China

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For the Republic of China, see Taiwan. For other uses, see China
(disambiguation) and PRC (disambiguation).
People's Republic of China

 中华人民共和国 (Chinese)
 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó (Pinyin)

Flag

National Emblem

Anthem: 义勇军进行曲
Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ
("March of the Volunteers")

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Land controlled by the People's Republic of China

shown in dark green; land claimed but not controlled
shown in light green.
Capital Beijing
 39°55′N 116°23′E
Largest city Shanghai (urban area)
Chongqing (city proper)[a]
Official language Standard Chinese[b]
s
Recognised  Mongolian
regional languages Uyghur
 Tibetan
 Zhuang
 various others
Official script Simplified Chinese[c]
Ethnic groups  Majority Han Chinese

55 minorities[d][show]


Religion See Religion in China
Demonym(s) Chinese
Government Unitary Marxist–Leninist[1] one-
party socialist republic[2]

• Party General Xi Jinping[e]

Secretary
and President
• Premier Li Keqiang
• Congress Li Zhanshu
Chairman
• Conference Wang Yang
Chairman
• First Secretary of Wang Huning
the Party
Secretariat
• Secretary of the Zhao Leji
Discipline
Inspection
Commission
• First Vice Han Zheng
Premier
• Vice President Wang Qishan[f]
Legislature National People's Congress
Formation
• First pre-imperial c. 2070 BCE
dynasty
• First imperial 221 BCE
dynasty
• Republic 1 January 1912
established
• Proclamation of 1 October 1949
the People's
Republic
• Current 4 December 1982
constitution
• Last 20 December 1999
polity admitted
Area
• Total 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi)
[g][5] (3rd/4th)
• Water (%) 2.8%[h]
Population
• 2019 estimate  1,400,050,000[7] (1st)
• 2010 census 1,340,910,000[7] (1st)
• Density 145[8]/km2 (375.5/sq mi) (83rd)
GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate
• Total  $29.471 trillion[9] (1st)
• Per capita  $20,984[9] (67th)
GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate
• Total  $15.269 trillion[9][note
1] (2nd)
• Per capita  $10,872[9] (67th)
Gini (2018)  46.7[10]
high
HDI (2018)  0.758[11]
high · 85th
Currency Renminbi (yuan; ¥)[i] (CNY)
Time zone UTC+8 (China Standard Time)
Date format  yyyy-mm-dd
 or yyyy 年 m 月 d 日
 (CE; CE-1949)
Driving side right[j]
Calling code +86
ISO 3166 code CN
 Internet TLD  .cn
 .中国
 .中國

China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; lit.: 'Central State; Middle Kingdom'),

officially the People's Republic of China (PRC) (Chinese: 中华人民共和国;
pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó), is a country in East Asia. It is
the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.4 billion in
2019.[7] Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million
mi2), it is the world's third or fourth-largest country by area.[k] Governed
solely by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the state exercises jurisdiction
over 22 provinces,[l] five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled
municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and the special
administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
China emerged as one of the world's first civilizations, in the fertile basin of
the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political
system was based on absolute and hereditary monarchies, or dynasties,
beginning with the semi-mythical Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE. Since then,
China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd
century BCE, the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese
empire. The succeeding Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE until 220
CE, saw some of the most advanced technology at that time,
including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical
improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang
dynasty (618–907) and Northern Song (960–1127) completed the Four Great
Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new Silk Route brought
traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa. Dynastic rule ended
in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of China
(ROC) replaced the Qing dynasty. China was invaded by Imperial
Japan during World War II. The Chinese Civil War resulted in a division of
territory in 1949, when the CCP led by Mao Zedong established the People's
Republic of China on mainland China while the Kuomintang-led nationalist
government retreated to the island of Taiwan, where it governed until 1996
when Taiwan transitioned to democracy.
China is a unitary one-party socialist republic, and is one of the few still
existing nominally socialist states. Political dissidents and human
rights groups have denounced and criticized the Chinese
government for human rights abuses, including suppression of religious and
ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, censorship, mass surveillance, and
their response to protests such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China's economy has
been one of the world's fastest-growing, with annual growth rates consistently
above 6 percent. According to the World Bank, China's GDP grew from $150
billion in 1978 to $12.24 trillion by 2017. Since 2010, China has been the
world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and since 2014, the largest
economy in the world by PPP. China is also the world's largest
exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a recognized nuclear
weapons state and has the world's largest standing army, the People's
Liberation Army, and the second-largest defense budget. The PRC is
a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since replacing
the ROC in 1971. China has been characterized as an emerging superpower,
mainly because of its large economy and powerful military.