Orlik, Tom (16 November 2012). "Charting China's Economy: A Decade Under Hu Jintao". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 2023-05-16. Holmes, Leslie (2009). Communism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p.32. ISBN 978-0-19-955154-5. Most estimates of the number of Chinese dead are in the range of 15 to 30 million. Jennifer Duggan (25 April 2014). "China's polluters to face large fines under law change". The Guardian . Retrieved 2014-04-27. a b c Drun, Jessica (28 December 2017). "One China, Multiple Interpretations". Center for Advanced China Research . Retrieved 2023-01-11. Mirsky, Jonathan (9 December 2012). "Unnatural Disaster". The New York Times . Retrieved 2012-12-07.

China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization. City University of HK Press. 2007. p.71. ISBN 978-962-937-140-1. Further information: Chinese Soviet Republic; Proclamation of the People's Republic of China; Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan; Taiwan, China; and Cultural Revolution The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China was held at 3:00 pm on October 1, 1949. The picture above shows Mao Zedong's announcement of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square. [104] Chinese architecture is characterized by bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, feng shui (e.g. directional hierarchies), [580] a horizontal emphasis, and an allusion to various cosmological, mythological or in general symbolic elements. Chinese architecture traditionally classifies structures according to type, ranging from pagodas to palaces. [581] [577] a b c Wade, Geoff. " The Polity of Yelang and the Origin of the Name 'China'". Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 188, May 2009, p. 20. 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, comprising roughly 45% of maritime's dry-bulk market. [235] [236]

The government in China is under the sole control of the CCP. [204] The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members. [204] Desjardins, Jeff (27 April 2016). "Four Maps Showing China's Rising Dominance in Trade". Visual Capitalist . Retrieved 2019-12-04. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. Chinese culture, in turn, has heavily influenced East Asia and Southeast Asia. [551] 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. [552] 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. [553] Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. [554] Fenghuang County, an ancient town that harbors many architectural remains of Ming and Qing styles [555] 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 km 2, [14] and the United States as the third-largest at 9,833,517 km 2. [15]

See also: Renewable energy in China, Water resources of China, Energy policy of China, and Climate change in China The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. Brant, Robin (22 September 2021). "China pledges to stop building new coal energy plants abroad". BBC . Retrieved 2021-09-29. a b c "Constitution of the People's Republic of China". National People's Congress. 20 November 2019 . Retrieved 2021-03-20. The Encyclopædia Britannica lists China as world's third-largest country (after Russia and Canada) with a total area of 9,572,900 km 2, [12] and the United States as fourth-largest at 9,525,067 km 2. [13] The Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with the gradual conquest of Western Xia by Genghis Khan, [69] who also invaded Jin territories. [70] In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty, which 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. [71] 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. [72]

People and Society

Ben Westcott; Lily Lee (30 September 2019). "They were born at the start of Communist China. 70 years later, their country is unrecognizable". CNN. Following a widespread civil war during which the imperial library was burned, [t] the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206BCE and CE220, creating a cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the modern Han Chinese. [53] [54] The Han expanded the empire's territory considerably, with military campaigns reaching Central Asia, Mongolia, 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. [56] 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. [57] Main article: Wildlife of China A giant panda, China's most famous endangered and endemic species, at the Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan In 1912, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of China was established. The Republic saw consistent conflict for most of the mid-20th century, including a civil war between the Kuomintang government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which began in 1927, as well as the Second Sino-Japanese War that began in 1937 and continued until 1945, therefore becoming involved in World War II. The latter led to a temporary stop in the civil war and numerous Japanese atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre, which continue to influence China–Japan relations. In 1949, the CCP established control over China as the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan. Early communist rule saw two major projects: the Great Leap Forward, which resulted in a sharp economic decline and massive famine; and the Cultural Revolution, a movement to purge all non-communist elements of Chinese society that led to mass violence and persecution. Beginning in 1978, the Chinese government launched economic reforms that moved the country away from planned economics, but political reforms were cut short by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Economic reform continued to strengthen the nation's economy in the following decades while raising China's standard of living significantly. China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, [156] lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms: the Palearctic and the Indomalayan. By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia. [157] The country is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity; [158] its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the convention in 2010. [159]