China

Overview

Buddhism was introduced into China in the 1st century from Central Asia around 1 AD. Most of the Buddhist works were translating Buddhist texts from Indian originals; this trend continued until the 5th century when the maelstrom after the collapse of the "Western" Jin Dynasty helped the Buddhism propagation among peasants and lower gentry.

Buddhist monks were actively involved within the elite and ruling entity as well as in the populace. By the start of the 6th century, number of its followers were comparable to those of Daoism. Granted lands and properties, some monks had fallen to extravagance and prompted confiscations by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou dynasty and Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty.

Xuanzang in the Tang dynasty sought to expand influence of Mahayana over Theravada, though the Yogacara school he preferred differs significantly from popular modern Chinese Mahayana schools, such as Pure Land. Buddhism spread to Korean Buddhism, and Japanese embassies of Kentoshi helped gain footholds in Japan. Buddhist ideology began to merge with Confucianism and Daoism, due in part to the use of existing Chinese philosophical terms in the translation of Buddhist scriptures. Various Confucian scholars of the Song dynasty, including Zhu Xi (wg Chu Hsi), sought to redefine Confucianism as Neo-Confucianism.

• 67: Buddhism officially came to China, with the two monks Moton and Chufarlan.
• 148: An Shigao, a Parthian prince and Buddhist monk, arrived in China and proceeded to translate many Buddhist works in to Chinese.
• 399-414: Faxian traveled from China to India, then returned to translate Buddhist works in to Chinese.
• 402: At the request of Yao Xing, Kumarajiva travels to Changan and translates many Buddhist texts in to Chinese.
• 403: In China, Hui Yuan argues that Buddhist monks should be exempt from bowing to the emperor.
• 405: Yao Xing honours Kumarajiva.
• 475: Bodhidharma arrives in China, where he will later found the Zen school at the Shaolin Temple.
• 500s: Zen adherents enter Vietnam from China.
• 552: Buddhism was introduced to Japan via Baekje according to Nihonshoki. (Some scholars place this event in 538)
• 600s: Xuanzang traveled to India, noting the persecution of Buddhists by Sasanka (king of Gouda, a state in north-west Bengal), before returning to Chang An in China to translate Buddhist scriptures.
• 671: Chinese Buddhist pilgrim I-Ching visited Palembang, the capital of the partly-Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. He reported over 1000 Buddhist monks in residence.
• 841-846: Li Yan, also known as Emperor Wuzong of Tang China, reigns in China during the Tang Dynasty, one of three Chinese emperors to prohibit Buddhism.

Chinese Schools of Buddhism

When Buddhism moved to China it met a religiously sophisticated culture. As a result a number of Indian-transplant as well as Chinese-indigenous schools of Buddhism developed.

Indian transmitted

• Sanlun
• Faxiang

• Chan (Wade-Giles: Ch'an) Mythically attributed in founding to Bodhidharma
• Huayan (WG: Hua-yen)
• Pure Land (Chingtu)
• Tiantai (WG: T'ien-t'ai) founded by Zhiyi (Chih-I)

Readings

1. Wright, Arthur F.; Fo T'u Teng.... A Biography (佛圖澄), Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (11) 1948, p.312-371

See also

• Buddhism
• Chinese philosophy
• Confucianism
• Religion in China
• Timeline of Buddhism
• Chinese Buddhist cuisine

External Links

China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization, and became a large united country with an advanced culture at a very early stage, outpacing the rest of the world in areas like art and science.

Since around 1000 BC China consisted of many small kingdoms. All of these were unified under one emperor in 221 BC by the Qin state, ushering in the Qin Dynasty. Over the course of centuries, China underwent periods of unity and disunity, order and disorder.

In the 18th century, China achieved a decisive technological advantage over the peoples of Central Asia, while simultaneously falling behind Europe technologically. This set the stage for the 19th century, in which China adopted a defensive posture against European imperialism while simultaneously extending control into Central Asia.

In the early 20th century, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared, and China entered a period of disunion started by the Chinese Civil War. There are now two nations which lay formal claim to the title of "China": the People's Republic of China (also called "Mainland China") and the pre-revolution government of the Republic of China which administers Taiwan and several small islands of Fujian.

See also: Timeline of Chinese history, History of Hong Kong, History of Macau, History of Taiwan

After the Qin Empire unification, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which includes extensive system of kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. However, ultimately, the emperor had the centralized authority. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Sometimes political power, however, fell into the hands of the officials, eunuchs, or relatives.

Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, and gifts. (see section "Geography, Political" below for examples).

See also: Chinese sovereign, Chinese law

Physical map Larger version

China contains a large variety in landscapes, with mostly plateaux and mountains in the west, and lower lands on the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east (Chang Jiang, the Huang He (of central-east), the Amur (of northeast), etc), sometimes to south (Pearl River, Mekong River, Brahmaputra, etc). All rivers empty into the Pacific.

In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges.

To the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, with the Himalaya, containing highest point Mount Everest. The southwest also has high plateaus feature among the more arid landscape of deserts such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices dust storms have become usual in the spring in China.

During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

Over a hundred ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the predominant ethnic group in China is the Han. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have Sinicized into the Han, making its population increasing dramatically. The Han, however, continue to speak several mutually unintelligible languages (see Chinese languages). The government of the PRC recognizes 56 total ethnic groups.

Philosophy that have had extremely consequential impact on the Chinese culture, literary or illiterate, stems from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (in order of appearance).

China has a diverse religious tradition. Some of the religions or belief systems associated with China include ancestor worship, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Islam, and Taoism.

Chinese literature have the longest continuous history and had been more numerous than other cultures' for centuries because of the Chinese invention of printmaking. Prior to that, manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were manually written by ink brushes and distributed. To comment on these works, printed or written, scholars formed numerous academies, many of which were sponsored by the empire, and some royalties constantly participated in the discussions.

Chinese philosophers, writers, and poets have been mostly highly respected, and considered to be those preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of lives of the common people. (See List of Chinese authors, and List of Chinese language poets).

The Chinese created numerous musical instruments, such as zheng, xiao, that erhu, that have spread around East and Southeast Asia, especially to its dependencies. Sheng became the mother of several Western free-reed instruments.

The Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout the history of China, and was "simplified" in mid-20th century in mainland China.

Bonsai is a millennia-old art that spread to Japan and Korea.

See also: Buddhism in China, Chinese mythology, Chinese art, Chinese paper art, Chinese poetry, Chinese painting

In addition to the above mentioned cultural inventions, technological inventions from China include:

• Compass
• Printmaking / Printing Technology
• Paper
• Eastern abacus
• Gunpowder

• Chinese astrology and constellationss were often used for divination purposes.
• One of the main applications of mathematics in China have been architecture and geography.
• Alchemy was Taoist chemistry, very different from modern chemistry.
• Studies in biology has been extensive, and historic records are consulted upon today, such as pharmacopoeias of natural medicinal plants.
• Traditional medicine and surgery have been advanced. A well-known example is acupuncture. However, autopsy was unacceptable, because of the belief that the corpses should not be violated. Nonetheless, there were several doctors who increased the understanding of internal anatomy by violating this autopsy taboo.

Miscellaneous topics

• List of China-related topics
• Chinese name
• List of Chinese proverbs
• Chinese dragon
• Overseas Chinese
• Environment of China
• Imperialism in Asia

External links

Geography

Demographics

China incorporated another community, larger Nashville (organized by Charlie Nash in 1900) after the old China depot were burned down in 1906.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²). 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.77% is water.

There are 426 households out of which 31.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% are married couples living together, 12.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% are non-families. 23.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.61 and the average family size is 3.08.

In the city the population is spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $36,172, and the median income for a family is $41,500. Males have a median income of $36,094 versus $21,635 for females. The per capita income for the city is $15,940. 14.5% of the population and 12.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 19.8% are under the age of 18 and 17.7% are 65 or older.

Martial arts film - Wu Xia film

Chinese classic texts - Chinese poetry - List of Chinese language poets - List of Chinese proverbs

American Chinese cuisine - Boba milk tea - Cantonese cuisine - Cardamom - Chinese Buddhist cuisine - Chinese Islamic cuisine - Chiuchow cuisine - Chopsticks - Chop suey - Dim sum - Double steaming - Fingerroot - Five spice powder - Fortune cookie - Ginger root - Hakka cuisine - Hot salt frying - Hot sand frying - Hunan cuisine - Longan - Lychee - Mandarin cuisine - Monosodium glutamate - Shanghai cuisine - Soy sauce - Stir frying - Szechuan cuisine - Szechuan pepper - Taiwanese cuisine - Tofu - Wok

Ethnic groups and regionalisms

• List of Chinese ethnic groups
• Ethnic groups in Chinese history
• Overseas Chinese

Games

Che Deng - Chinese checkers - Chinese dominoes - Go (board game) - Go proverb - Gwat Pai - Kap Tai Shap - Keno - Mah Jong - Pai Gow - Pai gow poker - Shanghai solitaire - Tangram - Tien Gow - Tiu U - Xiangqi

Origins of Chinese Civilization - Chinese prehistory - Dongyi - Hunn-Xianpi - Khitan - Jurchen - Tabgach - proto-Sino-Tibetan - Shang-Chu Kingdom - Yuezhi - Yue Kingdom - Nanyue Kingdom - Wu Kingdom

Chinese input methods for computer - Chinese numerals - Chinese written language - Classical Chinese - Pinyin

Bodhidharma - Buddhism - Dalai Lama - Falun Gong - Gedun Drub - Guanyin - Mahayana Buddhism - Shang Ti - Shaolin - Sonam Gyatso - Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana - Yami - Zen

Sima Qian's account, Records of the Grand Historian, dates the founding of the Xia to some 4,000 years ago, however this date has not yet been corroborated. Some archaeologists connect the Xia to excavations at Erlitou in central Henan province, where a bronze smelter from around 2000 BC was unearthed. Early markings from this period, found on pottery and shells, are alleged to be ancestors of modern Chinese language, however these claims are unsupported. With no clear, written records such as the Shang's oracle bones or the Zhou bronze vessel writings, the Xia remains poorly understood.

At present, archaeological findings provide evidence for the existence of at least the Shang (1600-1046 BC). Shang archaeological evidence is divided into two sets. The first, from the earlier Shang (circa 1600 to 1300) comes from sources at Erligang, Zhengzhou and Shangcheng. The second set, from the later Shang or Yin period consists of a large body of oracle bone writings. Anyang, Henan (1300-1046 BC), has been confirmed as the last of the six capitals of the Shang.

Historians living in the Imperial Chinese period were accustomed to the notion of one dynasty succeeding each other, while the actual political situation in early China is known to be much more complicated. Hence, as some scholars of China suggest the Xia and the Shang can possibly refer to political entities that existed at the same time just as the later Zhou (successor state of the Shang), is known to have existed at the same time as the Shang.

By the end of 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou began to emerge in the Huanghe valley, overrunning the Shang. The Zhou appeared to have begun their rule under a semi-feudal system. Nevertheless, power became decentralized during the Spring and Autumn Period when larger states assimilated smaller states. The Hundred schools of thoughts of Chinese philosophy and knowledge blossomed during this period, which saw the foundation of Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism and Mohism. As the political consolidation continued, there remained seven prominent states by the end of 5th century BC, and the period in which these few states battled each other is known as the period of the Warring States. Though there a nominal Zhou king remained until 256 BC, his position was largely one of title, and he held little power.

Meanwhile neighboring territories of these warring states were gradually annexed, including areas of modern Sichuan and Liaoning, and governed under the new local administrative system of commandery and prefecture (郡縣), which had been in use since the Spring and Autumn Period and was very loosely a primitive prototype of modern system of Sheng Xian (province and county). A further expansion began during the reign of Ying Zheng, the king of Qin managed to conquer the other states and proclaimed himself the First emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang Di) after his unification and annexations in modern regions of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi in 214 BC, thereby the Chinese empire was formed under the Qin Dynasty.

Though unified reign of Qin Dynasty lasted only 12 years, he managed to subdue great parts of what constitutes the core of Han Chinese residence and to unite them under a tightly centralized government seated in Xian. His sons, however, were not as successful; soon the Qin ended, the Qin imperial structure collapsed.

The Han Dynasty emerged in 202 BC - it was the first dynasty to embrace Confucianism, which became the ideological underpinning of all regimes until the end of imperial China. Under the Han dynasty, the Chinese civilization experienced a giant leap on historiography, arts and science. Emperor Wu of Han China (Han Wudi) consolidated and extended the Chinese empire by pushing back the Xiongnu (sometimes identified with the Huns) into the steppes of modern Inner Mongolia and wrested modern areas of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai from Xiongnu, which in turn facilitated the first time ever opening of the Silk Road — trading connections between China and the occident.

Nevertheless land acquisitions by elite families had gradually drained the tax base. In AD 9 the usurper Wang Mang founded the short-lived Xin Dynasty and zealously redistributed land to peasants and put groundbreaking monetary and economical reforms into effect; however his reformations were never supported by land-holding families and, though aided the peasant and lesser gentry, was too vigorous and constantly modified such that chaos and upraisings broke loose. Emperor Guangwu of Han China reinstated the Han dynasty with the support of land-holding and merchant families at Luoyang, which located east of Xian and hence coined the new era Eastern Han Dynasty. Han power declined again in the midst of land acquisitions, invasions and struggles of consort clans and eunuchs. Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in AD 184, ushering in an era of warlords. In the ensuing turmoil, three states tried to gain predominance in the Period of the Three Kingdoms.

Though these three kingdoms were reunited temporarily in AD 280 (Western) Jin by the (Western) Jin dynasty, the contemporary non-Han Chinese (Wu Hu) ethnicities ravaged the country since early 4th century and provoked large-scale Han Chinese migrations to south of the Chang Jiang. In 303, Di ethnicity rebelled and later captured Chengdu. Xiongnu under Liu Yuan rebelled near today Linfen County; his successor Liu Cong captured and executed the last two Western Jin emperors. More than Sixteen states were established by these ethnic groups. The chaotic north was temporarily unified by Fu Jian and later by Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei after the former was defeated at the Battle of Feishui. The later started off a sequence of local regimes, all ruled over regions north of Chang Jiang and hence coined the Northern Dynasties.

Along with the immigrants and residents of the south, Emperor Yuan of Jin China reinstated the Jin regime at Nanjing which later developed into the sequence of Southern dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang and Chen that all seated at Jiangkang (near today Nanjing). China was ruled by two independent dynasties, one in the south and the other in the north, and hence coined the era of Southern and Northern Dynasties. The short-lived Sui Dynasty managed to reunite the country in AD 589 after almost 300 years of disjunction.

In AD 618, the Tang dynasty was established and a new age of flourishing began. Buddhism, which had slowly seeped into China in the first century, became the prominent religion and widely adopted by the royal family. Xian, the national capital, was supposedly the world's biggest city. Finally, however, the Tang dynasty declined as well and another time of political chaos followed, the Five dynasties and the Ten kingdoms. The Tang and Han are often referenced as the prosperous ages of China; the Tang, similar to the Han, also established jurisdiction on trade routes.

In AD 960, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) gained power over most of China and established its capital in Kaifeng whereas the Khitan Liao Dynasty ruled over modern Manchuria and eastern Mongolia. In AD 1115 the Jurchen Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) emerged to prominence. Not only did it annihilate the Liao Dynasty in 10 years, the Song also lost power over northern China and Kaifeng to the Jin Dynasty and moved its capital to Hangzhou. The Southern Song Dynasty also suffered the humiliation of having to acknowledge the Jin Dynasty as formal overlords. In the ensuing years China was divided between the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Tangut Western Xia. Southern Song was a period of great technological development which can be explained in part by the military pressure that it felt from the north.

Zhu Yuanzhang, (Hongwu Emperor of China or Hong-wu) the founder of the dynasty, laid the foundations for a state disinterested in commerce and more interested in extracting revenues from the agricultural sector. Perhaps because of his background as a peasant, the Ming economic system emphasized agriculture, unlike that of Song, which had preceded the Mongolian and relied on traders and merchant for revenues. Neo-feudal land-tenure developments of Song and Mongol period were expropriated with the establishment of the Ming. Great landed estates were confiscated by the government, fragmented, and rented out; and private slavery was forbidden. Consequently, after the death of Yongle Emperor of China, independent peasant landholders predominated in Chinese agriculture. These laws might have paved the way to social harmony and removed the worst of the poverty during the previous regimes. The laws against the merchants and the restrictions under which the craftsmen worked, remained essentially as they had been under the Song, but now the remaining foreign merchants before Ming era also fell under these new laws, and their influence quickly dwindled.

The emperor's role became even more autocratic, although Zhu Yuanzhang necessarily continued to use what he called the Grand Secretaries to assist with the immense paperwork of the bureaucracy, which included memorials (petitions and recommendations to the throne), imperial edicts in reply, reports of various kinds, and tax records.

During the Mongol rule, the population had dropped 40 percent, to an estimated 60 million. Two centuries later it had doubled. Urbanization thus progressed as population grew and as the division of labor grew more intricate. Large urban centers, such as Nanjing and Beijing contributed to the growth of private industry as well. In particular, small-scale industries grew specialized often in paper, silk, cotton and porcelain goods. For the most part, however, relatively small urban centers with markets proliferated around the country rather than the growth of a few large cities. Town markets mainly traded food with some necessary manufactures such as pins or oil.

The most extraordinary venture, however, during this stage was the dispatch Zheng He's seven naval expeditions, which traversed the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asian archipelago. An ambitious Muslim eunuch of Mongol descent and a quintessential outsider in the establishment of Confucian scholar elites, Zheng He led seven maritime expeditions from 1405 to 1433 with six of them under the auspices of Emperor Yongle, probing down into the South Seas, across the Indian Ocean and traversing perhaps as the Cape of Good Hope. His appointment in 1403 to lead a sea-faring task force was a triumph the commercial lobbies seeking to stimulate conventional trade, not mercantilism. The interests of the commercial lobbies and those of the religious lobbies were also linked. Both offensive of the neo-Confucian sensibilities of the scholarly elite, religious lobbies encouraged commercialism and exploration to divert state funds from the anti-clerical efforts of the Confucian scholar gentry. The first expedition in 1405 consisted of 62 ships and 28,000 men — then the largest naval expedition in history. Zheng He's multi-decked ships carried up to 500 troops but also cargoes of export goods, mainly silks and porcelains, and brought back foreign luxuries such as spices and tropical woods.

By the end of the 15th century, Chinese imperial subjects were forbidden from either building oceangoing ships or leaving the country. The consensus among historians of the early 21st century is that this measure was taken in response to piracy and in any case restrictions on emigration and shipbuilding were largely lifted by the mid-17th century.

Some historians have viewed the Qing as continuing the decline started in the Ming, while others have argued that the early and mid-Qing were periods of growth rather than decline. Emperor Kangxi commanded the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time, and under Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of all important works on Chinese culture was made. The Qing Dynasty also continued the growth of popular literature such as the Dream of the Red Mansions and agricultural advances such as triple cropping of rice which caused the population of China to more than double from between 180 million in 1700 to 400 million in 1800.

During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and prosperity diminished. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. Britain's desire to continue its illegal opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1840. China lost the war; subsequently, Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, forcibly occupied "concessions" and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanjing. In addition, the Taiping rebellion and Nian rebellions, along with a Russian-supported Muslim separatist movements in Mongolia and Muslim Xinjiang, drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty.

China was not a backward country unable to secure the prerequisite stability and security for western-style commerce, but a highly advanced empire unwilling to admit western and often drug-pushing commerce, which may explain the West's contentment with informal "Spheres of Influences". China, unlike tropical Africa, was a securable market without formal control. Following the First Opium War, British commerce, and later capital invested by other newly industrializing powers, was securable with a smaller degree of formal control than in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Pacific. In many respects, China was a colony and a large-scale receptacle of Western capital investments. Western powers did intervene military there to quell domestic chaos, such as the horrific Taiping Rebellion and the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion. For instance, General Gordon, later the imperialist 'martyr' in the Sudan, was often accredited as having saved the Manchu dynasty from the Taiping insurrection.

By the 1860s, the Qing dynasty had put down the rebellions with the help of militia organized by the Chinese gentry. The Qing dynasty then proceeded to deal with problem of modernization, which it attempted with the Self-Strengthening Movement. In the Sino-French War (1883-1885) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the New Armies created by the Qing were defeated, which produced calls for greater and more extensive reform.

• The History of the People's Republic of China and the History of the Republic of China/History of Taiwan for their respective histories after 1949.
• List of China-related topics for a collection of Wikipedia articles on China.
• Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (chinese) for discussions and improvements on how to correctly name Chinese related articles. Those standards should be followed to provide a uniform title format.
• Chinese sovereign for comprehensive lists and proper naming conventions of Chinese rulers.
• Ethnic groups in Chinese history for lists of other groups of people usually not considered as Han Chinese.
• Chinese historiography for an article on scholarship influenced by post-modernism and periodization.
• Timeline of Chinese history for a chronological list of major events and figures.
• History of Hong Kong
• History of Macau

External link

Religions

Note that some of these ethnic groups hold belief systems that cannot be distinctly classified based upon the following system.

• Islam: the Bonan, Dongxiang, Hui, Kazak, Kirgiz, Salar, Tajik, Tatar, Uygur and Uzbek.
• Buddhism: the Dai, Mongolian, Naxi (including Mosuo), Tibetan and Yugun.
• Shamanism: the Daurs, Ewenkis, and Oroqens.

• Demographics of China
• Languages of China
• Chinese ethnic groups of the past
• Zhonghua minzu
• List of ethnic groups

External link

Metropolitan areas

City name	Population
Shanghai, PRC	12,200,000
Beijing, PRC	9,200,000
Taipei, ROC	7,400,000
Chongqing City, PRC	7,200,000
Hong Kong, PRC	6,950,000 incl. Kowloon
Tianjin, PRC	5,750,000

• List of cities by country
• List of city listings by country
• List of metropolitan areas by population

External links

• World music
• Music of Taiwan

References

After World War II, the Chinese Civil War between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang ended in 1949 with the Communists in control of mainland China the Kuomintang in control of Taiwan and some outlying islands of Fujian. On October 10, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the People's Republic of China and established a communist state. While ensuring China's sovereignty, Mao's administration imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people through disastrous policies such as the Great Leap Foward and Cultural Revolution.

After the death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping succeeded to power and mainland China remained under Communist rule. Since then, the government has gradually loosened governmental control over people's personal lives and engaged in reforms to transform its planned economy into a market-based one. Nevertheless the government remains intent on maintaining the political control of the Communist Party of China and has maintained repressive policies against groups which it feels are a threat to its political control. (see Falun Gong and Tibet).

The People's Republic of China adopted its current constitution on December 4, 1982.

In the technical terminology of political science the PRC was a communist state for much of the 20th century, and is still considered a communist state by many, though not all, political scientists. Attempts to simply characterize the nature of the political structure of China fail. The regime has variously been described as authoritarian, communist, socialist and various combinations of the those terms. It has also been described as a communist government.

The PRC is a republic in that the government has some democratic forms, especially at the local level, but it is controlled by the Communist Party of China, which makes the local election quite ineffective. Lack of electoral campaign, voters usually know nothing about the candidates. In addtion, almost all of the candidates are members of CPC. Together with localism, this kind of election is quite random and symbolistic. The state uses authoritarian methods to deal with dissent, while at the same time attempting to reduce dissent by improving the economy, allowing expression of personal grievances, and rather lenient treatment for persons expressing dissent whom the regime does not believe are organizers.

The People's Republic of China maintains diplomatic relations with most countries in the world, but makes acknowledging its claim to Taiwan and severing any official ties with the Republic of China (ROC) government a prerequisite for diplomatic exchanges. It also actively opposes foreign travels by Taiwan independence proponents and the Dalai Lama.

In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative for "China" in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. (See China and the United Nations)

See also: Political status of Taiwan

The PRC maintains the largest standing army in the world. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) includes the PRC's navy and air force. The PRC's military budget was estimated to be $60 billion (in purchasing power parity) in 2003, second only to the United States of nearly $400 billion. The PRC, despite possession of advanced nuclear weapons and delivery systems, lacks the ability to project military power beyond its borders and is not a superpower.

Mainland China has 22 provinces (省), though the government of the People's Republic of China considers Taiwan (台湾) to be its 23rd province. (See Political status of Taiwan for more information.) The government also claims the disputed South China Sea Islands. Apart from provinces there are 5 autonomous regions (自治区) containing concentrations of several minorities; 4 municipalities (直辖市) for China's largest cities and 2 special administrative regions (SAR) (特别行政区) governed by the PRC.

The following are a list of administrative divisions of areas under the control of the People's Republic of China.

Provinces Anhui (安徽) Fujian (福建) Gansu (甘肃) Guangdong (广东) Guizhou (贵州) Hainan (海南) Hebei (河北) Heilongjiang (黑龙江) Henan (河南) Hubei (湖北) Hunan (湖南) Jiangsu (江苏) Jiangxi (江西) Jilin (吉林) Liaoning (辽宁) Qinghai (青海) Shaanxi (陕西) Shandong (山东) Shanxi (山西) Sichuan (四川) Yunnan (云南) Zhejiang (浙江)

Autonomous regions Guangxi Zhuang (广西壮族) Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) Ningxia Hui (宁夏回族) Xinjiang Uighur (新疆维吾尔族) Tibet (西藏) Municipalities Beijing Municipality (北京) Chongqing Municipality (重庆) Shanghai Municipality (上海) Tianjin Municipality (天津) Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong (香港) Macau (澳门)

Areas controlled by the PRC (in skin colour) and ROC (in rice colour) (Larger, detailed image with provincial boundaries)

The PRC is the fourth largest country in the world and as such contains a large variety in landscapes. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges. In the central-east are found the deltass of China's two major rivers, the Huang He and Chang Jiang. Other major rivers include the Xi Jiang, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur.

To the west, major mountain ranges, notably the Himalaya with China's highest point Mount Everest, and high plateaus feature among the more arid landscape of deserts such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. According to China's Environmental Protection Agency, the Gobi Desert has been expanding and is a major source of dust storms which affect China and other parts of northeast Asia such as Korea and Japan.

Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been moving the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economy but still within a rigid political framework of Communist Party control. To this end the authorities have switched to a system of household responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. This has resulted in mainland China's shift from a command to a mixed economy.

The government has emphasized raising personal income and consumption and introducing new management systems to help increase productivity. The government also has focused on foreign trade as a major vehicle for economic growth, for which purpose it set up over 2000 Special economic zones (SEZ) where investment laws are relaxed in order to attract foreign capital. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 1999, with its 1.25 billion people and a GDP of just $3,800 per capita, the PRC became the sixth largest economy in the world by exchange rate and third largest in the world after the US and the European Union by purchasing power. The average annual income of a Chinese worker is $1,300. Chinese economy development is believed to be one of the fastest region in the world, about 7~8% per year by the statistic of Chinese government. And mainland China is now a member of World Trade Organization.

The People's Republic of China, in an attempt to limit its population growth, has adopted a policy which limits urban families (ethnic minorities such as Tibetans are an exception) to one child and rural families to two children when the first is female. Because males are considered to be more economically valuable in rural areas, there appears to be a high incidence of sex selective abortion and child abandonment in rural areas to ensure that the second child is male.

The official language of the PRC is Mandarin Chinese which is taught in schools, thereby making it the native language of more people than any other language on Earth.

This has resulted in a sex ratio of 115 boys being born for every 100 girls which is considerably different from the natural rate, but which is comparable to the ratios in South Korea. The PRC government is attempting to mitigate this problem by emphasizing the worth of women and has gone so far as to prohibit medical providers from disclosing to parents the sex of an expected baby.

The PRC has several emerging public health problems: the recent development of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a progressing HIV-AIDS epidemic and hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers. The HIV epidemic, in addition to the usual routes of infection, was exacerbated in the past by unsanitary practices used in the collection of blood in rural areas. The problem with tobacco is complicated by the concentration of most cigarette sales in a government controlled monopoly. The government, with limited resources, and dependent on tobacco revenue seems sluggish in its response to the tobacco and other public health problems; this characteristic has drawn unfavorable international attention in the case of SARS.

Hepatitis B is endemic in mainland China, the majority of the population eventually contracting the disease, with about 10% being seriously affected. Often this causes liver failure or liver cancer, a common form of death in China. A program initiated in 2002 will attempt over the next 5 years to vaccinate all newborns in mainland China.

• Chinese language
• Chinese written language
• List of famous Chinese people
• Chinese art
• Music of China
• Chinese cuisine

• Chinese law
• Communications in China
• Environment of China
• Human rights in China
• Science and technology in China
• Police in China
• Religion in China
• Sports in China
• Transportation in China

References

Further reading

External links

• Municipalities are subdivided into districts, except the largest Chongqing, which also contains county-level cities and counties.
• Many provinces are subdivided entirely into prefecture-level cities. Some provinces and all provinces and all autonomous regions have, in addition, autonomous prefectures (自治州) and/or prefectures (地区 "region"). These non-city prefecture entities number in 65.
  • Prefecture-level cities are subdivided into counties (县), districts (市辖区), county-level cities (县级市, or "county-class cities"), sometimes also autonomous counties (自治县).
  • Prefectures and autonomous prefectures are subdivided likewise, except without districts.
  • There are 393 county-level city and 1669 counties.
  • There also province-governed cities (省辖市 or 省管市) which are directly under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, so equal in status to prefecture-class cities nominally (so they're sometimes referred to as such, or vice versa), But in effect, they can come under the governance of prefecture-class cities (so in effect equal similar to county-level cities).
  • Sub-provincial cities belong to provinces as well.
    • Counties and autonomous counties, which are governed by magistrates, are subdivided into:
      • towns (镇)
      • townships (乡), or "region": more rural
      • national townships (民族乡): concentrated by ethnic minorities
        • The towns and townships are divided into:
          • neighborhood committee (居民委员会 "residential/residence committee")
          • urban sub-districts (街道办事处 "street offices")
          • village committees (村民委员会).

The Republic of China has no autonomous regions, prefecture-level cities and sub-provincial cities. Province-governed cities are the equivalents of county-level cities. It has county-governed city (town-level). In addition, it translates towns and townships both as townships. See Political divisions of the Republic of China

Provinces

Mainland China has 22 provinces (省 pinyin sheng3):

• Anhui (安徽 pinyin an1 hui1), abbreviation: Wan (皖 pinyin wan3)
• Fujian (福建 fu2 jian4), abbr. Min (闽 min3)
• Gansu (甘肃 gan1 su4), abbr. Gan (甘 gan1), Long (陇 long3)
• Guangdong (广东 guang3 dong1), abbr. Yue (粤 yue4)
• Guizhou (贵州 gui4 zhou1), abbr. Qian (黔 qian2), Gui (贵 gui4)
• Hainan (海南 hai3 nan2), abbr. Hai (海 hai3), Qiong (琼 qiong2)
• Hebei (河北 he2 bei3), abbr. Ji (冀 ji4)
• Heilongjiang (黑龙江 hei1 long2 jiang1), abbr. Hei (黑 hei1)
• Henan (河南 he2 nan2), abbr. Yu (豫 yu4)
• Hubei (湖北 hu2 bei3), abbr. E (鄂 e4)
• Hunan (湖南 hu2 nan2), abbr. Xiang (湘 xiang1)
• Jiangsu (江苏 jiang1 su1), abbr. Su (苏 su1)
• Jiangxi (江西 jiang1 xi1), abbr. Gan (赣 gan4)
• Jilin (吉林 ji2 lin2), abbr. Ji (吉 ji2)
• Liaoning (辽宁 liao2 ning2), abbr. Liao (辽 liao2)
• Qinghai (青海 qing1 hai3), abbr. Qing (青 qing1)
• Shaanxi (陕西 shan3 xi1), abbr. Shan (陕 shan3), Qin (秦 qin2)
• Shandong (山东 shan1 dong1), abbr. Lu (鲁 lu3)
• Shanxi (山西 shan1 xi1), abbr. Jin (晋 jin4)
• Sichuan (四川 si4 chuan1), abbr. Chuan (川 chuan1), Shu (蜀 shu3)
• Yunnan (云南 yun2 nan2), abbr. Dian (滇 dian1), Yun (云 yun2)
• Zhejiang (浙江 zhe4 jiang1), abbr. Zhe (浙 zhe4)

Disputed Province

• Taiwan (traditional: 臺灣; simplified: 台湾 tai2 wan1), abbr. Tai (台 tai2)

Maps of China published in Taiwan will often show provincial boundaries as they were in 1949 which do not match the current administrative structure as decided by the Communist Party of China post-1949.

Municipalities

4 municipalities (直辖市 pinyin zhi2 xia2 shi4, literal meaning: "directly administrated city (by the central government)") adminstered by the PRC:

• Beijing Municipality (北京 bei3 jing1), abbr. Jing (京 jing1)
• Chongqing Municipality (重庆 chong2 qing4), abbr. Yu (渝 yu2)
• Shanghai Municipality (上海 shang4 hai3), abbr. Hu (沪 hu4)
• Tianjin Municipality (天津 tian1 jin1), abbr. Jin (津 jin1)

• Kaohsiung City (高雄 gao1 xiong2)
• Taipei City (台北 tai2 bei3)

Special administrative regions

2 special administrative regions (SARs) (特别行政区 pinyin te4 bie2 xing2 zheng4 qu1):

• Hong Kong (香港 xiang1 gang3), abbr. Gang (港 gang3)
• Macau (澳门 ao4 men2), abbr. Ao (澳 ao4)

See also

• List of China administrative regions by area
• List of China administrative regions by population
• List of China administrative regions by population density

External Links

The Republic of China developed out of the Wuchang Uprising against the Qing Dynasty which began on October 10, 1911 and was declared on January 1, 1912, with Sun Yat-sen elected the first president. As part of the agreement to have the last emperor Puyi abdicate, Yuan Shikai was officially elected president in 1913. However, Yuan dissolved the ruling Kuomintang and declared himself emperor in 1915.

Many provinces declared independence and became warlord states. Yuan Shikai died of natural causes in 1916. Sun Yat-sen gained control of Guangdong province with the help of southern warlords in 1917, and set up a rival government. Sun reestablished Kuomintang in October 1919.

After Sun's death in 1925, General Chiang Kai-shek gained control of the KMT and, with the help of the Soviet Union, led the successful Northern Expedition which effectively defeated the warlords and united China. However, Chiang soon dismissed his Soviet advisors, and purged communists and leftists from the KMT, inciting the Chinese Civil War.

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and made massive territorial gains in the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). With Japan's surrender in 1945, the Republic of China emerged victorious and became one of the founding members of the United Nations.

The civil war resumed and intensified after the Japanese surrender, and when it ended in the Communist Party of China's favor in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek evacuated the government to Taiwan, which had been recovered from Japan in 1945, and declared Taipei as the temporary capital of China, bringing some 2 million refugees from Mainland China. Because of the Cold War, until the 1970s, the Republic of China was recognized as the sole legitimate government of both Mainland China and Taiwan by the UN and most Western nations.

Taiwan remained under martial law for 4 decades until 1987 and one-party rule until 1991 when President Chiang Ching-kuo gradually liberalized and democratized the system. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected president, ending KMT rule.

See also: History of Taiwan, Timeline of Chinese history

The Republic of China has undergone a process of democratisation since its constitution was reformed in the early 1990s. The head of state is the president, who is elected by popular vote for a four-year term on the same ticket as the vice-president. The president has authority over the five administrative branches (Yuan): the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan, Judicial Yuan, and Examination Yuan. The president appoints the members of the Executive Yuan as his cabinet, including a premier who is officially the President of the Executive Yuan; members are responsible for policy and administration.

The main legislative body is the unicameral Legislative Yuan with 225 seats, of which 168 are elected by popular vote. Of the remainder, 41 are elected on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight are elected from overseas Chinese constituencies on the same principle, as are the eight seats for the aboriginal populations; members serve three-year terms. Originally the unicameral National Assembly, as a standing constitutional convention and electoral college, held some parliamentary functions, but this has now become a non-standing body of 300 members that has seen most of its powers transferred to the Legislative Yuan.

The relationship with the People's Republic of China and the related issues of either Taiwan independence or Chinese reunification continue to dominate Taiwanese politics. The political scene in the ROC is divided into two camps, with the pro-reunificationist Kuomintang, People First Party, and New Party forming the Pan-Blue Coalition, while the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union forms the Pan-Green Coalition.

Current jurisdiction of the ROC

The Republic of China retains administration of two of the historic provinces of China and centrally administers two municipalities:

• Taiwan Province: completely (all but one county are on the Taiwanese main island.)
  • Sixteen counties,
  • Five provincially administrated cities.
• Fujian Province: partially
  • Two counties (under the jurisdiction of the ROC)
• Two Municipalities
  • Kaohsiung
  • Taipei

Foreign relations

The Republic of China continues to be officially recognized by 27 nations, mostly small countries in Central America and Africa but also including the Holy See. The People's Republic of China has a policy of not having diplomatic relations with any nation which recognizes the Republic of China and insists that all nations with which it has diplomatic relations make a statement which recognizes its claims to Taiwan. In practice, most major nations maintain unofficial semi-diplomatic relations with Taiwan and the statement which is required by the PRC is couched in extremely carefully worded ambiguity.

The Republic of China, as one of its founding members was in the United Nations and held China's seat on the Security Council until 1971, when it was expelled by General Assembly Resolution Resolution 2758 and replaced in all UN organs with the People's Republic of China government. Multiple attempts by the Republic of China to re-join the UN have not made it past committee. (See China and the United Nations)

Besides the dispute with the PRC over the mainland, the ROC also has a controversial relationship with Mongolia. Until 1945, the ROC claimed jurisdiction over Mongolia, but under Soviet pressure, it recognized Mongolian independence. Shortly thereafter, it repudiated this recognition and continued to claim jurisdiction over Mongolia until recently. Since the late 1990s, relationship with Mongolia has become a controversial topic. The DPP is attempting to establish diplomatic relations with Mongolia, but this move is controversial because it is widely seen as a prelude for renouncing ROC sovereignty over Mainland China thereby declaring Taiwan independence.

The Republic of China maintains a large military establishment, mainly as defense against invasion by the People's Republic of China, which is seen as the predominant threat and which has not renounced the use of force against the ROC. Until the 1970s, the military primary mission was to retake the Mainland.

The ROC's armed forces number approximately 430,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000. The ROC has implemented a force reduction program to scale down its military to a level of 400,000 by FY 2001. Conscription remains universal for qualified males reaching age 18.

A significant amount of military hardware is supplied by the United States.

Although the PRC objects with having other countries maintain diplomatic or official relations with the ROC, it does not object to having the ROC maintain economic relations. Consequently, the Republic of China is a member of governmental trade organizations such as the WTO and APEC under the name Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (台灣、澎湖、金門及馬祖個別關稅領域).

The Republic of China on Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by government authorities. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatised. Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8% during the past three decades. Exports have provided the primary impetus for industrialisation. The trade surplus is substantial, and foreign reserves are the world's third largest.

Agriculture contributes 2% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952. Traditional labour-intensive industries are steadily being moved offshore and replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in Mainland China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam; 50,000 Taiwanese businesses are established in Mainland China.

Because of its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbours from the Asian financial crisis in 1998-1999. The global economic downturn, however, combined with poor policy coordination by the new administration and increasing bad debts in the banking system, pushed Taiwan into recession in 2001, the first whole year of negative growth since 1947. Unemployment also reached a level not seen since the 1970s oil crisis, and this became a major issue in the presidential election of 2004.

See also: East Asian Tigers

The aboriginal population of Taiwan, divided into ten main tribes, now makes up 2% of the ROC's jurisdiction. The remainder consists of Han Chinese, who themselves consist of early Han immigrants who are referred to as "Bensheng ren" (84%) and later immigrants which are referred to as "Waisheng ren" or "Mainlanders" (14%) that fled the mainland in 1949. The Bensheng ren consist of descendants of migrants from Southern Fujian, as well as the Hakka, who are concentrated in several counties throughout Taiwan, with extensive intermarriage with Taiwanese aborigines.

The majority of people in the Republic of China on Taiwan speak Mandarin Chinese, which has been the medium of instruction in the schools for more than four decades. A large fraction of people in also speak one of the Southern Fujianese dialects, Min-nan, also known as Taiwanese. The Hakka have a distinct Hakka dialect. Between 1900 and 1945 the population also spoke Japanese. Chinese romanisation on Taiwan remains chaotic with many different systems, some ad-hoc, in use. In 2002, the government announced adoption of Tongyong pinyin, but this has not resolved the chaos as there is a large and mostly political controversy about which pinyin system to use, with different localities now using different systems. Wade-Giles, and its various variants, remain the most popular systems.

About half of the ROC population can be considered religious believers, most of whom identify themselves as Buddhists or Taoists. At the same time there is a strong belief in folk religion. These are not mutually exclusive, and many people practice a combination of the three. Confucianism also is an honored school of thought and ethical code. Christian churches have been active on Taiwan for many years, a majority of which are Protestant and with Presbyterians playing a particularly significant role.

The early years of the Republic of China saw the New Cultural Movement, with the gradual liberalization of society. Old imperial practices such as footbinding were discontinued. In accordance with the tradition of changing the style of dress for successive dynasties, Sun Yat-sen popularized the changshan (female equivalent being qipao). Mao Zedong would later adapted the upper part of changshan and wear the style become known to westerners as the Mao suit.

After the retreat to Taiwan, the Nationalists took many steps to preserve traditional Chinese culture. The government launched a program promoting Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting, Chinese folk arts, and Chinese opera. The National Palace Museum opened in Taipei, housing over 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting, and porcelain moved from the mainland in 1949 and accounting for 10% of China's cultural treasures.

Over the years, Taiwan gradually developed a distinct cultural identity (see Taiwan localization movement). Western ideas began to influence local culture, as western dress became popular and western words entered into the Chinese vocabulary.

Until the 1970s, sports teams from the Republic of China contined to play under the name "China," as the communists largely stayed away from the international sporting scene, due mainly to the Cultural Revolution. However, along with the switch in diplomatic recognition, the titles of sports teams were also transferred. Today, sports teams from the Republic of China usually play under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北 Zhonghua Taipei) and fly a specially designed non-political flag in place of the flag of the Republic of China.

Miscellaneous topics

• Chinese law
• List of China-related topics
• Republic of Taiwan

External Links

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