China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia.

With a
population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most populous country. China spans the
equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly
9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area.
The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions, inclusive of 22 provinces,
five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative
regions. Beijing is the national capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city and
largest financial center.
One of the cradles of civilization, China has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, with the
earliest dynasties emerging in the Yellow River basin before the late second millennium BCE.
The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty,
accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature, philosophy,
and historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor for the first time.
Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in
more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the Qin, Han, Tang, Yuan, Ming,
and Qing. With the invention of gunpowder and paper, the establishment of the Silk Road, and
the building of the Great Wall, Chinese culture—including languages, traditions, architecture,
philosophy and technology—flourished and has heavily influenced East Asia and beyond.
China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is a founding member of the UN
and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It is a founding member of
several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB, the Silk Road Fund, the New
Development Bank, and the RCEP. It is a member of the BRICS, the G20, APEC, the SCO, and
the East Asia Summit. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese
economy is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, the second-largest
economy by nominal GDP, and the second-wealthiest country, albeit ranking poorly in measures
of democracy, human rights and religious freedoms. The country has been one of the fastest-
growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as
the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing
army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget. It is a great power and
a regional power. (Full article...)
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 A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder")
was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during the late 19th century. Cannons vary in gauge, effective range, mobility, rate of
fire, angle of fire and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the
battlefield. A cannon is a type of heavy artillery weapon.

The word cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane, or reed. In the modern era, the
term cannon has fallen into decline, replaced by guns or artillery, if not a more specific term such as howitzer or mortar, except for high-caliber automatic
weapons firing bigger rounds than machine guns, called autocannons. (Full article...)
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 ... that the murder of Jiang Ge led to public debate in China over the actions of Jiang's roommate
during her murder?
 ... that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Suzhou has both the tallest Catholic church building in China
and the first ever Chinese bishop to meet the pope?
 ... that China Miéville's novella This Census-Taker fluctuates between the first and third person to
convey the trauma felt by the protagonist?
 ... that the Cross Temple in Fangshan, Beijing, is the only surviving Nestorian Christian site in China?
 ... that the China Folk House Retreat dismantled a Chinese folk house and rebuilt it in West
Virginia?
 ... that a swivel weaving technique was used by cloud brocade weavers in Ming-dynasty China?
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 ...that zaojing, an elaborately ornamented wooden ceiling, shaped like a well and often painted with
water plants, was believed by the ancient Chinese to prevent wooden buildings from burning?
 ...that the first medical missions in China began in part because the missionary Robert
Morrison wanted to discover whether the Chinese pharmacopoeia could cure disease in the West?
 ...that the study of sociology in China was repressed as a bourgeois pseudoscience during the
early communist era?
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Peking duck is a dish from Beijing that has been prepared since

the Imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish
serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred especially for
the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The
meat is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the
fillings. Sometimes pickled radish is also inside. Crispy aromatic duck is a similar dish to Peking duck and
is popular in the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
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Xi'an City Wall

The fortifications of Xi'an (Chinese: 西安城墙), also known as Xi'an City Wall, in Xi'an, represent one of the oldest, largest and best
preserved Chinese city walls. It was built under the rule of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang as a military defense system. It exhibits the "complete
features of the rampart architecture of feudal society". It has been refurbished many times since it was built in the 14th century, thrice at intervals of
about 200 years in the later half of the 1500s and 1700s, and in recent years in 1983. The wall encloses an area of about 14 square kilometres
(5.4 sq mi).

The Xi'an City Wall is on the tentative list of UNESCO's World Heritage Site under the title "City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties". Since 2008, it
is also on the list of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China. Since March 1961, the Xi'an City Wall is a heritage
National Historical and Cultural Unit. (Full article...)

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