China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; lit. 'Central State; Middle Kingdom'), officially the People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó; PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. It borders 14 countries, the second most of any country in the world, after Russia. Covering an area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3.7 million mi2), it is the world's third or fourth-largest country.
The country is officially divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, and four direct-controlled municipalities of Beijing (the capital city), Tianjin, Shanghai (the largest city), and Chongqing, as well as two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
China emerged as one of the world's first civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. China was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. For millennia, China's political system was based on absolute hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE. Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire. The succeeding Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new Silk Route brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa. The Qing Empire, China's last dynasty, which formed the territorial basis for modern China suffered heavy losses to foreign imperialism. The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the 1911 Revolution, when the Republic of China (ROC) replaced the Qing dynasty. China was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The Chinese Civil War resulted in a division of territory in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China on mainland China while the Kuomintang-led ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan. Both the PRC and the ROC currently claim to be the sole legitimate government of China, resulting in an ongoing dispute even after the United Nations recognized the PRC as the government to represent China at all UN conferences in 1971.
China is nominally a unitary one-party socialist republic. The country is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a founding member of several multilateral and regional cooperation organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and is a member of the BRICS, the G8+5, the G20, the APEC, and the East Asia Summit. It ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, government transparency, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. Chinese authorities have been criticized by political dissidents and human rights activists for widespread human rights abuses, including political repression, mass censorship, mass surveillance of their citizens and violent suppression of protests.
After economic reforms in 1978, and its entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, China's economy became the second-largest country by nominal GDP in 2010 and grew to the largest in the world by PPP in 2014. China is the world's fastest-growing major economy, the second-wealthiest nation in the world, and the world's largest manufacturer and exporter. The nation has the world's largest standing army — the People's Liberation Army — the second-largest defense budget and is a recognized nuclear-weapons state. China has been characterized as a potential superpower due to its large economy and powerful military.
Freedom!
Hurray! Our president is bringing us freedom!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/asia/19china.html?hp&ex=1169182800&en=f9cca6749a53bb61&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Do you guys think that China will be able to catch up with or overtake the United States in Science and Technology in 30 or 50 years? Are Chinese smart enough to rule the world in every field including Science & Technology sector? If so, why? If not, why not?
We're really lucky to be living in a free country, no matter how flawed it may be.
"BEIJING - D'oh! China has banished Homer Simpson, Pokemon and Mickey Mouse from prime time. Beginning Sept. 1, regulators have barred foreign cartoons from TV from 5 to 8 p.m. in an effort to protect China's...
Want to know why China is soon-to-be the richest nation in the world?
I'll tell you here:
They produce products that everyone buys. EXPORT, EXPORT EXPORT !
They produce these products under conditions of labor and industry standards which are ILLEGAL or otherwise unacceptable in the United...
Will China be able to hold back the age of information?
However, I see no way to keep a lid on the internet. Already the Chinese find themselves in a race to keep ahead of technology that bypasses Chinese filters. And there are additional pressures as well...
I traveled for the last past 12 days in China Macau and South korean. It was an eye opener for me.
You can ask me any questions about the two region with the best of my ability. My main interest is to read other peoples opinions about the people, and culture of this two region( southern china...
So, obviously, China's economy is growing at an amazing rate, they've got the 4th largest economy in the world behind the USA, Japan and Germany, and are going to keep on growing in all likelyhood. They've also got a gigantic army, and in the next few decades could build up one of the worlds...
This is very sad, a family took their own mother to be cremated while she was still alive because they couldn't afford the medical bills.
Is the welfare system in China really that bad? I'd like to hear from some of our members that are there.
"BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese peasant...
WalMart seems to be moving a lot closer to the Chinese model of employment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/business/26walmart.ready.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print"
Does everyone think that eventually, China and America will meet half way?
Here is a good puzzle for the Artifical Intellegence buffs in the crowd. The premise is known as the China Room and doesn't have Jane Fonda or Jack Lemon in the cast... in fact it only has some Chinese Characters that hold any of the attention during this little drama.
Here is the situation...
Back when I was at university studying Physics, I also studied Religions, including Eastern Religions, which brought me to study Chinese History and Culture. It is an extraordinary history.
Here are some resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_History...
BEIJING - China said Sunday it is imposing new regulations to control content on its news Web sites and will allow the posting of only "healthy and civilized" news.
The move is part of China's ongoing efforts to police the country's 100-million Internet population. Only the United States...
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Call for Papers
Third International Symposium on Neural Networks
May 29-31, 2006, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
http://www.acae.cuhk.edu.hk/~isnn2006
http://cilab.uestc.edu.cn/isnn2006...
Source: China boom sets our course
CHINA GROWTH ENGINE OF THE WORLD
China's output
1980: $US420bn ($A556 bn)
2005: $US8092bn.
China is now the world's second-largest economy, twice the size of Japan.
China as per cent of world output
1980: 3.2%
2005: 13.6%
Last year China...
America Lectures China ... Again
Well it appears the Pot is again talking at the Kettle:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/politics/19china.html?th&emc=th
I will always wonder where this woman gets her gall when she is a representative of the larges Military power in the world who boasts the...
A divination from John Titor and Chinse famous ancient divination book: Tui Bei Tu (or Pushing-back Graphics),
They predicted that China will become the superpower, and China will annex the Taiwan, Japan and the two Koreas. Also, soon China will invade Australia, and thus Australia will be...
I was reading an article in this mornings paper about the China-Unocal purchase. It at first appeared that a little known Government department known as the: Committee on Foreign Investment in The united States, would nix the deal. But as I read on I was dismayed to see the paragraph below...
http://www.slate.com/id/2122270/
So what does the future hold for a country of > 1 billion people who are not allowed to express their views? This so-called "Great Firewall of China" is well-known for filtering out subversive www sites from the entire country, as well as tracking dissent...
China more popular than U.S. overseas
New poll finds Iraq war a key factor in tattered image of U.S.
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON - The United States’ image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that China, which is ruled by a...
I'm really interested in learning what things are like in China. I know from an economic perspective, employment and GDP are booming at a rate unmatched in the entire world, but what of the political structure? How "Communist" is China still? What's the tax structure like in China, and how much...
what you guys make out of recent anti-japanese protests in china ?
first: let me say that without stamp of aproval from from chinese government they would not be able to go on the street and protest,otherwise if they went they would be shot at like on tianamen square in 1989.
secondly...
Interesting article: http://www.amren.com/0111issue/0111issue.htm#article1
I strongly recommend reading the whole article, it is something you definitely don't want to miss, but here is an interesting quote:
For much of human history China had a more advanced civilization and technology than Europe. Why did China fall behind Europe in technology?
http://www.cba.uni.edu/economics/Gernes.pdf
http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/china.htm
But you make the second most pollution on earth...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/120966/1/.html
But of course, we Americans are just big fat greedy devils! Or could it have to do with the fact that the 'holy grail' of climate control pragmatically targets the...
I hope this is not old too...
A man decides the find out for himself whether or not "if you dig a hole straight down from America, you get to China". So he grabs his beautiful rosewood globe and drills a cylindrical tunnel diametrically through it, starting from America. He finds the other...
Now, several times at least one person has brought up the idea that China and North Korea are possible threats. Personally I can think of another country which has attacked and invaded other countries far more often over the past century or so. But why would these two be considered a threat to...
Old news to most of us, but now China is officially recognizing it.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/china.great.wall.myth.ap/index.html
Have the makers of Trivial Pursuit clued in yet?
Did anyone ever watch that epic movie? It lasts for 4 hours or so, but the story is really compelling.
He was crowned emperor of China, being only three years old. He grew up in the Forbidden City, but somehow China was reformed during that time. He never left the Forbidden City, until he was...
Cancer Gene Therapy World's First to Market
Gabe Romain
Betterhumans Staff
Thursday, November 20, 2003, 4:27:07 PM CT
Thursday, November 20, 2003, 4:27:07 PM CT
The world's first commercially available gene therapy medication will soon be treating head and neck cancer in China...
Carlos Hernandez started a thread by this title: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11222 However, the thread content was something unrelated.
So let's consider the actual topic, shall we?
With support from North Korea, Russia, Burma, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan...
Sharon Warns Israel May Create New Border
By DAN PERRY, Associated Press Writer
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that Israel will take unilateral steps to establish a makeshift border, including relocating Jewish settlements, if Palestinians do not make moves toward peace...
Help me disspell this urban myth(sorry to waste all of your time)
If everyone in china jumped off a ladder at the same time, would it be enough to knock the Earth out of orbit or mess up how it(the earth) rotates on its axis?
a few things to concider
1) how far everyone is spaced apart...
What you all think about China joining the space club with their scheduled space launch next week? http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20031010/ap_on_sc/china_space
Shenzhou-5 Single-Person Mission Could Be Launched On October 10.
SpaceDaily.com
China may launch its first astronaut October 10 sources at Xi'an Satellite Control Centre in Shaanxi Province were reported saying earlier this week. While the date remains unconfirmed, all evidence continues...
"They also say that they found a three metre long patch of "foul smelling urine-like liquid" on the road. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3033316.stm