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This article is about the Chinese territory, civilization and cultural entity. For the state commonly known as China, see People's Republic of China. For the state commonly known as Taiwan, see Republic of China. For other uses, see China (disambiguation). "Chung Kuo" redirects here. For other uses, see Chung Kuo (disambiguation). China

Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese:

China ( i/ t a n /) is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and a multinational entity. With nearly 4,000 years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.[1][2][3] Prior to the 19th century, it possessed one of the most advanced societies and economies in the world; but through successive dynasties it then missed the Industrial Revolution in Europe and began to decline.[4][5] In the 19th and 20th century, imperialism, internal weakness and civil wars damaged the country and its economy, and led to the overthrow of imperial rule. In 1949, after major combat ended in the Chinese Civil War, two states calling themselves "China" emerged:

The People's Republic of China (PRC), established in 1949, commonly known as China, has control over mainland China and the largely self-governing territories of Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999). The Republic of China (ROC) established in 1912 in mainland China, now commonly known as Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, the Pratas island group, and a few other outlying islands.

In the 1950s, change to economic policies in Taiwan transformed the island into a technologyoriented industrialized developed economy after a period of high growth rates and rapid industrialization. In mainland China, in the 1970s, reforms known as the Four Modernizations improved agriculture, industry, technology and defense, raising living standards and making the PRC one of the great powers.[6][7][8] By 2011 challenges included the growing divide between rich and poor and environmental degradation. Historically, the cultural sphere of China has extended across East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion, customs, and writing systems being adopted to varying degrees by neighbors such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Through its history, China was the source of many major inventions.[9] It has also one of the world's oldest written language systems. The first evidence of human presence in the region was found at the Zhoukoudian cave. It is one of the earliest known specimens of Homo erectus, now commonly known as the Peking Man, estimated to have lived from 300,000 to 780,000 years ago.[10][11][12]

Contents
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1 Etymology o 1.1 English names o 1.2 Chinese names 2 History o 2.1 Prehistory o 2.2 Dynastic rule o 2.3 Republic of China (191249) o 2.4 Post Civil War (1949present) 3 Territory and environment o 3.1 Historical political divisions o 3.2 Geography and climate 4 Economy 5 Culture o 5.1 Arts, scholarship, and literature 6 Demography o 6.1 Languages o 6.2 Religion 7 Sports and recreation 8 Science and technology 9 See also

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10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

Etymology
Main article: Names of China

The traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) characters for "China" in Chinese. The first character means "middle" or "center", and the second character means "country" or "state."

English names
The word "China" is derived from Cin ( ), a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.[13][14] The first recorded use in English dates from 1555.[15] In early usage, "china" as a term for porcelain was spelled differently from the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words.[16] Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word ,[16] used as a name for China as early as AD 150.[17] 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" ( , pronounced chin), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221 206 BC).[18] In the Hindu scriptures Mah bh rata (5th [19] HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China" \l "cite_note-Liu-18" and Manusm ti (Laws of is used to refer to a country located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India.[20] Another theory is that this word is derived from Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou whose inhabitants referred to themselves as 'Zina'.[21]

Chinese names
The official name of China changed with each dynasty or with each new government, the imperial governments referred to themselves as the Empire of the Great Qing, Empire of the ; Great Ming, etc. However, the common name remained as Zh nggu (simplified Chinese: traditional Chinese: , Mandarin pronunciation: [t kw ]) through dynastic changes. This translates traditionally as "the central Kingdom", or as "the middle country".

The name Zh nggu first appeared in the Classic of History (6th century BC), and was used to refer to the late Zhou Dynasty, as they believed that they were the "center of civilization,"[nb 1] while peoples in the four cardinals were called Eastern Yi, Southern Man, Western Rong and Northern Di respectively. Some texts imply that "Zh nggu" was originally meant to refer to the capital of the sovereign, to differ from the capital of his vassals.[nb 2] The use of "Zh nggu" implied a claim of political legitimacy, and "Zh nggu" was often used by states who saw themselves as the sole legitimate successor to previous Chinese dynasties; for example, in the era of the Southern Song Dynasty, both the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song state claimed to be "Zh nggu."[nb 3] Zh nggu was used as a common name for the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo) after its establishment in 1912. After the Communists took over control of mainland China in 1949, they established the People's Republic of China (PRC). After the ROC's loss of the UN "China" seat in 1971, the PRC gained the ability to be the "representative" of "China" under the One-China policy and as a result is now commonly known as "China" or "Zh nggu" in Chinese. The Republic of China nowadays is commonly known as "Taiwan".[nb 4]

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

History of China
ANCIENT

3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors Xia Dynasty 21001600 BC Shang Dynasty 16001046 BC Zhou Dynasty 1045256 BC Western Zhou Eastern Zhou Spring and Autumn Period

Warring States Period

Qin Dynasty 221 BC206 BC Han Dynasty 206 BC220 AD Western Han Xin Dynasty Eastern Han Three Kingdoms 220280 Wei, Shu & Wu Jin Dynasty 265420 Western Jin Eastern Jin

16 Kingdoms 304439

Southern & Northern Dynasties 420589 Sui Dynasty 581618 Tang Dynasty 618907 ( Second Zhou 690705 ) 5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms 907960 Song Dynasty 9601279 Northern Song W. Xia

Liao Dynasty 9071125

Southern Song

Jin

Yuan Dynasty 12711368 Ming Dynasty 13681644 Qing Dynasty 16441911

Republic of China 19121949 People's Republic Republic of of China 1949present China (Taiwan) 1945present

Related articles [show]

Ancient China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing,[9] the others being Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Maya and other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Minoan civilization of ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt.[22]

Prehistory
Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest hominids in China date from 250,000 to 2.24 million years ago.[23][24] A cave in Zhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) has fossils dated at somewhere between 300,000 to 780,000 years.[10][11][12] The fossils are of Peking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire. The earliest evidence of a fully modern human in China comes from Liujiang County, Guangxi, where a cranium has been found and dated at approximately 67,000 years old. Controversy persists over the dating of the Liujiang remains (a partial skeleton from Minatogawa in Okinawa).[25][26]

Dynastic rule
Main articles: Dynasties in Chinese history and Chinese sovereign

Jade deer ornament made during the first historical Chinese dynasty, the Shang, 17th to 11th Century BC. 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.[27] 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 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. The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state in 221 BC, who proclaimed himself as the "First Emperor" and created many reforms in the Empire, notably the forced standardization of the Chinese language and measurements. The Qin Dynasty lasted only fifteen years, as its harsh legalist and authoritarian policies soon led to widespread rebellion.

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. 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. After Han's collapse, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of the Three Kingdoms. Independent Chinese states of this period such as Wu opened diplomatic relations with Japan, introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited under the Sui. However, the Sui Dynasty was short-lived after a failure in the Goguryeo-Sui Wars (598614) weakened it.