,900 mi) of high-speed rail lines by 2020. [340] 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 addition ally developing its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012,[341] and is planned to offer global coverage by 2020.[342] As of 2012, China is the world's largest constructor of new airports, and the Ch inese government has begun a US$250 billion five-year project to expand and mode rnize domestic air travel.[343] However, long-distance transportation remains do minated by railways and charter bus systems. Railways are the vital carrier in C hina; they are monopolized by the state, and divided into various railway bureau x in different regions. Due to huge demand, the system is regularly subject to o vercrowding, particularly during holiday seasons, such as Chunyun during the Chi nese New Year. The Chinese rail network carried an estimated 1.68 billion total passengers in 2010 alone.[340] In urban areas, bicycles remain an extremely comm on mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles as of 201 2, there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China.[344] Demographics Main article: Demographics of China

A 2009 population density map of the People's Republic of China. The eastern co astal 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 m ales; 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 200 6 was 0.6%.[345] 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 propor tion of 29.86% dependents. The proportion of the population of workable age was thus around 70%.[346] 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, abou t 10% of the Chinese population lives below the poverty line of US$1 per day, do wn from 64% in 1978. Urban unemployment in China reportedly declined to 4% by th e end of 2007, although true overall unemployment may be as high as 10%.[347] 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 ,[348] to implement a strict family planning policy, known as the "one-child pol icy." 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 populati on growth in China will stabilize in the early decades of the 21st century, thou gh 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-c

hild policy will be maintained until at least 2020.[349]

Population of China from 1949 to 2008. The one-child policy is resisted, particularly in rural areas, because of the ne ed 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 .[350] The decreasing reliability of Chinese population statistics since family plannin g began in the late 1970s has made evaluating the effectiveness of the policy di fficult.[350] Data from the 2010 census implies that the total fertility rate ma y now be around 1.4.[351] The government is particularly concerned with the larg e 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 ba n on using ultrasound devices for non-emergency applications, in an attempt to p revent sex-selective abortion.[352] According to the 2010 census, there were 118.06 boys born for every 100 girls, w hich is 0.53 points lower than the ratio obtained from a population sample surve y carried out in 2005.[353] However, the gender ratio of 118.06 is still beyond the normal range of around 105 percent, and experts warn of increased social ins tability should this trend continue.[354] For the population born between the ye ars 1900 and 2000, it is estimated that there could be 35.59 million fewer femal es than males.[355] Other demographers argue that perceived gender imbalances ma y arise from the underreporting of female births.[356][357][358][359] A recent s tudy suggests that as many as three million Chinese babies are hidden by their p arents every year.[359] According to the 2010 census, males accounted for 51.27 percent of the total population, while females made up 48.73 percent of the tota l.[353] Ethnic groups Main articles: List of ethnic groups in China, Ethnic minorities in China, and E thnic 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.[6] The Han Chinese the world's largest single ethnic group outnumber other ethnic groups i n 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.[6] Compared with the 2000 population census, the Han populat ion increased by 66,537,177 persons, or 5.74%, while the population of the 55 na tional minorities combined increased by 7,362,627 persons, or 6.92%.[6] The 2010 census recorded a total of 593,832 foreign citizens living in China. Th e 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. T here 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 languag es spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Zhuang, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur , Hmong and Korean.[361] Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the B eijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a ling ua 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 lan guages and dialects in China. Written vernacular Chinese, or baihua, is the writ ten standard, based on the Mandarin dialect and first popularized in Ming Dynast y novels. It was adopted, with significant modifications, during the early 20th century as the national standard. Classical Chinese is still part of the high sc hool 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 langu age within mainland China, supplanting the use of the earlier Traditional Chines e characters. Urbanization See also: List of cities in China, List of cities in China by population, and Me tropolitan 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 b y 2025,[362] when its cities will house a combined population of over one billio n.[363] The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 19 78 and 2009, a scale unprecedented in human history.[364] Between 150 and 200 mi llion 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 exi sts when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban an d rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make c onducting 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)

Rank City name Province Pop. Rank City name Province Pop. Shanghai Shanghai Beijing Beijing 1 Shanghai Shanghai 22,315,426 11 Shenyang Liaoning 5,743,718 Tianjin Tianjin Guangzhou Guangzhou 2 Beijing Beijing 18,827,000 12 Hangzhou Zhejiang 5,695,313 3 Tianjin Tianjin 11,090,314 13 Chongqing Chongqing 5,402,721 4 Guangzhou Guangdong 11,070,654 14 Harbin Heilongjiang 4,517,549 5 Shenzhen Guangdong 10,357,938 15 Suzhou Jiangsu 4,074,000 6 Dongguan Guangdong 8,220,937 16 Jinan Shandong 3,922,180 7 Chengdu Sichuan 7,123,697 17 Xi'an Shaanxi 3,890,098 8 Hong Kong Hong Kong 7,055,071 18 Wuxi Jiangsu 3,542,319 9 Nanjing Jiangsu 6,852,984 19 Hefei Anhui 3,352,076 10 Wuhan Hubei 6,434,373 20 Changchun Jilin 3,341,700

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 ed ucation to every child. As of 2007, there were 396,567 primary schools, 94,116 s econdary schools, and 2,236 higher education institutions in China.[368] In Febr uary 2006, the government advanced its basic education goal by pledging to provi de completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees.[369] Free compulsory education in China consists of elementary school and middle school be tween the ages of 6 and 15; almost all children in urban areas continue with thr ee years of high school. As of 2007, 93.3% of the population over age 15 are literate,[345][370] compared

to only 20% in 1950.[371] In 2000, China's literacy rate among 15-to-24-year-ol ds was 98.9% (99.2% for males and 98.5% for females).[372] In March 2007, the Ch inese government declared education a national "strategic priority"; the central budget for national scholarships was tripled between 2007 and 2009, and 223.5 b illion 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 mat hematics, science and literacy, as tested by the Programme for International Stu dent Assessment (PISA), a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' sch olastic performance.[374] The quality of Chinese colleges and universities varies considerably across the country. The consistently top-ranked universities in mainland China are:[375][37 6][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 o n public health and preventive medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the Communist Party started the Patriotic H ealth 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 th e 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 b irth rose from about 35 years in 1949 to 73.18 years in 2008,[379][380] and infa nt mortality decreased from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to around 23 per thous and in 2006.[36][381] Malnutrition as of 2002 stood at 12% of the population, ac cording to United Nations FAO sources.[382] In 2009, the government began a larg e-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 signif icant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities , China has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illness es 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 obes

ity 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 exce ss deaths in China from air and water pollution were placed at 760,000 people,[3 92][393] and as many as 500 million Chinese lacked access to clean drinking wate r 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 o f Chinese Buddhism, originally built in 598 AD during the Sui Dynasty. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious or ganizations which lack official approval can be subject to state persecution.[22 1][397] An accurate estimate of the number of religious adherents is hard to obt ain because of a lack of official data, but there is a general consensus that re ligious 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 t he population was non-religious.[399] A later survey, conducted in 2007, found t hat 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 religi ons, including local Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sham anism, Islam, Manicheism, Zoroastrianism and numerous new religions. Of these, T aoism and Buddhism have had the greatest impact in shaping Chinese culture. Taoi sm is the most notable Chinese indigenous institutional religion, often includin g 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.[4 00]

The Huaisheng Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the world. Today, according to different surveys, local ethnic religions, which sometimes f all 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 i s practiced by between 10.85%[401] and 18% of the Chinese.[402][403][404] Christ ianity 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 indigeno us religion of Tibet is Bön, while most of Tibetans follow Tibetan Buddhism, a for m of Vajrayana. However, Tibetan Buddhism has also spread to other areas of Chin a 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 mi norities along the Southern geographic fringes of the Chinese mainland.[408] Christianity was first introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty, with the arr ival of Nestorian Christianity in 635 AD. Official government statistics put the number of Christians at 25 million, including 10 million Catholics,[409] but th ese count only members of officially sanctioned church bodies.[410] Islam in China dates to a mission in 651; over the following centuries, Muslim t raders and scholars became prominent in China.[411][412][413] Accurate statistic s on China's current Muslim population are hard to find; the State Administratio n for Religious Affairs states there are more than 21 million Muslims in the cou ntry (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 D eism.[418] In July 1999, the Falun Gong spiritual practice was officially banned by the authorities,[222] and many international organizations have criticized t he government's recent treatment of Falun Gong.[419] There are no reliable estim ates 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, opportun ities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the presti gious Imperial examinations, which were instituted in 605 AD to help the Emperor select skilful bureaucrats. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the gen eral perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligr aphy, poetry, and literati painting were higher forms of art than dancing or dra ma. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely in ward-looking national perspective.[24] Examinations and a culture of merit remai n greatly valued in China today. In recent years, a number of New Confucians hav e claimed that modern democratic ideals and human rights are compatible with tra ditional Confucian values.[424]

The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the tradition al 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 prese rving 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 a s a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim tha t the Communist Party's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, esp ecially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s , where many aspects of traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounce d as "regressive and harmful' or 'vestiges of feudalism'. Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, art, literatur e, 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 Chin ese culture as being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese natio nalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional Chin ese 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 al so 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 hist ory. The dynastic emperors of ancient China were known to host banquets with ove r 100 dishes served at a time,[431] employing countless imperial kitchen staff a nd 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 Americ an Chinese food, have emerged in the various nations which play host to the Chin ese 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 th at 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, basketbal l, 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 Na tional Basketball Association has a huge following among Chinese youths, with et hnic 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 majo r cities in 2010.[436] In addition, China is home to a huge number of cyclists, with an estimated 470 million bicycles as of 2012.[344] Many more traditional sp orts, 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 par ticipated as the PRC since 1952. China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijin g, 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 an y nation at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, with 231 overall, including 95 gold med als.[439][440] China will host the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing. See also Portal icon China portal Portal icon People's Republic of China portal Portal icon Asia portal Outline of China Index of China-related articles International rankings of China References 1.^ Chan, Kam Wing (2007). "Misconceptions and Complexities in the Study of Chin a's Cities: Definitions, Statistics, and Implications". Eurasian Geography and E conomics 48 (4): 383 412. doi:10.2747/1538-7216.48.4.383. Retrieved 7 August 2011. p. 395 2.^ "What are China's largest and richest cities?" University of Southern Califo rnia US-China Institute. 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2012. 3.^ a b "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Writte n Chinese Language (Order of the President No.37)". gov.cn. Retrieved 27 April 2 010. "For purposes of this Law, the standard spoken and written Chinese language means Putonghua (a common speech with pronunciation based on the Beijing dialec t) and the standardized Chinese characters." 4.^ a b "China's Total Population and Structural Changes in 2011". National Bure au of Statistics of China. Retrieved 14 August 2012. 5.^ "World Economic Outlook". IMF. October 2012 data. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 6.^ a b c d "Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census (No. 1)". National Burea u of Statistics of China. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2013. 7.^ a b c d e f g "World Economic Outlook Database: China". International Moneta ry Fund. April 2013 data. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 8.^ "Income inequality: Delta blues". The Economist. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013. 9.^ "2013 Human Development Index and its components Statistics" (PDF). UNDP. 20 13. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

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