Portal:China

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Introduction

Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area, depending on the source consulted. Governed by the Communist Party of China, the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

China emerged as one of the world's earliest civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty in 21st century BCE. Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin unified core China and established the first Chinese empire. The succeeding Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BC until 220 AD, 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 (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new maritime Silk Route brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and Horn of Africa. Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when a republic replaced the Qing dynasty. The Chinese Civil War resulted in a division of territory in 1949, when the Communist Party of China established the People's Republic of China, a unitary one-party sovereign state on Mainland China, while the Kuomintang-led government retreated to the island of Taiwan. The political status of Taiwan remains disputed.

Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China's economy has been one of the world's fastest-growing with annual growth rates consistently above 6 percent. , it is the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army and second-largest defense budget. The PRC is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as it replaced the ROC in 1971, as well as an active global partner of ASEAN Plus mechanism. China is also a leading member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), WTO, APEC, BRICS, the BCIM, and the G20. China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential superpower.

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

Nicole Cooke Geelong World Cup 2007 podium 1.jpg

The women's road race was one of the cycling events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. It took place on 10 August 2008, featuring 66 women from 33 countries. Heavy rain during the entire race made conditions difficult for the competitors. A group of five was able to break away during the final lap and worked together until the final sprint, where Nicole Cooke placed herself in position to win the race (pictured). Cooke earned Great Britain's first medal at these Games and 200th Olympic gold medal overall. Emma Johansson of Sweden and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy won the silver and bronze medals respectively. The race also marked the first positive drug test of the 2008 Olympic Games, by María Isabel Moreno of Spain. It was the seventh appearance of an Olympic women's road race event and featured a longer course than any of the previous six races. The race was run on the Urban Road Cycling Course (one of Beijing's nine temporary venues), which is 102.6 kilometres (63.8 mi) in its entirety. Including a second lap around the 23.8 km (14.8 mi) final circuit, the total distance of the women's race was 126.4 km (78.5 mi), less than half the length of the men's race.

Selected images

Did you know...

Diagram of bracket and cantilever arms from the building manual Yingzao Fashi (published in 1103) of the Song Dynasty

Related WikiProjects

Chinaimg.png You are invited to participate in WikiProject China, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about China.
Parent projects
WikiProject AsiaWikiProject East AsiaWikiProject Countries
WikiProjects
Main projects
WikiProject China
Sub-projects and task forces
CartographyHistoryMilitary historyThree KingdomsPoliticsCinemaEntertainmentGo (board game)Cities • ProvincesHong KongMacauTaiwanTibetTransportationChinese surnamesCJKV
Related Projects
JapanKoreaMartial artsBuddhismChristianityTaoismIslam

What are WikiProjects?

Selected biography

There are no contemporaneous portraits of Du Fu; this is a later artist's impression

Du Fu was a Chinese poet during the Tang dynasty. Along with Li Bai, he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His own greatest ambition was to help his country by becoming a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. His life, like the country, was devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755, and the last 15 years of his life were a time of almost constant unrest. Initially unpopular, his works came to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese poetry. He has been called "poet historian" and "poet sage" by Chinese critics, while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to Western readers as "the Chinese Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, Béranger, Hugo or Baudelaire".

Anniversaries for November 19

Shenzhou 1
Events
Deaths

China's politics

Emblem of the Communist Party of China
Xi Jinping

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, officially General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is head of the Communist Party of China and the highest-ranking official within China, a standing member of the Politburo and head of the Secretariat. The officeholder is usually considered the paramount leader of China.

According to the Constitution, the General Secretary serves as an ex officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body. Since the early 1990s, the holder of the post has been, except for transitional periods, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making the holder the Commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army.

The current General Secretary is Xi Jinping (picture), who took the office at the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012.

National Emblem of the Republic of China
Tsai Ing-wen

The President of the Republic of China is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC).

The Constitution names the president as head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces (formerly known as the National Revolutionary Army). The president is responsible for conducting foreign relations, such as concluding treaties, declaring war, and making peace. The president must promulgate all laws and has no right to veto. Other powers of the president include granting amnesty, pardon or clemency, declaring martial law, and conferring honors and decorations.

The current President is Tsai Ing-wen (picture), since May 20, 2016. The first woman to be elected to the office, Tsai is the seventh president of the Republic of China under the 1947 Constitution and the second president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Categories

Topics

Things you can do

Related portals

Wikipedias in languages found in China

粵語 / 广东话 (Cantonese)           古文 / 文言文 (Classical Chinese)           赣语 (Gan)           Hak-kâ-fa (Hakka)           قازاق تىلى (Kazakh)           中文 / 普通话 (Mandarin) (Now unable to access in China Mainland because of the GFW)           闽东语 (Min Dong)           闽南语 (Min-nan)           བོད་ཡིག (Tibetan)           ئۇيغۇرچە (Uyghur)           吴语 (Wu)           Sawcuengh (Zhuang)

Incubator
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Xiang (湘语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Pu-Xian Min (莆仙话) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Min Bei (闽北语)
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator lahu (拉祜族,拉祜语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Nuosu (彝族,彝语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator hmong (苗族,苗语)
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Bouyei (布依族,布依语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator manchu (满族,满语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Xong (苗族,湘西苗语)
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Daw (苗族,白苗苗语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator xibo (锡伯族,锡伯语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator salar (撒拉族,撒拉语)
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator цзинпо (景颇族,景颇语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Tai Nüa (傣族,德宏傣语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Amis (阿美族,阿美語)
Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator Western Yugur (裕固族,西部裕固语) Incubator-logo.svg wiki incubator northern tujia (土家族,北部土家语)


Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Wikibooks
Books

Commons
Media

Wikinews 
News

Wikiquote 
Quotations

Wikisource 
Texts

Wikiversity
Learning resources

Wikivoyage 
Travel guides

Wiktionary 
Definitions

Wikidata 
Database

Purge server cache