China
China (Chinese: 中国; lit.: 'Central State; Middle Kingdom'), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC) (Chinese: 中华人民共和国), 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. In Xinjiang, the Chinese Government has detained Uyghurs in Vocational Education and Training Centers, which critics call internment camps.[12][13][14] The Chinese government denies these statements and says its response helps combat terrorism in the province.[15][16]
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 accelerating infrastructural development, large and rapidly-growing economy, and powerful military.
Contents
Names
Main article: Names of China
China
"China" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese name
Zhōngguó
Literal meaning
"Middle" or "Central State"[17]
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Alternate name
Zhōnghuá
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Tibetan name
ཀྲུང་གོ་
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Zhuang name
Cungguek
Mongolian name
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Uyghur name
جۇڭگو
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Manchu name
Dulimbai Gurun
The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not a word used by the Chinese themselves during this period in time. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese, Malay, and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna, used in ancient India.[18]
"China" appears in Richard Eden's 1555 translation[m] of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[n][18] Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn (چین), which was in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna (चीन).[23] Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata (5th century bce) and the Laws of Manu (2nd century bce).[24] In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).[25][24] Although this derivation is still given in various sources,[26] the origin of the Sanskrit word is a matter of debate, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.[18] Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state.[24][27]
The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó). The shorter form is "China" Zhōngguó (中国; 中國) from zhōng ("central") and guó ("state"),[o] a term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne.[p] It was then applied to the area around Luoyi (present-day Luoyang) during the Eastern Zhou and then to China's Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing.[29] It was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia people from perceived "barbarians".[29] The name Zhongguo is also translated as "Middle Kingdom" in English.[31]
History
Main articles: History of China and Timeline of Chinese history
Prehistory
10,000 years old pottery, Xianren Cave culture (18000–7000 bce)
Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 2.24 million and 250,000 years ago.[32] The hominid fossils of Peking Man, a Homo erectus who used fire,[33] were discovered in a cave at Zhoukoudian near Beijing; they have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago.[34] The fossilized teeth of Homo sapiens (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in Fuyan Cave in Dao County, Hunan.[35] Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 7000 bce,[36] Damaidi around 6000 bce,[37] Dadiwan from 5800–5400 bce, and Banpo dating from the 5th millennium bce. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (7th millennium bce) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system.[36]
Early dynastic rule
Further information: Dynasties in Chinese history
Yinxu, the ruins of the capital of the late Shang dynasty (14th century bce)
According to Chinese tradition, the first dynasty was the Xia, which emerged around 2100 bce.[38] Xia dynasty marked the beginning of China's political system based on hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, which lasted for a millennium.[39] The dynasty was considered mythical by historians until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou, Henan in 1959.[40] It remains unclear whether these sites are the remains of the Xia dynasty or of another culture from the same period.[41] The succeeding Shang dynasty is the earliest to be confirmed by contemporary records.[42] The Shang ruled the plain of the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century bce.[43] Their oracle bone script (from c. 1500 bce)[44][45] represents the oldest form of Chinese writing yet found,[46] and is a direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters.[47]
The Shang was conquered by the Zhou, who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries bce, though centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou, no longer fully obeyed the Zhou king and continually waged war with each other in the 300-year Spring and Autumn period. By the time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries bce, there were only seven powerful states left.[citation needed]
Imperial China
China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, is famed for having united the Warring States' walls to form the Great Wall of China. Most of the present structure, however, dates to the Ming dynasty.
The Warring States period ended in 221 bce after the state of Qin conquered the other six kingdoms, reunited China and established the dominant order of autocracy. King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms throughout China, notably the forced standardization of Chinese characters, measurements, road widths (i.e., cart axles' length), and currency. His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi, Guangdong, and Vietnam.[48] The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death, as his harsh authoritarian policies led to widespread rebellion.[49][50]
Following a widespread civil war during which the imperial library at Xianyang was burned,[q] the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 bce and ce 220, creating a cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the Han Chinese.[49][50] The Han expanded the empire's territory considerably, with military campaigns reaching Central Asia, Mongolia, South Korea, and Yunnan, and the recovery of Guangdong and northern Vietnam from Nanyue. Han involvement in Central Asia and Sogdia helped establish the land route of the Silk Road, replacing the earlier path over the Himalayas to India. Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world.[52] Despite the Han's initial decentralization and the official abandonment of the Qin philosophy of Legalism in favor of Confucianism, Qin's legalist institutions and policies continued to be employed by the Han government and its successors.[53]
After the end of the Han dynasty, a period of strife known as Three Kingdoms followed,[54] whose central figures were later immortalized in one of the Four Classics of Chinese literature. At its end, Wei was swiftly overthrown by the Jin dynasty. The Jin fell to civil war upon the ascension of a developmentally-disabled emperor; the Five Barbarians then invaded and ruled northern China as the Sixteen States. The Xianbei unified them as the Northern Wei, whose Emperor Xiaowen reversed his predecessors' apartheid policies and enforced a drastic sinification on his subjects, largely integrating them into Chinese culture. In the south, the general Liu Yu secured the abdication of the Jin in favor of the Liu Song. The various successors of these states became known as the Northern and Southern dynasties, with the two areas finally reunited by the Sui in 581. The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and imperial examination system, constructed the Grand Canal, and patronized Buddhism. However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and a failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest.[55][56]
Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age.[57] The Tang Empire retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road,[58] which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa,[59] and made the capital Chang'an a cosmopolitan urban center. However, it was devastated and weakened by the An Lushan Rebellion in the 8th century.[60] In 907, the Tang disintegrated completely when the local military governors became ungovernable. The Song dynasty ended the separatist situation in 960, leading to a balance of power between the Song and Khitan Liao. The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade.[61]
A detail from Along the River During the Qingming Festival, a 12th-century painting showing everyday life in the Song dynasty's capital, Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng)
Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism, in response to the growth of Buddhism during the Tang,[62] and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of maturity and complexity.[63][64] However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jurchen Jin dynasty. In 1127, Emperor Huizong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the Jin–Song Wars. The remnants of the Song retreated to southern China.[65]
The 13th century brought the Mongol conquest of China. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty; the Yuan conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300.[66] A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor. Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa.[67] In the early years of the Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming further critiqued and expanded Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations.[68] The scholar-official stratum became a supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and defense against Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Manchu invasions led to an exhausted treasury.[69]
In 1644, Beijing was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng. The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty, then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui, overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty.[citation needed]