A huge East Asian country, when people mention "Asia", the first country to pop up in your head, is probably going to be China (Chinese: 中国, Zhongguo), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC) (Chinese: 中华人民共和国, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo). This has become so common that for some people, China is synonymous with Asia, much to the annoyance of everyone who isn't ignorant. As the most populated country in the world and third largest in area after Russia and Canada, and with an economy on the rise daily, the People's Republic of China is a country well worth understanding better, partly to avoid the many stereotypes of the country and the Chinese people over the years.
China is one of the world's oldest civilizations — having been one of only six to have formed independently (meaning not having an already-established civilization give them the idea of civilization creation), one of only five to have developed a writing system independently (the only one still in use today!), and has the longest continuous history of any country in the world. The main "centers" of Chinese civilization in modern Sinology are considered to be the Yellow River, Liao River, and Yangtze River. This is in contrast to the old theory that Chinese civilization began solely at the Yellow River and radiated outwards, although the Yellow River region would remain by far the most important area in Chinese history.
The proto-Sino-Tibetan people likely originated at the middle Yellow River of northern China and split around 6,000–8,000 years ago into the proto-Tibeto-Burman and proto-Sinitic branches. The proto-Tibeto-Burmans headed westwards while the proto-Sinitics remained in northern China. The proto-Sinitic tribes that lived by the Yellow River underwent extensive cultural and technological advancements largely due to the unpredictability of the river on which they depended on. The early Sinitic-speaking agricultural tribes from the Yangshao culture eventually formed a confederacy with the Liao River people from the Hongshan culture to their north. The two river cultures had interacted with each other extensively before the people of the Hongshan culture made a southward migration to the Yellow River likely due to climate change.
Chinese culture was more strongly influenced by the Yangshao people in terms of language, silk production, millet agriculture, and pottery making, but with the religious practices of the Hongshan people. Thus, early Chinese religion was shamanistic. Shamanism would lose its importance after the Shang Dynasty, but the grand religious ceremonies and rituals of the Xia such as dragon worship and feng shui would remain. Combined, the Yangshao and Hongshan became known as the Huaxia. With the Hua in the name meaning "illustrious" in reference to their elaborate clothing (the Yangshao people were involved in silk production) and the "Xia" meaning "grand" in reference to their ceremonial etiquette (the Hongshan people had complicated religious rituals).
The Huaxia began to conquer surrounding territories and absorb foreign populations which allowed for their expansion. The Huaxia would go on to form empires with the Qin Dynasty being the first unified Chinese empire. The Han Dynasty is considered one of the early great eras of Chinese civilization. Thus, the Huaxia would go on to call themselves "Han people" and are known as the "Han Chinese" in English. Over thousands of years, the Han Chinese made a continuous expansion out of their homeland - primarily in a southward direction where they assimilated the native inhabitants of the Yangtze River. The Han Chinese even reached as far as central Vietnam and they ended up ruling Vietnam for over a thousand years.
Today there is a genetic cline in China — Northern Han Chinese have highly uniform paternal and maternal lines, being a very genetically homogeneous group that formed about 3000 years ago, while Southern Han Chinese have similar paternal lines to the Northern Han but more diverse maternal ones. The Northern Han are the greatest contributors to the Southern Han gene pool, but the southern Han have a large portion of maternal ancestry derived from pre-Chinese indigenous populations, primarily the ethnic groups of the Yangtze River. This indicates an extensive practise of intermarriage between Han and non-Han women.
Chinese prehistory is still largely a mystery due to it being centered around the Yellow River, which was a poor region for archaeological preservation. The details are still hotly debated today. Even what is "common knowledge" now may be outdated in the next few years.
What is far better recorded is the period known as Imperial China, starting from the Qin, China would have a dynastic imperial system of governance for the next 2000 years. The Chinese state would constantly alternate between periods of extreme chaos and peaceful golden eras as it fractured and reunited over time. China was the dominant cultural powerhouse of East Asia for most of its existence. Although ironically, the best known Chinese eras to Westerners were the foreign dynasties of the Yuan and Qing due to Marco Polo's adventures in Yuan China and because China was being brutally colonized by Western powers and Japan in the Qing — these were the periods when China was arguably at it's "least Chinese" and it contributed to the poor understanding the West had of the nation. Even today the West is largely ignorant of Chinese history with its preference to undervalue Chinese studies due to the bad blood that generated between China and the West starting from the late Qing.
In 2003, China became the third nation to have sent a man into space with its own rockets. The President and Vice President of the People's Republic of China serve for five year terms with no term limits; this, plus the lack of political opposition, basically allows them to serve for life. However, true authority lies with the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Chinanote while top military command goes to Chairman of the Central Military Commission, a role usually also hold by the General Secretary who's usually elected as the President (still known as the State Chairman in Chinese). Basically one has to hold these three positions to gain full power of the head of government of China. The General Secretary is secretly decided by the Communist Party.
Chinese Culture
- Ba Gua
- Chinese with Chopper Support (The People's Liberation Army)
- The Dragon's Teeth (Chinese Nuclear Weapons)
- Chinese Language
- Chinese Dialects and Accents
- Why Mao Changed His Name (transliteration)
- Chinese Sibling Terminology
- Chinese Mythology
- Chinese Names
- Confucius
- Chinese Funerary Customs
- Eastern Zodiac
- Fighting Panda
- Four Is Death
- Green Is Blue
- Mahjong
- Peking Opera
- Qipao
- Qixi
- Taoism
- Tea and Tea Culture
- Weiqi
- Wuxia
- Xiangqi
Chinese Geography
Chinese History
- Imperial China
- Dynasties from Shang to Qing (Pre-1912)
- List of Significant People in Imperial China
- Three Kingdoms – Shu, Wei, Wu (Three Kingdoms era)
- First Sino-Japanese War (during Qing dynasty)
- Dynasties from Shang to Qing (Pre-1912)
- No More Emperors (Republic of China, WWII and Civil War; ca 1912-1949)
- Red China (post-1949)
- Cultural Revolution
- To Get Rich Is Glorious (Post-Mao China)
Works from China
The Chinese flag
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
The Chinese national anthem
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Government
- Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic
- CCP General Secretary, President & Military Chairman: Xi Jinping
- Premier: Li Keqiang
- Congress Chairman: Li Zhanshu
- CPPCC Chairman: Wang Yang
- 1st Party Secretariat's Member: Wang Huning
- Party Discipline Secretary: Zhao Leji
- 1st Vice Premier: Han Zheng
- Vice President: Wang Qishan
- Chief Justice: Zhou Qiang
- Prosecutor-General: Zhang Jun
- Supervisory Commission Director: Yang Xiaodu
Miscellaneous
- Capital: Beijing
- Largest city: Shanghai
- Population: 1,419,936,142 (including Hong Kong and Macau)
- Area: 9,596,961 km² (3,705,407 sq mi) (3rd/4th)
- Currency: Renminbi (元/¥) (CNY)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: CN
- Country calling code: 86
- Highest point: Mount Everest (8,849 m/29,032 ft) (1st; highestnote )
- Lowest point: Ayding Lake (−154 m/−505 ft) (4th)
