The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through
Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata (3rd century BCE–4th century CE) and the Laws of Manu (2nd century BCE–2nd century CE).[20] In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE).[21][20] Although use in Indian sources precedes this dynasty, this derivation is still given in various sources.[22] Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state.[20][23]
The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (
Yinxu, the ruins of the capital of the late Shang dynasty (14th century BCE)
According to traditional Chinese historiography, the Xia dynasty was established during the late 3rd millennium BCE, marking the beginning of the dynastic cycle that was understood to underpin China's entire political history. In the modern era, the Xia's historicity came under increasing scrutiny, in part due to the earliest known attestation of the Xia being written millennia after the date given for their collapse. In 1958, archaeologists discovered sites belonging to the Erlitou culture that existed during the early Bronze Age; they have since been characterized as the remains of the historical Xia, but this conception is often rejected.[37][38][39] The Shang dynasty that traditionally succeeded the Xia is the earliest for which there are both contemporary written records and undisputed archaeological evidence.[40] The Shang ruled much of the Yellow River valley until the 11th century BCE, with the earliest hard evidence dated c. 1300 BCE.[41] The oracle bone script, attested from c. 1250 BCE but generally assumed to be considerably older,[42][43] represents the oldest known form of written Chinese,[44] and is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters.[45]
The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou, who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries BCE, though the centralized authority of Son of Heaven was slowly eroded by fengjian lords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou and continually waged war with each other during the 300-year Spring and Autumn period. By the time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries BCE, there were seven major powerful states left.[46]
The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the
King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Qin dynasty, becoming the first emperor of a unified China. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms, notably the standardization of Chinese characters, measurements, road widths, and currency. His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi, Guangdong, and Northern Vietnam.[47] The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death.[48][49]
Following
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.[51] 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.[52]
Three Kingdoms, Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties
The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and
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.[53][54]
Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age.[55] The Tang dynasty retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road,[56] which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa,[57] 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.[58] 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 the Liao dynasty. The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade.[59]
Between the 10th and 11th century CE, the population of China doubled 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
In the early Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Later Jin incursions led to an exhausted treasury.[68] 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.[69]
Qing
Qing conquest of the Ming
and expansion of the empire
The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. The
Northern Song period (960–1127), and other during the Qing period (around 1700–1830).[72] By the High Qing era China was possibly the most commercialized country in the world, and imperial China experienced a second commercial revolution by the end of the 18th century.[73] On the other hand, the centralized autocracy was strengthened in part to suppress anti-Qing sentiment with the policy of valuing agriculture and restraining commerce, like the Haijin during the early Qing period and ideological control as represented by the literary inquisition, causing some social and technological stagnation.[74][75]
The Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China to defeat the anti-foreign Boxers and their Qing backers. The image shows a celebration ceremony inside the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City after the signing of the Boxer Protocol in 1901.
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president.[82] In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China. In the face of popular condemnation and opposition from his own Beiyang Army, he was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic in 1916.[83] After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory.[84][85] During this period, China participated inWorld War I and saw a far-reaching popular uprising (the May Fourth Movement).[86]
wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi
. It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949.
China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.[98] Afterwards, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the ROC government retreated offshore to Taiwan.
China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the
Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe
.
The territory of China lies between
Amur. To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border.[127] The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154 m) in the Turpan Depression.[128]
monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist.[130]
A major environmental issue in China is the continued
water shortages for hundreds of millions of people.[132] According to academics, in order to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045.[133] With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025, and by 2030 they will return to 2022 levels. However, such pathway still leads to three-degree temperature rise.[134]
Official government statistics about Chinese agricultural productivity are considered unreliable, due to exaggeration of production at subsidiary government levels.[135][136] Much of China has a climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops.[137] In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland.[138]
nature reserves, covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area.[148] Most wild animals have been eliminated from the core agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west.[149][150] The Baiji was confirmed extinct on 12 December 2006.[151]
The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization.[155][156] Regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development.[157] China has the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India, with approximately 1 million deaths.[158][159] Although China ranks as the highest CO2 emitting country,[160] it only emits 8 tons of CO2 per capita, significantly lower than developed countries such as the United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6).[161]Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest.[161] The country has significant water pollution problems; only 89.4% of China's national surface water was graded suitable for human consumption by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2023.[162]
China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in the 2010s.[163] In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement,[164] which, according to Climate Action Tracker, would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2–0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker".[164] According to China's government, the forest coverage of the country grew from 10% of the overall territory in 1949 to 25% in 2024.[165]
China is the world's leading investor in
$546 billion invested in 2022;[166] it the world's leading manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects.[167][166][168] Long heavily relying on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years.[169] In 2024, 58.2% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in the world), 13.5% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.8% from wind (largest), 8.3% from solar energy (largest), 4.4% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.1% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 38% of China's energy came from clean energy sources.[170] Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been the largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022.[171][172]
Map depicting territorial disputes between the PRC and neighboring states. For a larger map, see here.
China is the third-largest country in the world by land area after Russia, and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area.[s] China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi).[173] Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,[12] to 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook,[5] and The World Factbook.[4]
China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them.[175][176][177] China currently has a disputed land border with India[178] and Bhutan.[179] China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands.[180][181]
Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants"; that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism";[183] and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."[184]
The government in China is under the sole control of the CCP.[195] The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members.[195]
The
highest organ of state power holds the unified powers of the state,[183] though observers often describe it as a "rubber stamp" body.[196] The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee, around 150 members elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months.[196] Elections are indirect and not pluralistic, with nominations at all levels being controlled by the CCP.[185] The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of upholding CCP leadership.[197]
The NPC elects the
united front" system, which aims to gather non-CCP voices to support the CCP. Similar to the people's congresses, CPPCCs have subdivisions; the National Committee of the CPPCC is chaired by Wang Huning, the fourth-ranking member of the PSC.[198]
The governance of China is characterized by a high degree of political centralization but significant economic decentralization.[199]: 7 Policy instruments or processes are often tested locally before being applied more widely, resulting in a policy that involves experimentation and feedback.[200]: 14 Generally, central government leadership refrains from drafting specific policies, instead using the informal networks and site visits to affirm or suggest changes to the direction of local policy experiments or pilot programs.[201]: 71 The typical approach is that central government leadership begins drafting formal policies, law, or regulations after policy has been developed at local levels.[201]: 71
The PRC officially maintains the one China principle: the view that there is only one sovereign state with the name "China"—represented by the PRC—and that Taiwan is part of that China.[213] The unique status of Taiwan has led to countries formally recognizing the PRC to maintain unique "one China policies" that differ from each other; some countries explicitly recognize the PRC's claim over Taiwan, while others, including the U.S. and Japan, only acknowledge the claim.[213] Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan,[214] especially in the matter of armament sales.[215] Most countries have switched recognition from the ROC to the PRC since the latter replaced the former in the UN in 1971.[216]
Since the early 2000s, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation.[227][228][229] It maintains extensive and highly diversified trade links with the European Union, and became its largest trading partner for goods.[230] China is increasing its influence in Central Asia[231] and South Pacific.[232] The country has strong trade ties with ASEAN countries[233] and major South American economies,[234] and is the largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and several others.[235]
In 2013, China initiated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a large global infrastructure building initiative with funding on the order of $50–100 billion per year.[236] BRI could be one of the largest development plans in modern history.[237] It expanded significantly over the next six years and, as of April 2020[update], included 138 countries and 30 international organizations. In addition to intensifying foreign policy relations, the focus is particularly on building efficient transport routes, especially the maritime Silk Road with its connections to East Africa and Europe. However many loans made under the program are unsustainable and China has faced a number of calls for debt relief from debtor nations.[238][239]
In Xinjiang, China has been accused of committing genocide against Uyghurs and detaining more than one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in camps.[252]
Although some criticisms of government policies and the ruling CCP are tolerated, censorship of political speech and information are amongst the harshest in the world and routinely used to prevent collective action.[253] China has the most comprehensive and sophisticated Internet censorship regime in the world called the Great Firewall, with numerous websites being blocked.[254] The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to "social stability".[255] China additionally uses a massive surveillance network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and surveillance of personal technology as a means of social control of persons living in the country.[187]
2019–20 Hong Kong protests
China is regularly accused of large-scale repression and human rights abuses in
religious suppression.[259][260] Since 2017, the Chinese government has been engaged in a harsh crackdown in Xinjiang, with around one million Uyghurs and other ethnic and religion minorities being detained in internment camps aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities, and their religious beliefs.[261] According to Western reports, political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, and forced labor are common in these facilities.[262] According to a 2020 Foreign Policy report, China's treatment of Uyghurs meets the UN definition of genocide,[263] while a separate UN Human Rights Office report said they could potentially meet the definitions for crimes against humanity.[264] The Chinese authorities have also cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong, especially after the passage of a national security law in 2020.[265]
In 2017 and 2020, the Pew Research Center ranked the severity of Chinese government restrictions on religion as being among the world's highest, despite ranking religious-related social hostilities in China as low in severity.[266][267] The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people (0.25% of the population) were living in "conditions of modern slavery", including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, and state-imposed forced labor. The state-imposed re-education through labor (laojiao) system was formally abolished in 2013, but it is not clear to what extent its practices have stopped.[268] The much larger reform through labor (laogai) system includes labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps; the Laogai Research Foundation has estimated in June 2008 that there were nearly 1,422 of these facilities, though it cautioned that this number was likely an underestimate.[269]
Public views of government
Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption.[270] Nonetheless, international surveys show the Chinese public have a high level of satisfaction with their government.[199]: 137 These views are generally attributed to the material comforts and security available to large segments of the Chinese populace as well as the government's attentiveness and responsiveness.[199]: 136 According to the World Values Survey (2022), 91% of Chinese respondents have significant confidence in their government.[199]: 13 A Harvard University survey published in July 2020 found that citizen satisfaction with the government had increased since 2003, also rating China's government as more effective and capable than ever in the survey's history.[271]
nominal GDP,[272] and the world's largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).[273] As of 2022[update], China accounts for around 18% of the global economy by nominal GDP.[274] China is one of the world's fastest-growing major economies,[275] with its economic growth having been almost consistently above 6 percent since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in 1978.[276] According to the World Bank, China's GDP grew from $150 billion in 1978 to $17.96 trillion by 2022.[277] It ranks 64th by nominal GDP per capita, making it an upper-middle income country.[278] Of the world's 500 largest companies, 135 are headquartered in China.[279] As of at least 2024, China has the world's second-largest equity markets and futures markets, as well as the third-largest bond market.[280]
Modern-day China is often described as an example of state capitalism or party-state capitalism.[287][288] The state dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.[289][290][291] According to official statistics, privately owned companies constitute more than 60% of China's GDP.[292]
China has been the world's
high-tech manufacturing country since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation.[295] China is the second-largest retail market after the United States.[296] China leads the world in e-commerce, accounting for over 37% of the global market share in 2021.[297] The Chinese automotive industry is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world.[168] China is the world's leader in electric vehicle consumption and production, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars (BEV and PHEV) in the world as of 2022[update].[298] China is also the leading producer of batteries for electric vehicles as well as several key raw materials for batteries.[299]
accounted for 18.6% of the world's total wealth in 2022, second highest in the world after the U.S.[302] China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history[303][304]—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million.[199]: 23 From 1990 to 2018, the proportion of the Chinese population living with an income of less than $1.90 per day (2011 PPP) decreased from 66.3% to 0.3%, the share living with an income of less than $3.20 per day from 90.0% to 2.9%, and the share living with an income of less than $5.50 per day decreased from 98.3% to 17.0%.[305]
From 1978 to 2018, the average standard of living multiplied by a factor of twenty-six.
In March 2024, China ranked second in the world, after the U.S., in total number of billionaires and total number of millionaires, with 473 Chinese billionaires[312] and 6.2 million millionaires.[302] In 2019, China overtook the U.S. as the home to the highest number of people who have a net personal wealth of at least $110,000, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse.[313][314] China had 85 female billionaires as of January 2021[update], two-thirds of the global total.[315] China has had the world's largest middle-class population since 2015;[316] the middle-class grew to 500 million by 2024.[317]
China in the global economy
China has been a member of the
largest trading power.[318] By 2016, China was the largest trading partner of 124 countries.[319] China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013 by the sum of imports and exports, as well as the world's largest commodity importer, accounting for roughly 45% of maritime's dry-bulk market.[320][321]
China's foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.246 trillion as of March 2024[update], making its reserves by far the world's largest.[322] In 2022, China was amongst the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $180 billion, though most of these were speculated to be from Hong Kong.[323] In 2021, China's foreign exchange remittances were $US53 billion making it the second-largest recipient of remittances in the world.[324] China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $147.9 billion in 2023,[325] and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies.[326]
Economists have argued that the
Economic Complexity Index ranked complexity of China's exports 16th in the world, up from 24th in 2010.[331]
The Chinese government has promoted the internationalization of the renminbi in order to wean itself off its dependence on the U.S. dollar as a result of perceived weaknesses of the international monetary system.[332] The renminbi is a component of the IMF's special drawing rights and the world's fourth-most traded currency as of 2023[update].[333] However, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen in international trade volumes.[334]
China was a world leader in science and technology until the
negative numbers.[336][337] By the 17th century, the Western World surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement.[338] The causes of this early modern Great Divergence continue to be debated by scholars.[339]
After repeated military defeats by the European colonial powers and Imperial Japan in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning.[340] After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology were promoted as one of the Four Modernizations,[341] and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.[342]
Modern era
Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research[343] and is quickly catching up with the U.S. in R&D spending.[344][345] China officially spent around 2.7% of its GDP on R&D in 2024, totaling to around $496 billion.[346] According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators, China received more applications than the U.S. did in 2018 and 2019 and ranked first globally in patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports in 2021.[347][348][349] It was ranked 11th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024, a considerable improvement from its rank of 35th in 2013.[350][351][352]Chinese supercomputers ranked among the fastest in the world.[353][v] Its efforts to develop the most advanced semiconductors and jet engines have seen delays and setbacks.[354][355]
The Chinese space program started in 1958 with some technology transfers from the Soviet Union. However, it did not launch the nation's first satellite until 1970 with the
Dong Fang Hong I, which made China the fifth country to do so independently.[362]
In 2003, China became the third country in the world to independently send humans into space with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5. As of 2023, eighteen Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women. In 2011, China launched its first space station testbed, Tiangong-1.[363] In 2013, a Chinese robotic rover Yutu successfully touched down on the lunar surface as part of the Chang'e 3 mission.[364]
In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the Moon.[365] In 2020, Chang'e 5 successfully returned Moon samples to the Earth, making China the third country to do so independently.[366] In 2021, China became the third country to land a spacecraft on Mars and the second one to deploy a rover (Zhurong) on Mars.[367] China completed its own modular space station, the Tiangong, in low Earth orbit on 3 November 2022.[368][369][370] On 29 November 2022, China performed its first in-orbit crew handover aboard the Tiangong.[371][372]
In May 2023, China announced a plan to
crewed lunar lander.[374][375] China sent Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon.[376] This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side 4 years ago.[377] It also carried a Chinese rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface.[378]
China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country, with over 1.7 billion subscribers, as of February 2023[update]. It has the largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 1.1 billion Internet users as of December 2024[update]—equivalent to around 78.6% of its population.[386] By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total.[387] China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials.[388] As of December 2023[update], China had over 810 million 5G users and 3.38 million base stations installed.[389] China requires a real-name system for Internet services and online platforms.[390]
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the largest of them all, had 925 million users, as of 2018[update].[391] Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China.[392] Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.[393]
China has developed its own satellite navigation system, dubbed BeiDou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012[394] as well as global services by the end of 2018.[395] Beidou followed GPS and GLONASS as the third completed global navigation satellite.[396]
Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of
national highways and expressways. In 2022, China's highways had reached a total length of 177,000 km (110,000 mi), making it the longest highway system in the world.[397] China has the world's largest market for automobiles,[398][399] having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. The country is the world's largest exporter of cars by number as of 2023.[400][401] A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents.[402] In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2023[update], there are approximately 200 million bicycles in China.[403]
Population density map of the People's Republic of China (2000)
The 2020 Chinese census recorded the population as approximately 1,411,778,724. About 17.95% were 14 years old or younger, 63.35% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 18.7% were over 60 years old.[422] Between 2010 and 2020, the average population growth rate was 0.53%.[422]
Given concerns about population growth, China implemented a two-child limit during the 1970s, and, in 1979, began to advocate for an even stricter limit of one child per family. Beginning in the mid-1980s, however, given the unpopularity of the strict limits, China began to allow some major exemptions, particularly in rural areas, resulting in what was actually a "1.5"-child policy from the mid-1980s to 2015; ethnic minorities were also exempt from one-child limits.[423] The next major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child.[424] In 2016, the one-child policy was replaced in favor of a two-child policy.[425] A three-child policy was announced on 31 May 2021, due to population aging,[425] and in July 2021, all family size limits as well as penalties for exceeding them were removed.[426] In 2023, the total fertility rate was reported to be 1.09, ranking among the lowest in the world.[427] In 2023, National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the population fell 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, the first decline since 1961.[428]
According to one group of scholars, one-child limits had little effect on population growth[429] or total population size.[430] However, these scholars have been challenged.[431] The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may have contributed to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth.[432][433] The 2020 census found that males accounted for 51.2% of the total population.[434] However, China's sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.8% of the population.[435]
China has urbanized significantly in recent decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 67% in 2024.[436][437][438] China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million,[439] including the 18 megacities as of 2024[update][440][441] (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Linyi, Shijiazhuang, Dongguan, Qingdao, Changsha and Hefei.[442][443] The total permanent population of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu is above 20 million.[444] Shanghai is China's most populous urban area[445][446] while Chongqing is its largest city proper, the only city in China with a permanent population of over 30 million.[447] The figures in the table below are from the 2020 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists for total municipal populations. The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[448] the figures below include only long-term residents.
China legally recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, who comprise the Zhonghua minzu. The largest of these nationalities are the Han Chinese, who constitute more than 91% of the total population.[422] The Han Chinese – the world's largest single ethnic group[452] – outnumber other ethnic groups in every place excluding Tibet, Xinjiang,[453]Linxia,[454] and autonomous prefectures like Xishuangbanna.[455] Ethnic minorities account for less than 10% of the population of China, according to the 2020 census.[422] Compared with the 2010 population census, the Han population increased by 60,378,693 persons, or 4.93%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined increased by 11,675,179 persons, or 10.26%.[422] The 2020 census recorded a total of 845,697 foreign nationals living in mainland China.[456]
Standard Chinese, a variety based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, is the national language of China, having de facto official status.[2] It is used as a lingua franca between people of different linguistic backgrounds.[464] In the autonomous regions of China, other languages may also serve as a lingua franca, such as Uyghur in Xinjiang, where governmental services in Uyghur are constitutionally guaranteed.[465]
Over the millennia, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. The "
world's tallest religious statues, representing either deities of Chinese folk religion or enlightened beings of Buddhism; the tallest of all is the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan
.
Taoism has served as a state religion several times throughout Chinese history
Statistics on religious affiliation in China are difficult to gather due to complex and varying definitions of religion and the diffusive nature of Chinese religious traditions. Scholars note that in China there is no clear boundary between the three doctrines and local folk religious practices.
Compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years from the age of 6 and 15.[488] The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level.[489] More than 10 million Chinese students graduated from vocational colleges every year.[490] In 2023, about 92.0 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school, while 60.8 percent of secondary school graduates were enrolled in higher education.[491]
China has the largest education system in the world,[492] with about 287 million students and 18.85 million full-time teachers in over 470,300 schools in 2023.[491] Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$817 billion in 2020.[493][494] However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces, it only totalled ¥3,204.[495] China's literacy rate has grown dramatically, from only 20% in 1949 and 65.5% in 1979,[496] to 97% of the population over age 15 in 2020.[497]
As of 2024[update], China has over 3,117 universities, with over 47.6 million students enrolled in mainland China, giving China the largest higher education system in the world.
Chinese universities offering comprehensive and leading education.[506]
typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign.[508]
After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a three-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion.[509] By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China's population having basic health insurance coverage.[510] By 2022, China had established itself as a key producer and exporter of pharmaceuticals, producing around 40 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients in 2017.[511]
As of 2024[update], the life expectancy at birth exceeds 79 years.
ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. Chinese culture, in turn, has heavily influenced East Asia and Southeast Asia.[530] For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han dynasty.[531] The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective.[532] Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today.[533]
Fenghuang County, an ancient town that harbors many architectural remains of Ming and Qing styles[534]
Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival,[535][536] and folk and variety art in particular have sparked interest nationally and even worldwide.[537] Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted.[538]
Chinese architecture varies widely based on status or affiliation, such as whether the structures were constructed for emperors, commoners, or for religious purposes. Other variations in Chinese architecture are shown in vernacular styles associated with different geographic regions and different ethnic heritages, such as the stilt houses in the south, the Yaodong buildings in the northwest, the yurt buildings of nomadic people, and the Siheyuan buildings in the north.[547]
magic realism,[555] emerged following the Cultural Revolution. Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012.[556]
hanfu movement has been popular in contemporary times and seeks to revitalize Hanfu clothing.[560]China Fashion Week is the country's only national-level fashion festival.[561]
Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history and geographical variety, in which the most influential are known as the "Eight Major Cuisines", including
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent, and which was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago.
China has one of the
Western Zhou dynasty. Swordplay (jiànshù) and cuju, a sport loosely related to association football[571] date back to China's early dynasties as well.[572]
^The size of Chongqing Municipality is about that of the country of Austria. University of Washington professor Kam Wing Chan argued that Chongqing's status is more akin to that of a province rather than a city.[1]
^UN figure for mainland China, which excludes Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.[5] It also excludes the Trans-Karakoram Tract (5,180 km2 (2,000 sq mi)), Aksai Chin (38,000 km2 (15,000 sq mi)) and other territories in dispute with India. The total area of China is listed as 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi) by the Encyclopædia Britannica.[6]
^China's border with Pakistan is disputed by India, which claims the entire Kashmir region as its territory. China is tied with Russia as having the most land borders of any country.
^The total area ranking relative to the United States depends on the measurement of the total areas of both countries. See list of countries and dependencies by area for more information. The following two primary sources represent the range of estimates of China's and the United States' total areas.
The Encyclopædia Britannica lists China as world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) with a total area of 9,572,900 km2,[6] and the United States as fourth-largest at 9,525,067 km2.[12]
The CIA World Factbook lists China as the fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada and the United States) with a total area of 9,596,960 km2,[4] and the United States as the third-largest at 9,833,517 km2.[13]
Both sources exclude both Taiwan and coastal and territorial waters from the area of China. However, the CIA World Factbook includes the United States coastal and territorial waters, while Encyclopædia Britannica excludes them.
Notably, the Encyclopædia Britannica specifies the United States' area (excluding coastal and territorial waters) as 9,525,067 km2, which is less than either source's figure given for China's area.[12] Therefore, it is unclear which country has a larger area including coastal and territorial waters.
The
^According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the total area of the United States, at 9,522,055 km2 (3,676,486 sq mi), is slightly smaller than that of China. Meanwhile, the CIA World Factbook states that China's total area was greater than that of the United States until the coastal waters of the Great Lakes was added to the United States' total area in 1996. From 1989 through 1996, the total area of US was listed as 9,372,610 km2 (3,618,780 sq mi) (land area plus inland water only). The listed total area changed to 9,629,091 km2 (3,717,813 sq mi) in 1997 (with the Great Lakes areas and the coastal waters added), to 9,631,418 km2 (3,718,711 sq mi) in 2004, to 9,631,420 km2 (3,718,710 sq mi) in 2006, and to 9,826,630 km2 (3,794,080 sq mi) in 2007 (territorial waters added).
^China's border with Pakistan and part of its border with India falls in the disputed region of Kashmir. The area under Pakistani administration is claimed by India, while the area under Indian administration is claimed by Pakistan.
^Some of the chips used were not domestically developed until Sunway TaihuLight in 2016. China has not submitted newer entries to TOP500 amid tensions with the United States.
^The national life expectancy at birth rose from about 31 years in 1949 to 75 years in 2008,[514] and infant mortality decreased from 300 per thousand in the 1950s to around 33 per thousand in 2001.[515]
. Despite not being defined as such in the Constitution, Putonghua enjoys de facto status of the official language in China and is legislated as the standard form of Chinese.
^"ChinaArchived 21 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000). Boston and New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
^Kao, Michael Y. M. (1988). "Taiwan's and Beijing's Campaigns for Unification". In Feldman, Harvey; Kao, Michael Y. M.; Kim, Ilpyong J. (eds.). Taiwan in a Time of Transition. Paragon House. p. 188.
^Carter, Shan; Cox, Amanda; Burgess, Joe; Aigner, Erin (26 August 2007). "China's Environmental Crisis". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-01-16. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
^Hernández, Javier C. (25 October 2017). "China's 'Chairman of Everything': Behind Xi Jinping's Many Titles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2020-01-14. Mr. Xi's most important title is general secretary, the most powerful position in the Communist Party. In China's one party system, this ranking gives him virtually unchecked authority over the government.
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Wolf D. Hartmann; Wolfgang Maennig; Run Wang (2017). Chinas neue Seidenstraße Kooperation statt Isolation – der Rollentausch im Welthandel. Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch. p. 59.
(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 2015-03-06. Our central theoretical finding is that, contrary to much research and commentary, the purpose of the censorship program is not to suppress criticism of the state or the Communist Party.
^Struik, Dirk J. (1987). A Concise History of Mathematics. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 32–33. "In these matrices we find negative numbers, which appear here for the first time in history."
^"中国国家铁路集团有限公司2023年统计公报" [China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. Statistical Bulletin 2023] (in Chinese). 1 March 2024. Archived from the original on 2024-04-08. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
^"中国人口连续三年下降 去年减少139万人" [China's population has declined for three consecutive years, with a decrease of 1.39 million people last year]. Lianhe Zaobao. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
^孙迟. "China's inland rides waves of innovation, new opportunities". global.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-05-31. Chengdu and Chongqing are now two of the only four cities (the other two are Beijing and Shanghai) in China with populations of more than 20 million.
. The major Muslim groups in Linxia are the Hui and the Dongxiang, accounting for 31.6% and 26.0% of the population, respectively, while the Han group makes up 39.7% (The Sixth National Census).
– via Ohio State University Knowledge Bank. Sarikoli, an Indo-European language spoken in northwestern China, shows some connection to Turkic languages (Kazakh and Uyghur) spoken nearby.
^"Languages". 2005. Government of China. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
^"Religions in China" (Map). Narody Vostochnoi Asii [Ethnic Groups of East Asia]. 1965. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27. Zhongguo Minsu Dili [Folklore Geography of China], 1999; Zhongguo Dili [Geography of China], 2002.
^Gao, Wende, ed. (1995). "Religions in China" (Map). 中国少数民族史大辞典 [Chinese Dictionary of Minorities' History] (in Chinese). Jilin Education Press. Archived from the original on 2017-04-27.
^Xin Haishan (殷海山); Li Yaozong (李耀宗); Guo Jie (郭洁), eds. (1991). "Religions in China" (Map). 中国少数民族艺术词典 [Chinese Minorities' Arts Dictionary] (in Chinese). National Publishing House (民族出版社). Archived from the original on 2017-04-27.
^Teiser, Stephen F. (1996). "The Spirits of Chinese Religion"(PDF). In Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (ed.). Religions of China in Practice. Princeton University Press. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09 – via Asia for Educators Online, Columbia University.. Extracts in The Chinese Cosmos: Basic Concepts.
^Ashiwa, Yoshiko; Wank, David L. (2020). The Chinese State's Global Promotion of Buddhism(PDF) (Report). The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power. Berkley Center, Georgetown University. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2021-02-16.
^Adler, Joseph A. (2011). The Heritage of Non-Theistic Belief in China(PDF). Toward a Reasonable World: The Heritage of Western Humanism, Skepticism, and Freethought. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
(in Indonesian). 10 June 2021. Retrieved 2024-02-23. Bedanya lagi, Yugur memeluk agama Buddha Tibet, sedangkan Uighur beragama Islam. Konon, Yugur merupakan orang-orang Uighur yang beragama Buddha yang melarikan diri ke Gansu sejak Kerajaan Khaganate Uighur tumbang pada tahun 840 Masehi.
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