People's Republic of China

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中华人民共和国

Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó People's Republic of China


Official flag	Official Coat of Arms

National information

National motto:

(none)

National anthem:

March of the Volunteers

About the people

Official languages:

Chinese language
Mandarin - official spoken language except the areas where Cantonese, English or Portuguese is the official language (such as Hong Kong or Macao).

Population: (# of people)

- Total:

1,306,314,812 (ranked 1)

- Density:

140/km² per km²

Geography / Places

Here is the country on a map of the world.

Largest city:

- Total:

9,596,960 km² (ranked 3)

- Water:

not available km² (2.18%%)

Politics / Government

Established:

October 1st (1949)

Leaders:

President Hu Jintao
Premier Wen Jiabao

Economy / Money

Currency:
(Name of money)

Renminbi (RMB¥.) Hong Kong Dollar (HKD$.) and Macau Pataca (MOP)

International information

Time zone:

+08:00

Telephone dialing code:

86 (With the exception of Hong Kong(852) and Macau(853))

Internet domain:

.cn / .hk /.mo

The People's Republic of China (Chinese language: Simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国, Traditional Chinese:中華人民共和國) is a communist country in eastern Asia. It was founded by the Communist Party of China on 1 October, 1949. It has the most people of any country in the world (over 1.3 billion people).

The capital city is Beijing, and Shanghai is the biggest city. The United Kingdom gave China control of Hong Kong in 1997, and Portugal gave China control of Macao in 1999. These two cities remain partially self-governed. The central government controls their defense and foreign affairs, but not most of their everyday laws for 50 years. The island of Taiwan is claimed by the People's Republic of China as its province but it does not have control of Taiwan. Taiwan is currently a democratic island country officially known as the Republic of China (Taiwan).

History

Chinese civilization has been around since the second millennium B.C.E. as a feudal society. Its land area has mostly looked like that of modern China, except with northern and western edges that varied often. It has been commonly attacked by the Mongolians, such as Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. While China achieved many things in the first millennium C.E. and early second millennium C.E., it became an isolationist country in the 15th century C.E.

By the Renaissance, European powers started to take over other countries in Asia. While China was never actually taken over, many European countries, primarily Britain, built spheres of influence in China. Since China had cut itself off from the world over the last few centuries, it had fallen behind other countries in technology, and was helpless to stop this from happening. This had become clear when it lost the Opium Wars to Britain in the 19th century. By the early 20th century, China was fully independent.

In 1911, the monarchy was overthrown by Sun Yat-sen, who started a Nationalist government. Over time, Marxist philosophies grew under the Nationalist rule. In 1927, the Chinese Civil War started, which was fought by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist leader Mao Zedong, whose army was called the "Red Army." While this was happening, Japan attacked Manchuria in the 1930s. The Nationalists and Communists joined to fight Japan. The conflict became part of World War II, and would have major war crimes and tens of millions of casualties. After the war, the civil war started again.

By 1949, the Red Army won, and Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists moved to Taiwan. Mao Zedong would be the leader of China until he died in 1976. During that time, China would have bad relations with the Western World, and, after the Sino-Soviet split, the USSR. Mao Zedong was also known for the Cultural Revolution where he killed millions of people who did not believe in communism. After him, Deng Xiaoping was the next main leader. In 1979, because of the overpopulation problem in China, he made the one-child policy, which put a limit on how many children couples can have. In August 2008, China hosted the Summer Olympics for the first time.

People and Culture

There are 56 different ethnic groups in China, with Han the majority (92%). The Communist Party of China controls the government. Mandarin Chinese is the main spoken language.

People's Republic of China

History

People and Culture

See Also