STUDY MATERIAL BY – ABVP JNU

JNU Entrance Examination 2021

CHINA

Official Name: PeoPle’s RePublic of china

Capital: Beijing
Independence: 1st octobeR 1949 (PeoPle’s RePublic established)
Religion: Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity
Currency: Renminbi Yuan
Government Type: Communist Republic
President: Xi Jinping (15 November 2012)
Prime Minister: Li Keqiang (from 15 March 2013)
Head of State: President (Xi Jinping)
National flag: Five-starred flag
National Anthem: March of the Volunteers (Writer - Tian Han)
National Day: 1st October
Official languages: Mandarin
Script: Han

Xi Jinping – Chinese president

 China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Most languages in China belong to the Sino-Tibetan

languages family, spoken by 29 ethnicities.

Characteristics of Chinese Languages : No Alphabets,

Logograms are used.

These are called in Chinese: ‘han Zi’

Some Chinese characters are called in Korean (Han Za)

and in Japanese (Kan Zi).

ANCIENT FACT ABOUT CHINA

Chinese Civilization is one of the few ancient civilizations to have its individual writing
script. The Chinese languages has over 20,000 characters. The average Chinese only learns
about 5,000 of these in his lifetime.

Child Emperor Pu-Yi was the last imperial ruler of China in the period 1908-1912.

Empress Wu of the Tang dynasty was the only female Emperor of China.

Acupuncture treats illnesses with inserting sharp thin needles in various pressure spots: it
originated over 5000 years ago from China.

The Chinese calendar is based on the Lunar Cycle. It is the oldest known calendar,
originating in 2600 BC . It has twelve Zodiac signs. A complete cycle would take 60 years to
complete.

Paper, Compass, Explosive Powder and Printing qualify as the “Four Great Inventions of
China”. They are also credited with having invented the wheel and the first calendar.

Ice cream was invented in China. Marco Polo took the recipe of Ice cream and Noodles
back with him to Europe.

The Martial Art Kung Fu was invented by the Shaolin Monks who used it to protect
themselves from robbers in lonely mountain roads.

GEOGRAPHY
It is the third largest Country in the World.

Shanghai and Beijing are two of the largest and most populous cities in the world.

At least 14 countries and 4 seas border China.

China is made up of 22 province, 5 autonomous regions and 4 municipalities.

Two-third of the territory is mountainous or desert, only one-tenth is cultivated.

In the southwest is Tibet, which China annexed in 1950.

The Gobi Desert of Mongolia lies to the north of China.

China proper consists of three great river systems:

The Yellow River (Huang He), (5.464 km)

The Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), (6,300 km)

The Pearl River (Zhu Jiang), (2,197 km)

The Chinese Government has adopted a “one child” policy in 1999.

China has an obligatory Military service of 2 years for all men between 18 and 22.

Women of the same age group are also recruited for specific military jobs.

The Han Chinese is the largest majority group in China.

Mandarin Chinese is the official languages.

The people’s Daily is the largest official publication newspaper.

 The Tiananmen Square is the world’s largest students gathering place.

In China ‘Three Gorges Dam’ is the biggest dam in the world.

Religion

Taoism is an indigenous religion of China.

Buddhism in China was first introduced from India and Central Asia during the Han
dynasty and later exported to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

CHINESE SOCEITY AND CULTURE

CEREMONIES Many people also pay much attention to their year of birth, symbolized by
one of the twelve animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster,
dog and pig) representing the twelve Earthy Branches (12th month calendar).

SOCIETY

Gold detailing on a throne used by the Qianlong Emperor. Chinese dragon was a symbol
reserved for the Emperor of China or high level imperial families during the Qing Dynasty.

FESTIVALS

Spring Festival- The Spring Festival falls on the first day of the lunar
Month, the beginning of a new year.

The Pure Brightness Day

The Dragon Boat Festival

The Mid- Autumn Festival

The Double Ninth Festival

HISTORY

❖ Dynasty rule

The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia, from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth
century BC.

The second dynasty Shang (16th -11th century BC ) lasted over 500 years, with 31 kings
belonging to 17 generations.

The last Shang ruler, a despot according to standard Chinese accounts, was overthrown by
a frontier tribe called Zhou.

The first unified Chinese state was established by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC. When the
office of the Emperor was set up and the Chinese language was forcibly standardized.

After that Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BC and 220 AD, and created a strong
Han cultural.

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.

The Sang dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money. The
Sang dynasty was a culturally rich period in China for the arts, philosophy, and social life.

In 1271, the Mongol leader and the fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire Kublai Khan
established the Yuan Dynasty.
 The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368. China’s capital was moved from Nanjing to
Beijing during the early Ming Dynasty.

The Ming fell to the Manchus in 1644, who then established the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last dynasty in China.

At this time China awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, in particular the West.
As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British
India was forced onto Qing China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor’s
control.

PuYi, was the last Chinese emperor.

❖ HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA

On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established. Heralding the end of the Qing
Dynasty.

Sun Yat-Sen (The first president of China) of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist
Party) was president of the republic.

However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general.

After Yuan Shikai’s death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an
internationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Peking
(modern day Beijing).

In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-Shek, was able to reunify the country
under its own control.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 (part of World War II) forced an uneasy alliance
between the Nationalists and the Communists as well as causing around 20 million Chinese
civilian deaths.

With the surrender of Japan in 1945, China emerged victorious but financially drained.
 The continued distrust between the Nationalists and the Communists led to the
resumption of the Chinese Civil War.

In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Civil War many
provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented on the mainland.

People’s Republic of China and Republic of China (1949-present)

History of the People’s Republic of China and Republic of China Taiwan
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949 after the Communist Party
defeated the previously dominant nationalist Kuomintang in a civil war. The Kuomintang
retreated to Taiwan, creating two rival Chinese states- the PRC on the mainland and the
Republic of China based on Taiwan.

After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China (CCP) led by
Mao Zedong gained control of most of Mainland China.

On 1 October 1949, they established the People’s Republic of China as a Socialist State
headed by a “Democratic Dictatorship” with the CCP as the only legal political party, thus,
laying claim as the successor state of the ROC.

The central government of Party the Chinese Nationalist led by Chiang Kai-shek was
forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan that it had occupied at the end of World War II and
moved the ROC government there.

In 1989, the student protests at Tiananmen Square were violently put to an end by the
Chinese military after 15 days of martial law.
 Today mainland China is administered by the People’s Republic of China- a one party
state under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, while the island of Taiwan and
surrounding islands are administered by the Republic of China- a democratic multi-party
state.

After the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, both states claimed to be the sole
legitimate ruler of all of “China”.

In 1971, the representatives of Chiang Kai-Shek to the United Nations were expelled from
the intergovernmental organization.

CHINESE CIVILIZATION

The earliest civilization of China is the Shang civilization.

The Shang dynasty was overthrown by the Zhou dynasty.

The Chinese calendar – Solar –Lunar calendar was a combination of solar and lunar
calendar.

The Chinese were first to calculate the length of the year as 365 ¼ days.

The Han dynasty followed the Chin dynasty in 202 BC and the Han emperors ruled China
for almost 400 years.

The Chinese was the first civilization in history to have a system of selecting public
officials on the basis of education and competitive examination.

Two major religions of ancient China are Taoism and Confucianism. Confucianism was a
contemporary of Mahavira and Buddha.

Chinese script influenced the Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese scripts.

The water clock, abacus, umbrella and seismograph were invented by Chinese.

Buddhism came into China by Indian during Han Rule.

Great wall of China, Built in (220BC) to height of 6 meters and extending over 2400 Km.
MEDIECAL CHINA

From the early 7th China was ruled by the Tang dynasty.

The rule of Tang dynasty was followed by the Sung dynasty for about 300 years.

After this, for about 100 years China was ruled by the Mongols.

The rule of the Mongol in China was followed by that of Ming dynasty which continued
for about 300 years.

CHINESE REVOLUTION

1911- Republican Revolution

1949- Communist Revolution

Sun Yat-Sen was the Founder of Kovined society.

In support of Yuan Shik-kai, Sun Yat–Sen took back his leadership.

Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 and first co-operation with the KMT.

After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai-Shek became the KMT leaders.

Mao Tse-Tung was the leader of Chinese Communist Party at the time of revolution.

When the Second World War ended, the KMT and the CCP continued to fight it out.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is known as ‘Father of China’.

In China, open door policy adopted.

Chou en lie was the first P.M of the socialist republic of China.

China was previously known as the sick country of Asia.

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN CHINA
Name Year Category

~ Liu Xiaobo (2010) - Peace

~ Mo Yan (2012) - Literature

~ Tu Youyou (2015) - Physiology or Medicine

~ Gao Xingjian (2000) - Literature

NOTE: Ji Xianlin won Padma Bhushan award in 2008

FOUR GREAT INVENTION :

1. Paper 2. Printing 3. Gunpowder 4.Compass

China is bordered by 14 countres:

Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia,

Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam.

Furthermore it shares maritime borders with: Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea,
Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan.