china

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a unitary sovereign state in
East Asia. With a population of over 1.381 billion, it is the world's most populous
country.[15] The state is governed by the Communist Party of China based in the
capital of Beijing.[16] It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous
regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and
Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong
Kong and Macau), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan. The country's major urban
areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and
Hong Kong. China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has
been characterized as a potential superpower.[17][18]

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles),
China is the world's second largest state by land area,[19] and either the third or
fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement.[i] China's
landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and
Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The
Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from
much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth
longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely
populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500
kilometers (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China, and
South China seas.

China emerged as one of the world's earliest civilizations in the fertile basin of the
Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was
based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties. Since 221 bc, when the Qin
Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the state has
expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. The Republic of China (ROC)
replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when
it was defeated by the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War. The
Communist Party established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October
1949, while the ROC government relocated to Taiwan with its present de facto
temporary capital in Taipei. Both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the
legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the
world and controls more territory.
Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the
world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2014, it is the world's second-largest
economy by nominal GDP and largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). China is
also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods.[20] China is
a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing

history

army and second-largest defense budget.[21][22] The PRC is a member of the

United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U.N. Security
Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal
multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BCIM and the G-20.

China is one of the world's four ancient civilizations; here we give a concise
overview of more than 5000 years of Chinese history, including the Great Wall and
the four great inventions of ancient China. Do you know what they are?

The written history of China can be said to date back to the Shang Dynasty (1600
1046 BC), over 3,000 years ago. The first dynasty was founded in the 21st century
B.C., and China was first unified in 221 B.C. by Qin Shihuang - Owner of The
Terracotta Army.

Government of China
Government of the People's Republic of China is divided among several bodies:

the legislative branch, the National People's Congress.

the executive branch, the State Council and President of China

the judicial branch, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's
Procuratorate

the military branch, People's Liberation Army (PLA) via the Central Military
Commission

The legal power of the Communist Party is guaranteed by the PRC constitution and
its position as the supreme political authority in the PRC is realised through its
comprehensive control of the state, military, and media.[1] According to a
prominent government spokesman:

We will never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of
multiple parties holding office in rotation; although Chinas state organs have
different responsibilities, they all adhere to the line, principles and policies of the
party.[2]

The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the
President, and the State Council. Members of the State Council include the Premier,
a variable number of Vice Premiers (now four), five State Councilors (protocol equal
of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State
Council commissions. During the 1980s there was an attempt made to separate
party and state functions, with the party deciding general policy and the state
carrying it out. The attempt was abandoned in the 1990s with the result that the
political leadership within the state are also the leaders of the party. This dual
structure thereby creates a single centralized focus of power.

At the same time there has been a move to separate party and state offices at
levels other than the central government. It is not unheard of for a sub-national
executive to also be party secretary. This frequently causes conflict between the
chief executive and the party secretary, and this conflict is widely seen as
intentional to prevent either from becoming too powerful. Some special cases are
the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau where the Mainland
Chinese national laws do not apply at all and the autonomous regions where,
following Soviet practice, the chief executive is typically a member of the local
ethnic group while the party general secretary is non-local and usually Han Chinese.

Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the NPC is the highest
organ of state power in China. It meets annually for about two weeks to review and
approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel
changes. Most national legislation in the PRC is adopted by the Standing Committee
of the National People's Congress. Most initiatives are presented to the NPCSC for
consideration by the State Council after previous endorsement by the Communist
Party's Politburo Standing Committee. Although the NPC generally approves State
Council policy and personnel recommendations, the NPC and its standing committee
has increasingly asserted its role as the national legislature and has been able to
force revisions in some laws. For example, the State Council and the Party have
been unable to secure passage of a fuel tax to finance the construction of
expressways.[3][4]

Chinese culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For culture in mainland China after 1949, see Culture of the People's Republic of
China.

A Chinese opera performance in Beijing known as Peking opera ()

Popular Chinese lion dance () during Wikimania opening ceremony

A fire dragon dance () during Chinese New Year celebration in China

Chinese culture (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin:

Zhnghu wnhu) is one of the world's oldest cultures, tracing back to thousands
of years ago.[1][2] The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large
geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly
between provinces, cities, and even towns as well. Important components of
Chinese culture includes ceramics, architecture, music, literature, martial arts,
cuisine, visual arts, philosophy and religion.

Traditions
Myths and LegendsFestivals and CustomsClothing and OrnamentsFolk
HandicraftFolk ArtFolk ResidencesEthnic Minorit

Important Chinese contributions to the world

Paper money- allows our entire banking system to work

smoothly; allows people to carry large amounts of

denominations with a minimum weight. Paper money also

allows for people to buy lots of things due to its

convenience.

Gunpowder- allowed for a lot of wars, assassinations,

threats and other such activities that have changed the

history of mankind, and may one day end it.

Printing- allowed such things as the Enlightenment, the

American and European revolutions, mass communication

and the manipulation of public opinion, many copies of

literature, thus circulating new and old ideas and

improving public education.

Immunology- prevented such things as the elimination of

native populations through small and chicken pox, and

other such diseases. Prolonging human life expenctancies

in most parts of the world in the 20th century.

Paper- allowed for historical documents to be preserved,

the basis of our civilization allowing other things such

as paper money and books and records, music, poetry and

a more efficient form of transmitting information than

by mouth, which distorts it.

General Background influence

To the east of the Central Asian Republics is China, a single-party communist state,
with a rapidly growing economy. China borders Mongolia and Siberia to the north,
the Korean peninsula and Japanese islands to the east; Central and Southern Asia to
the west; and Southeast Asia to the south. China is also known for its ancient
civilization rich in art, religion, and science.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) was established with the cessation of
hostilities of the Chinese Civil War on October 1st 1949 under the leadership of
Chairman Mao Zedong. China endured a chain of difficult socioeconomic actions
such as the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s and the Cultural Revolution of the
1960s that left the social economic situation in great disorder. However, reform-era
actions in the late 1970's put the Chinese economy and military power on a path of
increasing parity with other major world powers. The paramount agenda at that
time within the PRC was a modernization of the four sectors of agriculture, industry,
science and technology, and national defense.1

Deng Xiaoping, the prominent political leader of the post-Mao China, concentrated
on market-oriented economy expansion in the late 1970's. As a result, the economic
output expanded fourfold by 20002 and the living standards of the Chinese
population were significantly enhanced; however political suppression on its citizens
still remains unchanged.3