China (Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Hanyu Pinyin: Zhonggu�, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some outer territories in Central Asia and offshore islands in the Pacific Ocean that since 1949 has been divided de facto between the People's Republic of China (governing Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and numerous other islands) and the Republic of China (governing Taiwan and several outlying islands of Fujian Province).

China is the world's oldest continuous civilization, with a history characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent dynastic change. Power was generally concentrated in the hands of the emperor, but sometimes shifted to powerful officials or regional warlords. The country's territorial extent varied according to its shifting fortunes. For many centuries, most notably from the 7th through the 14th centuries, China stood as the world's most advanced civilization and as East Asia's dominating cultural influence. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the country was too weak to repel European colonialism and Japanese invasion, while at the same time suffering internal conflicts which led to its continuing division. A Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War established the People's Republic of China in the mainland while the Nationalists held out in Taiwan.

The country's population of over a billion makes a fifth of the world's population and is overwhelmingly of the Han Chinese ethnicity. Their language, Chinese, is divided into many spoken variations.

Terminology

The Chinese call their country Zhongguo, which means "Central Country" or "Middle Kingdom," an etymology of only historical significance. The English word China and prefix Sino- probably came from "Qin" (pronounced halfway between "Chin" and "Tsin"). Others believe that China may have been derived from the Chinese word for Tea (Cha) or Silk. In any circumstance, the word China passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe. (See also: China in world languages)

The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, more usually and inclusively, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang; the boundaries between these regions do not necessarily follow provincial boundaries. In many contexts, "China" is commonly used to refer to the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. Sometimes informally, especially in the English and Chinese business world, "the Greater China region" refers to China.

History

China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization, and became a large united country with an advanced culture at a very early stage, outpacing most of the world in areas such as art and science.

Since around 1000 BC China consisted of many small kingdoms. All of these were unified under one emperor in 221 BC by the Qin state, ushering in the Qin Dynasty. Over the course of centuries, China underwent periods of unity and disunity, order and disorder.

In the 18th century, China achieved a decisive technological advantage over the peoples of Central Asia, while simultaneously falling behind Europe technologically. This set the stage for the 19th century, in which China adopted a defensive posture against European imperialism while simultaneously extending control into Central Asia.

In 1912, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. In the following three decades China entered a period of disunion during the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The latter ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of Mainland China. The CPC established a communist state--the People's Republic of China--that laid claim to be the successor state of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the ROC government of the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized as the legitimate government of all China by the Western bloc and the United Nations until the 1970s, when most nations and the UN switched recognition to the PRC.

Politics

After the Qin Empire unification, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which continued the extensive system of kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. However, ultimately, the emperor had the centralized authority. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Sometimes political power, however, fell into the hands of the officials, eunuchs, or relatives.

Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, and gifts. (see section "Geography, Political" below for examples).

The historical capitals of China were mostly in the east. The four most commonly designated capitals are Nanjing, Beijing, Chang'an (today Xi'an), and Luoyang. Official languages once included Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu.

Territory

During the Zhou Dynasty, China was originally the region around the Yellow River. Since then, the territory had been expanding from the West outward in all directions, and was largest during the Tang, Yuan, and Qing Dynasties. From the Chinese point of view, the "Chinese" Empire included parts of modern far eastern Russia and Central Asia during the strongest periods of the Yuan, although China was merely one of many territories of the Mongol Empire.

Like provincial administrators, some foreign monarchs sent envoys to offer gifts to the Emperor of China and the Emperor returned compliments to them. The Chinese ostensibly saw that barbarians attached themselves to the virtue of the Emperor, while the foreign governments sometimes had different perspectives. Since the end of the 19th century, China has tried to interpret this relationship as suzerainty-dependency based on Western international law.

The Qing Empire reduced the territorial value of the Great Wall of China as a barrier of China proper. In 1683 after the surrender of Kingdom of Tungning established by Koxinga, Taiwan became a part of the Qing Empire, originally as a prefecture, then two. Taiwan was subsequently ceded to Japan after First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. At the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Japan relinquished the sovereignty of the island in San Francisco Peace Treaty. The sovereignty of Taiwan is subsequently under dispute between PRC, ROC and Taiwan independence supporters since then until today.

Top-level political divisions of China have altered as the administration changed. Top levels included circuits and provinces. Below that, there have been prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commanderies, districts, and counties. Recent divisions also include prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, towns and townships.

China is historically thought of as composing five regions: China proper, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. These regions used to correspond closely to ethnic and administrative reality, but today they no longer do, and contemporary Chinese rarely (if ever) think of China as composed of these regions; instead they think in terms of provinces. The regions are separated by borders that are vague at best. China proper is generally though to be bound by the Great Wall and the edge of the Tibetan plateau; Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are found to the north of Great Wall of China, and the boundary between them can either be taken as the present border between Inner Mongolia and the Northeast China provinces, or the more historic border of the World War II-era puppet state of Manchukuo; Xinjiang's borders correspond to today's administrative Xinjiang; and historic Tibet is conceived as filling up all of the Tibetan Plateau. China proper is traditionally thought of as further comprising North China and South China , though the boundary between north and south has never been clear. Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are usually conceived as part of North China; Xinjiang and Tibet are usually not put into either of these two categories.

Geography

China has many very different landscapes, with mostly plateaux and mountains in the west, and lower lands on the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east (Chang Jiang (Yangtze), the Huang He (of central-east), the Amur (of northeast), etc), sometimes to south (Pearl River, Mekong River, Brahmaputra, etc). All rivers empty into the Pacific.

Most of China's arable lands lie along the two major rivers, the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) and the Huang He, and each are the centers around which are founded China's major, ancient civilizations.

In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges.

To the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, with the Himalayas, containing the highest point Mount Everest. The southwest also has high plateaus feature among the more arid landscape of deserts such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices dust storms have become usual in the spring in China.

During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (in which lies Beijing) has a climate with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (in which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. The southern zone (in which lies Guangzhou) has a generally subtropical climate.

The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaux.

Demographics

Over a hundred ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the predominant ethnic group in China is the Han. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have Sinicized into the Han, making its population increasing dramatically. The Han, however, continue to speak several mutually unintelligible languages (see Chinese languages). The government of the People's Republic of China recognizes 56 total ethnic groups.

China's overall population, the largest in the world, is 1.3 billion.

Culture and religion

Philosophies that have had extremely consequential impact on the Chinese culture, literary or illiterate, stems from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (in order of appearance).

China has a diverse religious tradition. Some of the religions or belief systems associated with China include ancestor worship, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Islam, and Taoism.

Chinese literature has the longest continuous history and had been more prolific than other cultures' for centuries because of the Chinese invention of printmaking. Prior to that, manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were manually written by ink brushes and distributed. To comment on these works, printed or written, scholars formed numerous academies, many of which were sponsored by the empire, and some of the royalty constantly participated in the discussions.

Chinese philosophers, writers, and poets have been mostly highly respected, and considered to be those preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of lives of the common people. (See List of Chinese authors, and List of Chinese language poets).

The Chinese created numerous musical instruments, such as the zheng, xiao, and erhu, that have spread around East and Southeast Asia, especially to its dependencies. The sheng became the mother of several Western free-reed instruments.

The Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout the history of China, and was "simplified" in mid-20th century in mainland China. Calligraphy is a major art-form in China, on par with painting and music.

Bonsai is a millennia-old art that spread to Japan and Korea.

Science and technology

In addition to the above mentioned cultural inventions, technological inventions from China include:

Compass
Printmaking / Printing Technology
Paper
Eastern abacus
Gunpowder
Crossbow
Stirrup

Other areas of science are:

Chinese astrology and constellations were often used for divination purposes.
One of the main applications of mathematics in China have been architecture and geography. Also, p was calculated by Zu Chongzhi to the seventh digit in the 5th century.
Alchemy was Taoist chemistry, very different from modern chemistry.
Studies in biology has been extensive, and historic records are consulted upon today, such as pharmacopoeias of natural medicinal plants.
Traditional medicine and surgery have been advanced. A well-known example is acupuncture. However, autopsy was unacceptable, because of the belief that the corpses should not be violated. Nonetheless, there were several doctors who increased the understanding of internal anatomy by violating this autopsy taboo.