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

is the world's most-populous country with a population of over 1.3 billion. The East Asian state covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles) in total area and is the world's second-largest country by land area,[14] and the third- or fourthlargest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.[15] The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China.[16] It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing[17] special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau. Its capital city is Beijing.[18] The PRC also claims the island of Taiwan, which is controlled by the government of the Republic of China, as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. China's landscape is vast and diverse, with forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts occupying the arid north and northwest near Mongolia and Central Asia, and subtropical forests being prevalent in the wetter south near Southeast Asia. The terrain of western China is rugged and elevated, with the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separating China from South and Central Asia. The world's apex, Mt. Everest (8,848 m), lies on the China Nepal border, while the world's second-highest point, K2 (8,611 m), is situated on China's border with Pakistan. The country's lowest and the world's third-lowest point, Lake Ayding (154 m), is located in the Turpan Depression. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, have their sources in the Tibetan Plateau and continue to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long (the 11th-longest in the world), and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas. The ancient Chinese civilizationone of the world's earliestflourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain.[19] China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, known as dynasties, beginning with the semimythological Xia of the Yellow River basin (approx. 2000 BC) and ending with the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. Since 221 BC, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the country has fractured and been reformed numerous times. The Republic of China (ROC), founded in 1912 after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949. In the 1946 1949 phase of the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Communists defeated the Chinese Nationalists (Kuomintang) on the mainland and established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949. The Kuomintang relocated the ROC government to Taiwan, establishing its capital in Taipei. The ROC's jurisdiction is now limited to Taiwan and several outlying islands, including Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Since 1949, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (now widely known as "Taiwan") have remained in dispute over the sovereignty of China and the political status of Taiwan, mutually claiming each other's territory and competing for international diplomatic recognition. In 1971, the PRC gained admission to United

Nations and took the Chinese seat as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G-20. As of September 2011, all but 23 countries have recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China. Since the introduction of market-based economic reforms in 1978, China has become the world's fastest-growing major economy.[20] As of 2012, it is the world's secondlargest economy, after the United States, by both nominal GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP),[21] and is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. On per capita terms, China ranked 90th by nominal GDP and 91st by GDP (PPP) in 2011, according to the IMF. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army, with the second-largest defense budget. In 2003, China became the third nation in the world, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, to independently launch a successful manned space mission. China has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of academics,[22] military analysts,[23] and public policy and economics anal

Etymology
The word "China" is derived from Cin (), a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by the account of the 13th-century explorer Marco Polo.[27][28] The first recorded use in English dates from 1555.[29] The Persian word is, in turn, derived from the Sanskrit word Cna (),[30] which was used as a name for China as early as AD 150.[31] There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin" (), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221206 BC).[32] The word Cna is used in two Hindu scriptures the Mahbhrata of the 5th century BC[33] and the Laws of Manu of the 2nd century BC to refer to a country located in the TibetanBurman borderlands east of India.[34] In China, common names for the country include Zhnggu (Chinese: ; literally "the Central State(s)") and Zhnghu (Chinese: ), although the country's official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern governments. The term Zhongguo appeared in various ancient texts, such as the Classic of History of the 6th century BC,[35] and in pre-imperial times it was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia from the barbarians. The term, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states in the central plain. It was only in the nineteenth century that the term emerged as the formal name of the country. The Chinese were not unique in regarding their country as "central", since other civilizations had the same view.[36]

History
Main articles: History of China and Timeline of Chinese history

Prehistory
Main article: Chinese prehistory Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 250,000 and 2.24 million years ago.[37] A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) exhibits fossils dated at between 300,000 and 780,000 BC.[38][39][40] The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire. There are also remains of Homo sapiens dating back to 18,00011,000 B.C found at the Peking Man site.[41]

Early dynastic rule

See also: Dynasties in Chinese history Jade deer ornament dating from the Shang Dynasty Chinese tradition names the first dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province in 1959.[42] Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the Xia without written records from the period.

Some of the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, ca. 210 BC. The Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural regions of the Chinese interior from incursions by nomadic pastoralists of the northern steppes. The first Chinese dynasty that left historical records, the loosely feudal Shang (Yin), settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century BC. The oracle bone script of the Shang Dynasty represent the oldest forms of Chinese writing found and the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters used throughout East Asia. The Shang were invaded from the west by the Zhou, who ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BC, until their centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many independent states eventually emerged out of the weakened Zhou state, and continually waged war with each other in the Spring and Autumn Period, only occasionally deferring to the Zhou king. By the time of the Warring States Period, there were seven powerful sovereign states, each with its own king, ministry and army

Imperial China
The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state in 221 BC. Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (), and imposed many reforms throughout China, notably the forced standardization of the Chinese language, measurements, length of cart axles, and currency. The Qin Dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after Qin Shi Huang's death, as its harsh legalist and authoritarian policies led to widespread rebellion.[43][44] The subsequent Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BC and 220 AD, and created a lasting Han cultural identity among its populace that extends to the present day.[43][44] The Han Dynasty expanded the empire's territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped establish the Silk Road in Central Asia. China was for a large part of the last two millennia the world's largest economy.[45] However, in the later part of the Qing Dynasty, China's economic development began to slow and Europe's rapid development during and after the Industrial Revolution enabled it to surpass China. After the collapse of Han, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three Kingdoms.[46] Independent Chinese states of this period such as Wu opened diplomatic relations with Japan,[47] introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited under the Sui.[48] However, the Sui Dynasty was short-lived after a failure in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598614) weakened it.[49][50]

Song Dynasty Longquan celadon porcelain pieces from Zhejiang province, 10th11th century AD. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture reached its zenith.[51] The Tang Empire was at its height of power until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Shi Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire.[52] The Song Dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy.[53] Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size. This growth came

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