China i/tan/ (Chinese: /; pinyin: Zhnggu/Zhnghu; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China, is the

most populous state in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, it is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC).[13] The PRC exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two highly autonomous[14] special administrative regions (SARs) Hong Kong and Macau. Its capital city is Beijing.[15] Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles), the PRC is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area, depending on the definition of what is included in that total, [16] and the second largest by land area.[17] Its landscape is diverse, with forest steppes and deserts (the Gobi and Taklamakan) in the dry north near Mongolia and Russia's Siberia, and subtropical forests in the wet south close to Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. The terrain in the west is rugged and elevated, with the Himalaya and Tian Shan mountain ranges forming China's natural borders with India, Nepal and Central Asia. In contrast, mainland China's eastern seaboard is lowlying and has a 14,500-kilometre (9,000 mi)-long coastline (the 11th longest coastline in the world), bounded to the southeast by the South China Sea and to the east by the East China Sea, beyond which lie Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The ancient Chinese civilizationone of the world's earliestflourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River which flows through the North China Plain.[18] China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies (also known as dynasties) from the time of the Xia (approx. 2000 BC). However, it was the Qin Dynasty that first unified China as a nation in 221 BC. The last dynasty, the Qing, ended in 1911 with the founding of the Republic of China (ROC) by the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party. The first half of the 20th century saw China plunged into a period of disunity and civil war that divided the country into two main political camps the Kuomintang and the communists. Major hostilities ended in 1949, when the communists essentially won the civil war and established the People's Republic of China in mainland China. The KMT-led Republic of China relocated their capital to Taipei on Taiwan; its jurisdiction is now limited to Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu and several outlying islands. Since then, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been involved in political disputes with the Republic of China over issues of sovereignty which include mutual claim of each other's territories, the political status of Taiwan, and the battle for international diplomatic recognition. It is a continuation of the Chinese Civil War through poltical rhetoric and military threat. Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1978, China has become the world's fastest-growing major economy,[19] the world's largest exporter and second largest importer of goods. It is the world's second largest economy by both nominal GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP).[20] PRC has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since 1971. It is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRIC, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and G-20. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army with the second-largest defense budget. China has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of academics,[21] military analysts,[22] and public policy and economics analysts.[23] Prior to 1949 The first unified Chinese state was established in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang who declared himself the "First Emperor". From this time until the collapse of the Qing dynasty in the beginning of the twentieth century, China was governed by a series of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism, even though it engaged in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia. At this time China awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, the West in particular. As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control. European imperialism proved to be disastrous for China. The weakening of the Qing regime, and the apparent humiliation of the unequal treaties in the eyes of the Chinese people lead to the Taiping Rebellion, which lasted from 1851 to 1862. Although the Qing forces were eventually victorious, the rebellion further weakened the regime. The Taiping Rebellion was followed by several more rebellions which were disastrous for the Chinese economy. [24][25] Following this series of defeats, the Hundred Days' Reform which would turn the empire into a modern Meiji-style constitutional monarchy was drafted by the Guangxu

Emperor in 1898, but was opposed and stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who placed Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in a coup d'tat. Further destruction followed the ill-fated 1900 Boxer Rebellion against westerners in Beijing. By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform and revolution were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu died under house arrest on 14 November 1908, suspiciously just a day before Cixi's own death. With the throne empty, he was succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his two year old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor. Guangxu's consort became the Empress Dowager Longyu. In another coup d'etat, Yuan Shikai overthrew the last Qing emperor, and forced empress Dowager Longyu to sign the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. She died, childless, in 1913. On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of the Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China but was forced to abdicate and return the state to a republic when he realized it was an unpopular move, not only with the population but also with his own Beiyang Army and its commanders. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Peking (Beijing). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanking (Nanjing) and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang. The Second Sino-Japanese War (19371945) (part of World War II) forced an uneasy alliance between the Nationalists and the Communists as well as causing around 20 million Chinese civilian deaths. [26] The Japanese 'three-all policy' in north China "kill all, burn all and destroy all", was one example of wartime atrocities committed on a civilian population.[27] With the surrender of Japan in 1945, China emerged victorious but financially drained. The continued distrust between the Nationalists and the Communists led to the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Civil War many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China. Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of mainland China, and the Kuomintang (KMT) retreating to Taiwan, reducing the ROC territory to only Taiwan and surrounding islands. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China.[28] "Communist China" and "Red China" were two common names for the PRC. [29]

Chairman Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The economic and social plan known as the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 45 million deaths.[30] In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, which would last until Mao's death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution, motivated by power struggles within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major upheaval in Chinese society. In 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard Nixon in Beijing to establish relations with the United States. In the same year, the PRC was admitted to the United Nations in place of the Republic of China for China's membership of the United Nations, and permanent membership of the Security Council. After Mao's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrested power from Mao's anointed successor Hua Guofeng. Although he never became the head of the party or state himself, Deng was in fact the Paramount Leader of China at that time, his influence within the Party led the country to significant economic reforms. The Communist Party subsequently loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives and the communes were disbanded with many peasants receiving multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production. This turn of events marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open market environment, a system termed by some[31] "market socialism", and officially by the Communist Party of China "Socialism with Chinese characteristics". The PRC adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. The death of pro-reform official Hu Yaobang helped to spark the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, during which students and others campaigned for several months, speaking out against corruption and in favour of greater political reform, including democratic rights and freedom of speech. However, they were eventually put down on 4 June when PLA troops and vehicles entered and forcibly cleared the square, resulting in numerous casualties. This event was widely reported and brought worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the government. [32][33] The "Tank Man" incident in particular became famous. CPC General Secretary, President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both former mayors of Shanghai, led postTiananmen PRC in the 1990s. Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of administration, the PRC's economic performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.[34][35] The country formally joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Although the PRC needs economic growth to spur its development, the government has begun to worry that rapid economic growth has negatively impacted the country's resources and environment. Another concern is that certain sectors of society are not sufficiently benefiting from the PRC's economic development; one example of this is the wide gap between urban and rural areas. As a result, under current CPC General Secretary, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the PRC has initiated policies to address these issues of equitable distribution of resources, but

the outcome remains to be seen.[36] More than 40 million farmers have been displaced from their land, [37] usually for economic development, contributing to the 87,000 demonstrations and riots across China in 2005. [38] For much of the PRC's population, living standards have seen extremely large improvements, and freedom continues to expand, but political controls remain tight and rural areas poor. [39] POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS The PRC is regarded by several political scientists as one of the last five Communist states (along with Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, and Cuba),[57][58][59] but simple characterizations of PRC's political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible.[11] The PRC government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian, with heavy restrictions remaining in many areas, most notably on the Internet, the press, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights, and freedom of religion.[60] Compared to its closed-door policies until the mid-1970s, the liberalization of the PRC has resulted in the administrative climate being less restrictive than before. The PRC is far different from liberal democracy or social democracy that exists in most of Europe or North America, and the National People's Congress (highest state body) has been described as a "rubber stamp" body.[61] The PRC's incumbent President is Hu Jintao who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and his Premier is Wen Jiabao who is also a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee. The country is ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC), whose power is enshrined in China's constitution.[62] The political system is very decentralized[63] with limited democratic processes internal to the party and at local village levels, although these experiments have been marred by corruption. There are other political parties in the PRC, referred to in China as democratic parties, which participate in the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are now held at the village and town levels,[64][65] and that legislatures have shown some assertiveness from time to time. However, the Party retains effective control over government appointments: in the absence of meaningful opposition, the CPC wins by default most of the time. Political concerns in the PRC include lessening the growing gap between rich and poor and fighting corruption within the government leadership. [66] The level of support to the government action and the management of the nation is among the highest in the world, with 86% of people who express satisfaction with the way things are going in their country and with their nation's economy according to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey. [67] Administrative divisions Main articles: Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, Districts of Hong Kong, and Municipalities of Macau The People's Republic of China has administrative control over 22 provinces and considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province, despite not having control over Taiwan which is currently administered by the Republic of China. The PRC's claim is disputed by the Republic of China.[68] There are also five autonomous regions, each with a designated minority group; four municipalities; and two Special Administrative Regions that enjoy some degree of autonomy. The 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, and four municipalities can be collectively referred to as "mainland China", a term which usually excludes Hong Kong and Macau.

China has diplomatic relations with 171 countries and maintains embassies in 162.[69] Its legitimacy is disputed by Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest state with limited recognition. Sweden was the first western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic on 9 May 1950. [70] In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five

permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[71] The PRC was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.[72] Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, the PRC has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the Republic of China government; it has protested when any country shows signs of diplomatic overture, [73] or sells armaments to Taiwan.[74] It also opposes political meetings between foreign government officials and the 14th Dalai Lama.[75] The PRC has been playing an increasing role in calling for free trade areas and security pacts amongst its AsiaPacific neighbors. In 2004, the PRC proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues that pointedly excluded the United States.[76] The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit in 2005. The PRC is also a founding member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), with Russia and the Central Asian republics. In 2000 the U.S. Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries. [77] Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush asserted that free trade would gradually open China to democratic reform.[78] Bush was an advocate of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).[79] China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most important export market.[80] U.S. politicians have recently argued that the Chinese yuan is undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage.[81] Sinophobic attitudes often target Chinese minorities and nationals living outside of China. Sometimes the antiChinese attitudes turn violent, such as the 13 May Incident in Malaysia in 1969 and the Jakarta riots of May 1998 in Indonesia, in which more than 2,000 people died.[82] In recent years, a number of anti-Chinese riots and incidents have also occurred in Africa and Oceania.[83][84] Anti-Chinese sentiment is often rooted in socio-economics.[85] Much of the current foreign policy is based on the concept of Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence of Zhou Enlai non-interference in other states' affairs, non-aggression, peaceful coexistence, and equality and mutual benefits. China's foreign policy is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity" which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. This has led China to support states that are regarded as dangerous by Western nations, such as Zimbabwe, North Korea, or Iran. [86] Conflicts with foreign countries have occurred at times in its recent history, particularly with the United States; for example, the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict in May 1999 and the US-China spy plane incident in April 2001. Its foreign relations with many Western nations suffered for a time following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, though they have since recovered.[87][88] The relationship between China and Japan has been strained at times by Japan's refusal to acknowledge its wartime past to the satisfaction of the PRC; take for instance revisionist comments made by prominent Japanese officials and in some Japanese history textbooks. Another point of conflict between the two countries is the frequent visits by Japanese government officials to the Yasukuni Shrine. However, Sino-Japanese relations have warmed considerably since Shinzo Abe became the new Japanese Prime Minister in September 2006. A joint historical study conducted by the PRC and Japan released a report in 2010 which pointed toward a new consensus on the issue of WWII atrocities.[89] Equally bordering the most countries in the world alongside Russia, China was party to a number of international territorial disputes resulting from the legacy of unequal treaties imposed on China during the historical period of New Imperialism. Since the 1990s, the PRC has been entering negotiations to resolve its disputed land borders, usually by offering concessions and accepting less than half of the disputed territory with each party. The PRC's only remaining land border disputes are a disputed border with India and an undefined border with Bhutan. China is a party in multilateral disputes over the ownership of several small islands in the East and South China Seas.[90] While accompanying a rapid economic rise, the PRC since the 1990s seeks to maintain a policy of quiet diplomacy with its neighbors. It does so by keeping economic growth steady and participating in regional organizations and cultivating bi-lateral relations in order to ease suspicion over China's burgeoning military capabilities. The PRC has

started a policy of wooing African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation.[91][92] Xinhua, China's official news agency, states that there are no less than 750,000 Chinese nationals working or living in Africa. [93] There are some discussions about whether China will become a new superpower in the 21st century, with certain commentators pointing out its economic progress, military might, very large population, and increasing international influence but others noting the dangers posed by the bubbles that exist in the mainland Chinese economy.[94][95][96][97][98] Economy From its founding in 1949 to 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. Following Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Collectivization of the agriculture was dismantled and farmlands were privatized to increase productivity. In 1978, China and Japan began normalized diplomatic relations, and China started borrowing money from Japan in soft loans. Since 1978, Japan has been China's most significant foreign donor. Modern-day China is mainly characterised as having a market economy based on private property ownership, [135][136] and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism.[137][138] Under the post-Mao market reforms, a wide variety of small-scale private enterprises were encouraged, while the government relaxed price controls and promoted foreign investment. Foreign trade was focused upon as a major vehicle of growth, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), first in Shenzhen and then in other Chinese cities. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured by introducing western-style management systems, with unprofitable ones being closed outright, resulting in massive job losses. By the latter part of 2010, China was reversing some of its economic liberalization initiatives, with state-owned companies buying up independent businesses in the steel, auto and energy industries.[139]

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated the PRC's market-oriented reforms. Since economic liberalization began in 1978, the PRC's investment- and export-led[140] economy has grown 90 times bigger[141] and is the fastest growing major economy in the world.[142] According to IMF that PRC's annual average GDP growth for the period of 20012010 was 10.5 percent and predicted to grow with 9.5 percent for the period of 20112015. From 2007 to 2011, China's economic growth rate was equivalent to all of the G7 countries' growth combined.[143] According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by Citigroup in February 2011, China has a very high 3G growth rating.[144] As of September 2011, China has the world's second largest nominal GDP, at 39.8 trillion yuan (US$6.05 trillion),[145] although its GDP per capita of US$4,300 is still low, and puts the PRC behind roughly a hundred countries in global GDP per capita rankings. [7] China's primary, secondary, and tertiary

industries contributed 10.6%, 46.8%, and 42.6% respectively to its total GDP in 2009. If PPP is taken into account, the PRC's economy is again second only to the US, at $10.085 trillion, corresponding to $7,518 per capita. [146] The PRC is the fourth-most-visited country in the world, with 50.9 million inbound international visitors in 2009.[147] It is a member of the WTO and is the world's second largest trading power behind the US, with a total international trade value of US$2.21 trillion US$1.20 trillion in exports (#1) and US$1.01 trillion in imports (#2). Its foreign exchange reserves have reached US$2.85 trillion at end of 2010, an increase of 18.7 percent over the previous year, making its reserves by far the world's largest. [148][149] The PRC owns an estimated $1.6 trillion of US securities.[150] The PRC, holding US$1.16 trillion in US Treasury bonds,[151] is the largest foreign holder of US public debt.[152][153] China is the world's third-largest recipient of inward FDI, attracting US$92.4 billion in 2008 alone,[154] and China increasingly invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of US$52.2 billion in 2008 making it the world's sixth-largest outward investor.[155] In 2010, China's inward FDI was $106 billion, marking a 16% increase over 2009.[156]

China is the world's second largest economy (IMF, 2010). The PRC's success has been primarily due to manufacturing as a low-cost producer. This is attributed to a combination of cheap labor, good infrastructure, relatively high productivity, favorable government policy, and a possibly undervalued exchange rate. The latter has been sometimes blamed for the PRC's huge trade surplus (US$262.7 billion in 2007)[157] and has become a major source of dispute between the PRC and its major trading partners the US, EU, and Japan despite the yuan having been de-pegged and having risen in value by 20% against the US dollar since 2005.[158]

Foreign currency reserves and gold minus external debt, based on 2010 data from CIA Factbook. The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" industries (such as energy and heavy industries), but private enterprise (composed of around 30 million private businesses)[159] has expanded enormously; in 2005, it accounted for anywhere between 33%[160] to 70%[161] of national GDP, while the OECD estimate for that year was over 50% [162] of

China's national output, up from 1% in 1978.[163] Its stock market in Shanghai, the SSE, has raised record amounts of IPOs and its benchmark Shanghai Composite index has doubled since 2005. SSE's market capitalization reached US$3 trillion in 2007, making it the world's fifth largest exchange.

Nanjing Road in Shanghai is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. [164] China now ranks 29th in the Global Competitiveness Index[165] and ranked 135th among the 179 countries measured in the Index of Economic Freedom.[166] 46 Chinese companies made the list in the 2010 Fortune Global 500 (Beijing alone with 30).[167] Measured using market capitalization, four of the world's top ten most valuable companies are Chinese. Some of these include first-ranked PetroChina, third-ranked Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (the world's most valuable bank), fifth-ranked China Mobile (the world's most valuable telecommunications company) and seventh-ranked China Construction Bank.[168] Although a middle-income country by Western standards, the PRC's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese population live below the poverty line of US$1 per day (down from 64% in 1978), while life expectancy has increased to 73 years. More than 93% of the population is literate,[169] compared to only 20% in 1950.[170] Urban unemployment declined to 4 percent in China by the end of 2007, although true overall unemployment may be as high as 10%. [171] China's middle-class population (defined as those with annual income of at least US$17,000) has reached more than 100 million as of 2011,[172] while the number of super-rich individuals worth more than 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) is estimated to be 825,000, according to Hurun Report.[173] Based on the Hurun rich list, the number of US dollar billionaires in China doubled from 130 in 2009 to 271 in 2010, giving China the world's second-highest number of billionaires.[174] China's retail market was worth RMB 8.9 trillion (US$1.302 trillion) in 2007, and is growing at 16.8% annually.[175] China is also now the world's second-largest consumer of luxury goods behind Japan, with 27.5% of the global share.[176] The PRC's growth has been uneven, with some geographic regions growing faster than others, and a pronounced urban-rural income gap contributing to a national Gini coefficient of 46.9%. Development has been mainly concentrated in the heavily urbanised eastern coastal regions, while the remainder of the country has lagged behind. To counter this, the government has promoted development in the western, northeastern, and central regions of China. The Chinese economy is highly energy-intensive and inefficient on average, industrial processes in China use 20%100% more energy than similar ones in OECD countries.[177] China became the world's largest energy consumer in 2010,[178] but still relies on coal to supply about 70% of its energy needs.[179] Coupled with lax

environmental regulations, this has led to massive water and air pollution, leaving China with 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities.[177] Consequently, the government has promised to use more renewable energy, planning to make renewables constitute 30% of China's total energy production by 2050. [180] In 2010, China became the largest wind energy provider in the world, with a total installed wind power capacity of 41.8 GW. [181] In January 2011, Russia began scheduled oil shipments to China, pumping 300,000 barrels of oil per day via the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.[182] In mainland China, the government allows a limited degree of religious freedom, but official tolerance is only extended to members of state-approved religious organizations, and not to those who worship underground, such as members of house churches. An accurate number of religious adherents is hard to obtain because of a lack of official data, but there is general consensus that religion has been enjoying a resurgence over the past 20 years.[245] A survey by Phil Zuckerman on Adherents.com found that in 1998, 59% (over 700 million)[246] of the population was irreligious. A later survey, conducted in 2007, found that there are 300 million believers in China, constituting 23% of the population, as distinct from an official figure of 100 million.[245] Despite the surveys' varying results, most agree that the traditional religions Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions are the dominant faiths. According to a number of sources, Buddhism in China accounts for between 660 million (~50%) and over 1 billion (~80%)[247][248][249][250] while Taoists number 400 million (~30%).[251][252] However, because of the fact that one person may subscribe to two or more of these traditional beliefs simultaneously and the difficulty in clearly differentiating Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religions, the number of adherents to these religions can be overlaid. In addition, subscribing to Buddhism and Taoism is not necessarily considered religious by those who follow the philosophies in principle but stop short of believing in any kind of deity or divinity.[253][254][255]

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin, northeast China. Harbin had a sizable Russian population, totalling around 100,000, by 1921, feeding the growth of Christianity in the city. [256] Most Chinese Buddhists are merely nominal adherents, because only a small proportion of the population (around 8% or 100 million)[257][258] may have taken the formal step of going for refuge.[259][260] Even then, it is still difficult to estimate accurately the number of Buddhists because they do not have congregational memberships and often do not participate in public ceremonies.[261] Mahayana (, Dacheng) and its subsets Pure Land (Amidism), Tiantai and Chn (better known in the west by its Japanese pronunciation Zen) are the most widely practiced denominations of Buddhism. Other forms, such as Theravada and Tibetan, are practiced largely by ethnic minorities along the geographic fringes of the Chinese mainland.[262] Christianity was first introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century with the arrival of Nestorian Christianity in 635 CE. This was followed by Franciscan missionaries in the 13th century, Jesuits in the 16th century, and finally Protestants in the 19th century. Of the minority religions, Christianity has been particularly noted as one of the fastest-growing. The total number of Christians is difficult to determine, as many belong to

unauthorized house churches, but estimates of their number have ranged from 40 million (3%)[245][263] to 54 million (4%)[264] to as many as 130 million (10%).[265] Official government statistics put the number of Christians at 16 million, but these count only members of officially-sanctioned church bodies.[266] China is believed to now have the world's second-largest evangelical Christian population behind only the United States and if current growth rates continue, China will become a global center of evangelical Christianity in coming decades. [267]

The Masjid and Islamic Centre in Kowloon. Islam in China dates to a mission in 651, 18 years after Muhammad's death. Muslims came to China for trade, dominating the import/export industry during the Song Dynasty.[268][269] They became influential in government circles, including Zheng He, Lan Yu and Yeheidie'erding. Nanjing became an important center of Islamic study.[270] The Qing Dynasty waged war and genocide against Muslims in the Dungan revolt and Panthay rebellion.[271][272][273] Statistics are hard to find, and most estimates figures that there are 20 to 30 million Muslims (1.5% to 2% of the population).[274][275][276][277][278] There are also followers of minority religions including Hinduism, Dongbaism, Bn, and a number of new religions and sects (particularly Xiantianism). In July 1999, the Falun Gong spiritual practice was officially banned by the authorities,[279] and many international organizations have criticized the government's treatment of Falun Gong that has occurred since then.[280] There are no reliable estimates of the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China. [281] Culture Main articles: Culture of the People's Republic of China and Culture of China

Beijing opera is a quintessential aspect of traditional Chinese culture and holds an important position in the world treasure of art.[282]

A north corner of Forbidden City, featuring classic construction style. For centuries, opportunity for economic and social advancement in China could be provided by high performance on Imperial examinations. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy and literati painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. China's traditional values were derived from various versions of Confucianism and conservatism. A number of more authoritarian and rational strains of thought have also been influential, such as Legalism. There was often conflict between the philosophies, such as the individualistic Song Dynasty neo-Confucians, who believed Legalism departed from the original spirit of Confucianism. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. In recent years, a number of New Confucians have advocated that democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian "Asian values." [283] The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born in the old society 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 a Confucian education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and obedience to the state. Many observers believe that the period following 1949 is a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others say that the CPC's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution, where many aspects of traditional culture were labeled 'regressive and harmful' or 'vestiges of feudalism' by the regime and thus, were destroyed. They further argue that many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, Chinese art, literature, and performing arts like Beijing opera, were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at the time. Today, the Chinese government has accepted a great deal of traditional Chinese culture as an integral part of Chinese society, lauding it as an important achievement of the Chinese civilization and emphasizing it as vital to a Chinese national identity. Since the Cultural Revolution ended, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival, [284][285] and folk and variety art in particular have gained a new found respectability, and sparked interest nationally and even worldwide. [286] Chinese culture and the West were linked by the Silk Road. Artifacts from the history of the silk route, as well as from the natural history of the Gobi desert, are displayed in the Silk Route Museum.[287][288][289] See also: List of Paleolithic sites in China

What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a million years ago.[4] Recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated to 1.36 million years ago.[5] The archaeological site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded use of fire by Homo erectus, which is dated 1.27 million years ago.[4] The excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923-27. Three pottery pieces were unearthed at Liyuzui Cave in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province dated 16,500 and 19,000 BC.[6] Neolithic See also: List of Neolithic cultures of China The Neolithic age in China can be traced back to between 12,000 and 10,000 BC. [7] Early evidence for protoChinese millet agriculture is radiocarbon-dated to about 7000 BC.[8] The Peiligang culture of Xinzheng county, Henan was excavated in 1977.[9] With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and the potential to support specialist craftsmen and administrators.[10] In late Neolithic times, the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a cultural center, where the first villages were founded; the most archaeologically significant of those was found at Banpo, Xi'an.[11] The Yellow River was so named because of loess forming its banks gave a yellowish tint to the water.[12] The early history of China is made obscure by the lack of written documents from this period, coupled with the existence of accounts written during later time periods that attempted to describe events that had occurred several centuries previously. In a sense, the problem stems from centuries of introspection on the part of the Chinese people, which has blurred the distinction between fact and fiction in regards to this early history. By 7000 BC, the Chinese were farming millet, giving rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia, 3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6000-5000 BC have been discovered "featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing." These pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese.[13][14] Later Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture around 2500 BC. Ancient era See also: Xia Shang Zhou Chronology Project Xia Dynasty (c. 2100 - c. 1600 BC) Main article: Xia Dynasty Major site(s): possibly Erlitou The Xia Dynasty of China (from c. 2100 to c. 1600 BC) is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals.[1][2] Although there is disagreement as to whether the dynasty actually existed, there is some archaeological evidence pointing to its possible existence. The historian Sima Qian (145-90 BC), who wrote the Shiji or Records of the Grand Historian, and the so-called Bamboo Annals date the founding of the Xia Dynasty to 4,200 years ago, but this date has not been corroborated. Most archaeologists now connect the Xia to excavations at Erlitou in central Henan province,[15] where a bronze smelter from around 2000 BC was unearthed. Early markings from this period found on pottery and shells are thought to be ancestral to modern Chinese characters. [16] With few clear records matching the Shang oracle bones or the Zhou bronze vessel writings, the Xia era remains poorly understood. The flag of the People's Republic of China was designed by Zeng Liansong, an economist and artist from

Rui'an. The overall background of the flag is red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward the middle of the flag) in the upper hoist-side corner.

Meaning of the Chinese Flag

The red background of the flag symbolizes the blood of the heroes who died during the revolution and the yellow color symbolizes the glorious history and culture. The larger star symbolizes the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party which is claimed as the leader of all and the four smaller yellow five-pointed stars are believed to represent the four classes of Chinese: the Workers, Peasants, Petty Bhourgeoisie and National Bourgeoisie. An interpretation under a more historical context is the four stars represent the traditional four categories of the people in the state, which are Workers (gng, ), Farmers (nng, ), Intellectual (sh, ), and Businessmen (shng, ).

Meaning of the National emblem of China

Emblem of China contains a representation of the Tiananmen Gate, the symbol of modern China, in a red circle. Above are the five stars found on the national flag. The design of four smaller stars surrounding a bigger one signifies the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The circle has a border that contains sheaves of wheat reflecting the Maoist philosophy of an agricultural revolution. At the center of the bottom portion of the border are the cogwheel and ears of grain which represent the working class and the peasantry.