Category: Bible

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 19:14, 5 September 2019 by Svemir Brkic (talk | contribs)

For the civilization of China and its history see China

People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国
Anthem: "March of the Volunteers"
义勇军进行曲
Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngqǔ
Land controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled land shown in light green.
Land controlled by the People's Republic of China shown in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled land shown in light green.
CapitalBeijing[1]
Largest city Shanghai
Official language(s) Standard Chinese[2]
Portuguese (Macau only)
English (Hong Kong only)
Recognised regional languages Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang, various others
Official script Simplified Chinese[3]
Ethnic groups  91.51% Han
55 minorities
Demonym Chinese
Government Unitary one-party socialist republic[4][5]
 -  Party General Secretary
and President
Xi Jinping[6]
 -  Premier Li Keqiang
 -  Congress Chairman Li Zhanshu
 -  Conference Chairman Wang Yang
 -  First Secretary of the Party Secretariat Wang Huning
Legislature National People's Congress
Formation
 -  First pre-imperial dynasty c. 2070 B.C.E. 
 -  First imperial dynasty 221 B.C.E. 
 -  Republic established January 1, 1912 
 -  Proclamation of the People's Republic October 1, 1949 
 -  Current constitution December 4, 1982 
 -  Last polity admitted December 20, 1999 
Area
 -  Total 9,596,961 km2 [7](3rd/4th)
3,705,407 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) 2.8%[8]
Population
 -  2016 estimate Green Arrow Up (Darker).png1,403,500,365 (1st)
 -  2010 census 1,339,724,852[9] (1st)
 -  Density 148[10]/km2 (83rd)
373/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2019 estimate
 -  Total $27.331 trillion[11] (1st)
 -  Per capita $19,520[11] (73rd)
GDP (nominal) 2019 estimate
 -  Total $14.216 trillion[11] (2nd)
 -  Per capita $10,153[11] (67th)
Gini (2015[12]) 46.2 
HDI (2017[13]) 0.752 (86th)
Currency Renminbi (yuan; ¥)[14] (CNY)
Time zone China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Date formats yyyy-mm-dd
or yyyymd
(CE; CE-1949)
Drives on the right[15]
Internet TLD .cn, .中国, .中國
Calling code +86

The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially, often called China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; literally "Central State"), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third or fourth largest country by total area.[16] 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 has one of the world's oldest civilizations, dating back more than six millennia. 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 the majority of China, while the Kuomintang-led nationalist government retreated to the island of Taiwan. The political status of Taiwan remains disputed.

The PRC is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as it replaced the Republic of China 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 has been characterized as an emerging superpower, mainly because of its massive population, economy, and military.


Names

The official name of the modern state on mainland China is the "People's Republic of China" (Chinese: 中华人民共和国 pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó).

The word "China" has been used in English since the sixteenth century. It is not a word used by the Chinese people themselves. It has been traced through Portuguese, Malay, and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna, used in ancient India.

"China" appears in Richard Eden's 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[17] Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn (چین), which was in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna (चीन). Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata (fifth century B.C.E.) and the Laws of Manu (second century B.C.E.).

In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.E.). "Qin" is pronounced as "Chin" which is considered the possible root of the word "China."[18] The Qin Dynasty unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor" instead of "King." Therefore, the subsequent Silk Road traders might have identified themselves by that name. Although this derivation is still given in various sources, it is complicated by the fact that the Sanskrit word appears in pre-Qin literature.

Geography

Political geography

File:ROC Administrative and Claims.svg
Map showing the ROC and PRC claims

The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area[19] after Russia, and is either the third- or fourth-largest by total area, after Russia, Canada and, depending on the definition of total area, the United States.[20] China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km² (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km² (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,[21] to 9,596,961 km² (3,705,407 sq mi) according to CIA World Factbook.[8]

China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin.[8] China borders 14 nations, more than any other country except Russia, which also borders 14. China extends across much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan[22] in South Asia; Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Li River near Guilin, Guangxi

The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° E. China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast width. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border.[23] The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154m) in the Turpan Depression.[24]

Yinderitu Lake in the Badain Jaran Desert in Inner Mongolia

China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist.[25] The climate in China differs from region to region because of the country's highly complex topography.

Environmental issues

A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert.[26][27] Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of east Asia, including Korea and Japan. China's environmental watchdog, SEPA, stated in 2007 that China is losing 4,000 km² (1,500 sq mi) per year to desertification.[28] Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people.[29]
China apparently has a very good agriculturally suitable climate and has been the largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, brinjal, grapes, water melon, spinach in the world. [30]


In recent decades, China has suffered from severe environmental deterioration and pollution.[31][32] While regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, they are poorly enforced, as they are frequently disregarded by local communities and government officials in favor of rapid economic development.[33] Urban air pollution is a severe health issue in the country; the World Bank estimated in 2013 that 16 of the world's 20 most-polluted cities are located in China.[34] And China is the country with the highest death toll because of air pollution. There are 1.14 million deaths caused by exposure to ambient air pollution.[35] China is the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter.[36] The country also has significant water pollution problems: 40% of China's rivers had been polluted by industrial and agricultural waste by late 2011.[37] In 2014, the internal freshwater resources per capita of China reduced to 2,062m3, and it was below 500m3 in the North China Plain, while 5,920m3 in the world.[38][39][40]

In China, heavy metals also cause environmental pollution. Heavy metal pollution is an inorganic chemical hazard, which is mainly caused by lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni). Five metals among them, Pb, Cr, As, Cd, and Hg, are the key heavy metal pollutants in China. Heavy metal pollutants mainly come from mining, sewage irrigation, the manufacturing of metal-containing products, and other related production activities. High level of heavy metal exposure can also cause permanent intellectual and developmental disabilities, including reading and learning disabilities, behavioral problems, hearing loss, attention problems, and disruption in the development of visual and motor function. According to the data of a national census of pollution, China has more than 1.5 million sites of heavy metals exposure. The total volume of discharged heavy metals in the waste water, waste gas and solid wastes are around 900,000 tons each year from 2005–2011.[41]

The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.

However, China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization, with $52 billion invested in 2011 alone;[42][43][44] it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects.[45][46][47] By 2015, over 24% of China's energy was derived from renewable sources, while most notably from hydroelectric power: a total installed capacity of 197 GW makes China the largest hydroelectric power producer in the world.[48][49] China also has the largest power capacity of installed solar photovoltaics system and wind power system in the world.[50][51] In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to invest four trillion yuan (US$619 billion) in water infrastructure and desalination projects over a ten-year period, and to complete construction of a flood prevention and anti-drought system by 2020.[39][52] In 2013, China began a five-year, US$277 billion effort to reduce air pollution, particularly in the north of the country.[53]

History

China has one of the world's oldest civilizations, dating back more than six millennia. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system: Chinese characters. It is also said to be the source of some of the world's great inventions, including the Four Great Inventions of ancient China: paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

For more details on the history of Chinese civilizations, see History of China

Establishment of PRC and Maoism

On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of the Qing Dynasty.Revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China (CCP), led by Mao Zedong, controlled most of Mainland China. On October 1, 1949, they established the People's Republic of China (PRC), laying claim as the successor state of the ROC. The central government of the ROC was forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan.

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the PRC in 1949

Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of most of mainland China, and the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing its territory to only Taiwan, Hainan, and their surrounding islands. On 21 September 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China.[54][55][56] This was followed by a mass celebration in Tiananmen Square on 1 October, which became the new country's first National Day. In 1950, the People's Liberation Army captured Hainan from the ROC[57] and incorporated Tibet.[58] However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s.[59]

The regime consolidated its popularity among the peasants through land reform, which included the execution of between 1 and 2 million landlords.[60] China developed an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons.[61] The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974.[62] However, the Great Leap Forward, an idealistic massive reform project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 35 million deaths between 1958 and 1961, mostly from starvation.[63][64][65] In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval which lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council.[66]

Economic Development

After Mao's death, the Gang of Four was quickly arrested and held responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted significant economic reforms. The Party loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives, and the communes were gradually disbanded in favor of working contracted to households. This marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open-market environment.[67] China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, the violent suppression of student protests in Tiananmen Square brought sanctions against the Chinese government from various countries.[68]

Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji led the nation in the 1990s. Under their administration, China's economic performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.[69][70] The country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and maintained its high rate of economic growth under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao's leadership in the 2000s. However, the growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment,[71][72] and caused major social displacement.[73][74] Living standards continued to improve rapidly despite the late-2000s recession, but political control remained tight.[75]

Lifetime Leadership

Preparations for a decadal leadership change in 2012 were marked by factional disputes and political scandals.[76] During the 18th National Communist Party Congress in November 2012, Hu Jintao was replaced as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Xi Jinping.[77][78] Under Xi, the Chinese government began large-scale efforts to reform its economy,[79][80] which has suffered from structural instabilities and slowing growth.[81][82][83][84][85] The Xi–Li Administration also announced major reforms to the one-child policy and prison system.[86]

Politics

The Great Hall of the People
where the National People's Congress convenes
The Zhongnanhai, a headquarter of the Chinese government and Communist Party of China

China's constitution states that The People's Republic of China "is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants," and that the state organs "apply the principle of democratic centralism."[87] The PRC is one of the world's only socialist states openly endorsing communism. The Chinese government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian and corporatist,[88] with heavy restrictions in many areas, most notably against free access to the Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right to have children, free formation of social organizations and freedom of religion.[89] Its current political, ideological and economic system has been termed by its leaders as the "people's democratic dictatorship", "socialism with Chinese characteristics" (which is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances) and the "socialist market economy" respectively.[90]

Communist Party

Since 2018, the main body of the Chinese constitution declares that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)."[5] The 2018 amendments constitutionalized the de facto one-party state status of China,[5] wherein the General Secretary (party leader) holds ultimate power and authority over state and government and serves as the paramount leader of China.[91] The electoral system is pyramidal. Local People's Congresses are directly elected, and higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National People's Congress (NPC) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below.[92] The political system is decentralized, and provincial and sub-provincial leaders have a significant amount of autonomy.[93] Another eight political parties, have representatives in the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).[94] China supports the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism",[95] but critics describe the elected National People's Congress as a "rubber stamp" body.[96]

Government

File:Xi Jinping in 2016.jpg
Xi Jinping
General Secretary
and President

The President is the titular head of state, elected by the National People's Congress. The Premier is the head of government, presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers and the heads of ministries and commissions. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China's paramount leader. The incumbent premier is Li Keqiang, who is also a senior member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body.[97][77]

There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are now held at the village and town levels.[98][99] However, the party retains effective control over government appointments: in the absence of meaningful opposition, the CPC wins by default most of the time. Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption.[100] Nonetheless, the level of public support for the government and its management of the nation is high, with 80–95% of Chinese citizens expressing satisfaction with the central government, according to a 2011 survey.[101]

Administrative divisions

A map of the People Republic of China, with province names in English

The People's Republic of China is divided into 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, each with a designated minority group; four municipalities; and two special administrative regions (SARs) which enjoy a degree of political autonomy. These 31 provincial-level divisions can be collectively referred to as "mainland China", a term which usually excludes two SARs of Hong Kong and Macau. Geographically, all 31 provincial divisions can be grouped into six regions, including North China, Northeast China, East China, South Central China, Southwest China and Northwest China.

China considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province, although Taiwan is governed by the Republic of China, which rejects the PRC's claim.[102] None of the divisions are recognized by the ROC government, which claims the entirety of the PRC's territory.

Foreign relations

File:G20 Argentina 2018.jpg
Chinese President Xi Jinping and G20 leaders in Buenos Aires, 2018.

The PRC has diplomatic relations with 175 countries and maintains embassies in 162. Its legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest and most populous state with limited recognition. In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[103] China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.[104] Along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS group of emerging major economies and hosted the group's third official summit at Sanya, Hainan in April 2011.[105]

Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, Beijing has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the government of the Republic of China. Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan,[106] especially in the matter of armament sales.[107]

Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences.[108] This policy may have led China to support states that are regarded as dangerous or repressive by Western nations, such as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran.[109] China has a close economic and military relationship with Russia,[110] and the two states often vote in unison in the UN Security Council.[111][112][113]

Trade relations

File:Russia and China sign major gas deal.jpeg
On 21 May 2014, China and Russia signed a $400 billion gas deal. Starting 2019, Russia plans to provide natural gas to China for the next 30 years.

In recent decades, China has played an increasing role in calling for free trade areas and security pacts amongst its Asia-Pacific neighbours. China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 11 December 2001. In 2004, it proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues.[114] The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit in 2005. China is also a founding member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), along with Russia and the Central Asian republics.

China has had a long and complex trade relationship with the United States. In 2000, the United States Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries.[115] China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most important export market.[116] In the early 2010s, US politicians argued that the Chinese yuan was significantly undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage.[117][118][119]

Since the turn of the century, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation;[120][121][122] in 2012, Sino-African trade totalled over US$160 billion.[123] China maintains healthy and highly diversified trade links with the European Union. China has furthermore strengthened its ties with major South American economies, becoming the largest trading partner of Brazil and building strategic links with Argentina.[124][125]

Territorial disputes

Map depicting territorial disputes between the PRC and neighbouring states. For a larger map, see here.

Ever since its establishment after the second Chinese Civil War, the PRC has claimed the territories governed by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity today commonly known as Taiwan, as a part of its territory. It regards the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Matsu as a part of Fujian Province and islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as a part of Hainan Province and Guangdong Province. These claims are controversial because of the complicated Cross-Strait relations, with the PRC treating the One-China policy as one of its most important diplomatic principles.[126]

In addition to Taiwan, China is also involved in other international territorial disputes. Since the 1990s, China has been involved in negotiations to resolve its disputed land borders, including a disputed border with India and an undefined border with Bhutan. China is additionally involved in multilateral disputes over the ownership of several small islands in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku Islands and the Scarborough Shoal.[127][128] On 21 May 2014 Xi Jinping, speaking at a conference in Shanghai, pledged to settle China's territorial disputes peacefully. "China stays committed to seeking peaceful settlement of disputes with other countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests", he said.[129]

Emerging superpower status

China is regularly hailed as a potential new superpower, with certain commentators citing its rapid economic progress, growing military might, very large population, and increasing international influence as signs that it will play a prominent global role in the 21st century.[130][131] Others, however, warn that economic bubbles and demographic imbalances could slow or even halt China's growth as the century progresses.[132][133] Some authors also question the definition of "superpower", arguing that China's large economy alone would not qualify it as a superpower, and noting that it lacks the military power and cultural influence of the United States.[134]

Sociopolitical issues, human rights and reform

March in memory of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo who died of organ failure while in government custody in 2017

The Chinese democracy movement, social activists, and some members of the Communist Party of China have all identified the need for social and political reform. While economic and social controls have been significantly relaxed in China since the 1970s, political freedom is still tightly restricted. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights" of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, in practice, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the state.[135][136] Although some criticisms of government policies and the ruling Communist Party are tolerated, censorship of political speech and information, most notably on the Internet,[137][138] are routinely used to prevent collective action.[139] By 2020, China plans to give all its citizens a personal "Social Credit" score based on how they behave.[140] The Social Credit System, now being piloted in a number of Chinese cities, is considered a form of mass surveillance which uses big data analysis technology.[141][142] In 2005, Reporters Without Borders ranked China 159th out of 167 states in its Annual World Press Freedom Index, indicating a very low level of press freedom.[143] In 2014, China ranked 175th out of 180 countries.[144]

Rural migrants to China's cities often find themselves treated as second class citizens by the hukou household registration system, which controls access to state benefits.[145][146] Property rights are often poorly protected,[145] However, a number of rural taxes have been reduced or abolished since the early 2000s, and additional social services provided to rural dwellers.[147][148]

A number of foreign governments, foreign press agencies, and NGOs also routinely criticize China's human rights record, alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention without trial, forced abortions,[149] forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights,[89][150] and excessive use of the death penalty.[151][152] The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to "social stability", as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Candlelight vigil on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests

Falun Gong was first taught publicly in 1992. In 1999, when there were 70 million practitioners,[153] the persecution of Falun Gong began, resulting in mass arrests, extralegal detention, and reports of torture and deaths in custody.[154][155] The Chinese state is regularly accused of large-scale repression and human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, including violent police crackdowns and religious suppression.[156][157] At least 120,000 members of China's Muslim Uyghur minority have been detained in mass detention camps, termed "reeducation camps", aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities, and their religious beliefs.[158] In January 2019 the United Nations asked for direct access to the detention camps after a panel said it had received “credible reports” that 1.1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs, Hui and other ethnic minorities had been detained in the Xinjiang re-education camps.[159] The state has even sought to control offshore reporting of tensions in Xinjiang, intimidating foreign-based reporters by detaining their family members.[160]

The Chinese government has responded to foreign criticism by arguing that the right to subsistence and economic development is a prerequisite to other types of human rights, and that the notion of human rights should take into account a country's present level of economic development.[161] It emphasizes the rise in the Chinese standard of living, literacy rate, and average life expectancy since the 1970s, as well as improvements in workplace safety and efforts to combat natural disasters such as the perennial Yangtze River floods.[161][162][163] Furthermore, some Chinese politicians have spoken out in support of democratization, although others remain more conservative.[164] Some major reform efforts have been conducted. For instance, in November 2013 the government announced plans to relax the one-child policy and abolish the much-criticized re-education through labour program,[86] although human rights groups note that reforms to the latter have been largely cosmetic.[154] During the 2000s and early 2010s, the Chinese government was increasingly tolerant of NGOs that offer practical, efficient solutions to social problems, but such "third sector" activity remained heavily regulated.[165]

File:Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest (48108594957).jpg
2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests

The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people were living in "conditions of modern slavery", or 0.25% of the population, including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, and state-imposed forced labor. All except the last category are illegal. The state-imposed forced system was formally abolished in 2013 but it is not clear the extent to which its various practices have stopped.[166] The Chinese penal system includes labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps, which fall under the heading Laogai ("reform through labor"). The Laogai Research Foundation in the United States estimated that there were over a thousand slave labour prisons and camps, known collectively as the Laogai.[167] Prisoners are not paid at all, and need their families to send money to them. Prisoners who refuse to work are beaten, and some are beaten to death. Many of the prisoners are political or religious dissidents, and some are recognized internationally as prisoners of conscience. A Chinese leader said that they want to see two products coming out of the prisons: the man who has been reformed, and the product made by the man. Harry Wu, himself a former prisoner of the Laogai, filmed undercover footage of the Laogai, and was charged with stealing state secrets. For this, Harry Wu was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but only served 66 days before being deported to the United States.[168][169][170]

In 2019 a world-first study called for the mass retraction of more than 400 scientific papers on organ transplantation, because of fears the organs were obtained unethically from Chinese prisoners. The study was published in the medical journal BMJ Open. A report published in 2016 found a large discrepancy between official transplant figures from the Chinese government and the number of transplants reported by hospitals. While the government says 10,000 transplants occur each year, hospital data shows between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are transplanted each year. The report provided evidence that this gap is being made up by executed prisoners of conscience.[171]

Military

File:Vostok-2018 military manoeuvres (2018-09-13) 51.jpg
Chinese, Russian and Mongolian national flags set on armored vehicles during the large-scale military exercise Vostok 2018 in Eastern Siberia

With 2.3 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC).[172] China has the second-biggest military reserve force, only behind North Korea. The PLA consists of the Ground Force (PLAGF), the Navy (PLAN), the Air Force (PLAAF), and the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF). According to the Chinese government, China's military budget for 2017 totalled US$151.5 billion, constituting the world's second-largest military budget, although the military expenditures-GDP ratio with 1.3% of GDP is below world average.[173] However, many authorities – including SIPRI and the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense – argue that China does not report its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher than the official budget.[173][174]

File:Aircraft Carrier Liaoning CV-16.jpg
Aircraft carrier Liaoning a Type 001 aircraft carrier and the first aircraft carrier commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force

As a recognized nuclear weapons state, China is considered both a major regional military power and a potential military superpower.[175] According to a 2013 report by the US Department of Defense, China fields between 50 and 75 nuclear ICBMs, along with a number of SRBMs.[176] However, compared with the other four UN Security Council Permanent Members, China has relatively limited power projection capabilities.[177] To offset this, it has developed numerous power projection assets since the early 2000s – its first aircraft carrier entered service in 2012,[178][179][180] and it maintains a substantial fleet of submarines, including several nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines.[181] China has furthermore established a network of foreign military relationships along critical sea lanes.[182]

A PLA air force Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter aircraft

China has made significant progress in modernising its air force in recent decades, purchasing Russian fighter jets such as the Sukhoi Su-30, and also manufacturing its own modern fighters, most notably the Chengdu J-10, J-20 and the Shenyang J-11, J-15, J-16, and J-31.[178][183] China is furthermore engaged in developing an indigenous stealth aircraft and numerous combat drones.[184][185][186] Air and Sea denial weaponry advances have increased the regional threat from the perspective of Japan as well as Washington.[187][188] China has also updated its ground forces, replacing its ageing Soviet-derived tank inventory with numerous variants of the modern Type 99 tank, and upgrading its battlefield C3I and C4I systems to enhance its network-centric warfare capabilities.[189] In addition, China has developed or acquired numerous advanced missile systems,[190][191] including anti-satellite missiles,[192] cruise missiles[193] and submarine-launched nuclear ICBMs.[194] According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's data, China became the world's third largest exporter of major arms in 2010–14, an increase of 143 percent from the period 2005–09.[195] Chinese officials stated that spending on the military will rise to U.S. $173B in 2018. fox

In August 2018, China tested its first hypersonic flight. The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) claims to have successfully conducted the test with the aircraft Starry Sky-2 that touched a speed of Mach 6 – which is six times the speed of sound, that can carry nuclear missiles.[196]

Economy

File:Graph of Major Developing Economies by Real GDP per capita at PPP 1990-2013.png
China and other major developing economies by GDP per capita at purchasing-power parity, 1990–2013. The rapid economic growth of China (blue) is readily apparent.[197]

China had the largest economy in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline.[198][199] As of 2018, China had the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, totaling approximately US$13.5 trillion (90 trillion Yuan).[200] In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP GDP), China's economy has been the largest in the world since 2014, according to the World Bank.[201] Since economic reforms began in 1978, China has developed into a highly diversified economy and one of the most consequential players in international trade. Major sectors of competitive strength include manufacturing, retail, mining, steel, textiles, automobiles, energy generation, green energy, banking, electronics, telecommunications, real estate, e-commerce, and tourism. China has been the world's #1 manufacturer since 2010, after overtaking the US, which had been #1 for the previous hundred years.[202][203] China has also been #2 in high-tech manufacturing since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation.[204] China is the second largest retail market in the world, next to the United States.[205] China leads the world in e-commerce, accounting for 40% of the global market share.[206] China is the leader in electric vehicles, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars (BEV and PHEV) in the world in 2018.[207] China had 174 GW of installed solar capacity by the end of 2018, which amounts to more than 40% of the global capacity.[208][209]

File:Lujiazui tallest buildings.jpg
Shanghai World Financial Center, Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai Tower, Lujiazui

China has been the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP since 2010.[210] In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP, China's economy has been the largest in the world since 2014.[211][212] As of 2018, China was second in the world in total number of billionaires and millionaires—there were 338 Chinese billionaires[213] and 3.5 million millionaires.[214] However, it ranks behind over 70 countries (out of around 180) in per capita economic output, making it a middle income country.[215] Additionally, its development is highly uneven. Its major cities and coastal areas are far more prosperous compared to rural and interior regions.[216] China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history[217]—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million. China reduced the extreme poverty rate—per international standard, it refers to an income of less than $1.90/day—from 88% in 1981 to 1.85% by 2013.[218] According to the World Bank, the number of Chinese in extreme poverty fell from 756 million to 25 million between 1990 and 2013.[219] China's own national poverty standards are higher and thus the national poverty rates were 3.1% in 2017[220] and 1% in 2018.[221]

Economic history and growth

People's Bank of China in Beijing is the central bank of the People's Republic of China.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange building in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district. Shanghai has the 25th-largest city GDP in the world, totalling US$304 billion in 2011.[222]
The headquarters of the oil company Sinopec in Beijing. Sinopec was China's largest and the world's third-largest company by revenue in 2014, with a total annual revenue of over US$450 billion.[223]
Headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou. Alibaba is the world's largest retailer and e-commerce company, one of the largest Internet and AI companies.

From its founding in 1949 until late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and unprofitable ones were closed outright, resulting in massive job losses. Modern-day China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership,[224] and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism.[225][226] The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.[227][228][229][230] In 2018, private enterprises in China accounted for 60% of GDP, 80% of urban employment and 90% of new jobs.[231]

In 2015, China's Middle Class became the largest in the world.[232] Since economic liberalization began in 1978, China has been among the world's fastest-growing economies,[233] relying largely on investment- and export-led growth.[234][235][236] According to the IMF, China's annual average GDP growth between 2001 and 2010 was 10.5%. In the years immediately following the financial crisis of 2007, China's economic growth rate was equivalent to all of the G7 countries' growth combined.[237] According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by Citigroup in February 2011, China has a very high 3G growth rating.[238] Its high productivity, low labor costs and relatively good infrastructure have made it a global leader in manufacturing. China ranks #1 in the production of steel, aluminum and automobiles—China's global market shares are 50% in steel,[239] 50% in aluminum[240] and 30% in automobile manufacturing.[241] China has also been increasingly turning to automation, becoming the world's largest market for industrial robots in 2013. Between 2010 and 2015, China installed 90,000 industrial robots, or one-third of the world's total.[242] In 2017, China bought 36% of all the new industrial robots in the world.[243] China's plan is to also domestically design and manufacture 100,000 industrial robots by 2020.[244] However, the Chinese economy is highly energy-intensive and inefficient;[245] China became the world's largest energy consumer in 2010,[246] relies on coal to supply over 70% of its energy needs, and surpassed the US to become the world's largest oil importer in 2013.[247][248] In the last decade, China has become #1 in the world in terms of installed solar power capacity, hydro-power and wind power. According to the World Economic Forum, China will account for 40% of the global renewable energy by 2022.[249] In addition, official GDP figures are seen as unreliable and there have been several well-publicized cases of data manipulation.[250][251][252] In the early 2010s, China's economic growth rate began to slow amid domestic credit troubles, weakening international demand for Chinese exports and fragility in the global economy.[253][254][255] China's GDP was smaller than Germany's in 2007; however, by 2017, China's $12.2 trillion-economy became larger than those of Germany, UK, France and Italy combined.[256] In 2018, the IMF reiterated its forecast that China will overtake the US in terms of nominal GDP by the year 2030.[257] Economists also expect China's middle class to expand to 600 million people by 2025.[258]

Tourism is a major contributor to the economy. In 2017, this sector contributed about CNY 8.77 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), 11.04% of the GDP, and contributed direct and indirect employment of up to 28.25 million people. There were 139.48 million inbound trips and five billion domestic trips.[259][260] China is now #1 in the number of skyscrapers (buildings taller than 200m), accounting for about 50% of world's total.[261] In four years—2015 through 2018—China built 310 skyscrapers, while the corresponding number for the US was 33.[262][263][264][265]

Hi-Tech Industry in China

China is the world's largest e-commerce market, amounting to 42% of the global market by 2016 [266] and is expected to account for 55% of global e-commerce retail sales in 2019 (more than three times as large as the US market).[267] China's e-commerce market had online sales of more than $1 trillion in 2018, according to PWC[268] and is expected to be just under $2 trillion in 2019.[269] China's e-commerce industry took off in 2009, marked by the growth of internet giants Tencent Alibaba – purveyors of products such as WeChat and Tmall that have become ubiquitous in contemporary Chinese life. Tencent's WeChat Pay and Alibaba's Ali Pay have helped China become a world leader in mobile payments, which amounted to about $30 trillion in China in 2017 and more than $40 trillion in 2018.[270][271]

China is also second only to the United States in venture capital activity and is home to a large number of unicorn startup companies.[272][273] In 2018, China attracted $105 billion of venture capital investments, amounting to 38% of global VC investments that year.[274] In late 2018, the world's most valuable startup was ByteDance, a Chinese company;[275] and the two most valuable AI (Artificial Intelligence) startups in the world were SenseTime and Face++, both from China.[276] In 2017, China's State Council released its Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, which declared AI technology a priority economic growth and investment sector.[277] In 2018, China created 97 "unicorns" – startups that are worth more than $1 billion – which amounted to 1 unicorn every 3.8 days.[278] Chinese smartphone brands – Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus etc. – have captured more than 40% of the global market.[279][280] In 2018, Huawei became the largest telecom infrastructure provider and also took the #2 spot from Apple as a smartphone vendor.[281]

China in the global economy

Share of world GDP (PPP)[282]
Year Share
1980 2.32%
1990 4.11%
2000 7.40%
2010 13.89%
2018 18.72%

China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international trade value of US$4.62 trillion in 2018.[283][284] Its foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.1 trillion as of 2019,[285] making its reserves by far the world's largest.[286][287] In 2012, China was the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $253 billion.[288] In 2014, China's foreign exchange remittances were $US64 billion making it the second largest recipient of remittances in the world.[289] China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $62.4 billion in 2012,[288] and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies.[290] China is a major owner of US public debt, holding trillions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury bonds.[291][292] China's undervalued exchange rate has caused friction with other major economies,[118][293][294] and it has also been widely criticized for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods.[295][296]

Largest economies by nominal GDP in 2018[297]

China ranks 17th in the world in Global Innovation Index, not too far from the US, which ranks #6.[298] China ranks 27th out of 137 countries in the 2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Index,[299] above many advanced economies and making it by far the most competitive major emerging economy. This is largely owing to its strength in infrastructure and wide adoption of communication and information technology. However, it lags behind advanced economies in labor market efficiency, institutional strength, and openness of market competition, especially for foreign players attempting to enter the domestic market.[300] In 2018, Fortune's Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations included 120 Chinese companies.[223] Many of the largest public companies in the world were Chinese, including the world's largest bank by total assets, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.[301]

Following the 2007-8 financial crisis, Chinese authorities sought to actively wean off of its dependence on the U.S. Dollar as a result of perceived weaknesses of the international monetary system.[302] To achieve those ends, China took a series of actions to further the internationalization of the Renminbi. In 2008, China established dim sum bond market and expanded the Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity.[303][304] This was followed with bilateral agreements to settle trades directly in renminbi with Russia,[305] Japan,[306] Australia,[307] Singapore,[308] the United Kingdom,[309] and Canada.[310] As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the eighth-most-traded currency in the world, an emerging international reserve currency,[311] and a component of the IMF's special drawing rights; however, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, Dollar and Japanese Yen in international trade volumes.[312]

Class and income inequality

China has had the world's largest middle class population since 2015,[313] and the middle class grew to a size of 400 million by 2018.[314] China's middle-class population (if defined as those with annual income of between US$10,000 and US$60,000) had reached more than 300 million by 2012.[315] Wages in China have grown exponentially in the last 40 years—real wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007.[316] By 2018, median wages in Chinese cities such as Shanghai were about the same as or higher than the wages in Eastern European countries.[317] More than 75 percent of China's urban consumers are expected to earn between 60.000 and 229.000 RMB per year by 2022.[318] China has the world's second-highest number of billionaires, with nearly 400 as of 2018, increasing at the rate of roughly two per week.[319][320] China's domestic retail market was worth over 20 trillion yuan (US$3.2 trillion) in 2012[321] and is growing at over 12% annually as of 2013,[322] while the country's luxury goods market has expanded immensely, with 27.5% of the global share.[323] However, in recent years, China's rapid economic growth has contributed to severe consumer inflation,[324][325] leading to increased government regulation.[326] China has a high level of economic inequality,[327] which has increased in the past few decades.[328] In 2012, China's official Gini coefficient was 0.474.[329][330] A study conducted by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics showed that China's Gini coefficient actually had reached 0.61 in 2012, and top 1% Chinese held more than 25% of China's wealth.[331] In comparison, the Top 1% of Americans held 40% of the wealth.[332][333]

Science and technology

After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning.[334] After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology was established as one of the Four Modernizations,[335] and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.[336]

Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen. Huawei is the world's largest telecoms-equipment-maker and the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world.[337]

Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research[338] and is quickly catching up with the US in R&D spending.[339] In 2017, China spent $279 billion on scientific research and development.[340] According to OECD, China spent 2.11% of its GDP on Research and Development (R&D) in 2016.[341] Science and technology are seen as vital for achieving China's economic and political goals, and are held as a source of national pride to a degree sometimes described as "techno-nationalism".[342] Nonetheless, China's investment in basic and applied scientific research remains behind that of leading technological powers such as the United States and Japan.[338][343] According to the US National Science Board, China had, for the first time, more science and engineering publications than the US, in 2016.[344] Also, in 2016, China spent $409 billion (by PPP) on Research and Development.[345] In 2018, China is estimated to have spent $475 billion (by PPP), second only to the USA.[346] In 2017, China was #2 in international patents application, behind the US but ahead of Japan.[347] Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE were the top 2 filers of international patents in 2017.[348][349] Chinese-born scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physics four times, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine once respectively, though most of these scientists conducted their Nobel-winning research in western nations.[lower-alpha 1]

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, one of the first Chinese spaceport

China is developing its education system with an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); in 2009, China graduated over 10,000 Ph.D. engineers, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.[355] In 2016, there were 4.7 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) graduates in China, which was more than eight times the corresponding number for the US.[356] China also became the world's largest publisher of scientific papers, by 2016.[357] Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing,[358][359][360] and Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful.[361][362] China is also expanding its use of industrial robots; from 2008 to 2011, the installation of multi-role robots in Chinese factories rose by 136 percent.[363]

The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active, and is a major source of national pride.[364][365] In 2018, China successfully launched more satellites (35) than any other country, including the USA (30).[366] In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth country to do so independently.[367] In 2003, China became the third country to independently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; as of 2015, ten Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women. In 2011, China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, was launched, marking the first step in a project to assemble a large manned station by the early 2020s.[368] In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover onto the lunar surface; China plans to collect lunar soil samples by 2017.[369] In 2016, China's 2nd space station module, Tiangong-2, was launched from Jiuquan aboard a Long March 2F rocket on 15 September 2016. Then Shenzhou 11 successfully docked with Tiangong-2 on 19 October 2016. In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the moon.

Infrastructure

A 2016 report by McKinsey consulting group, revealed that China has been annually spending more on infrastructure than North America and Western Europe combined.[370][371]

Telecommunications

File:P1994-2011.gif
Internet penetration rates in East Asian and Chinese Regions 1995–2012

China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1.5 billion subscribers, as of 2018.[372] It also has the world's largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 800 million Internet users as of 2018—equivalent to around 60% of its population—and almost all of them being mobile as well.[373] Almost entire China's population had access to 4G network by 2017.[374] By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total.[375][376] In terms of unique mobile subscribers as percentage of population, China came in at 82%, placing the country #3 in the world (as of 2018).[377] As of early 2019, the average mobile connection speed in China was 30 Mbit/s (megabits per second),[378] which is 9% slower than the US.[379] As for fixed broadband in China, the average download speed was 76 Mbit/s;[380] and 60% of fixed broadband Chinese users (or 200 million Chinese households) were able to access the Internet at 100 Mbit/s or higher (as of 2018).[381][382][383] China is making rapid progress in 1 Gbit/s (1000 Mbit/s) internet, and 42% of Chinese homes are expected to have 1 Gbit/s broadband link by 2023.[384] In 2018, China had 378 million fixed broadband users and 87% of them were fiber-optic users, making China #1 in the world in deployment of fiber-optic cables for broadband.[385] By the end of 2017, China had 29 million kilometers of fiber-optic cable.[386] In 2019, China is expected to account for 24% of the world's spending on IoT or internet-connected devices.[387] Since 2011 China has been the nation with the most installed telecommunication bandwidth in the world. By 2014, China hosted more than twice as much national bandwidth potential than the U.S., the historical leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth (China: 29% versus US:13% of the global total).[388] China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials.[389] In early 2019, Shanghai railway station introduced 5G WiFi that has an internet speed of 1,200 Mbit/s.[390][391]

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the biggest of them all, had 925 million users, as of 2018.[392][393][394] Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China.[385] Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.[395] British intelligence—GCHQ and NCSC—said in 2019 that there have been no evidence of malicious activity or spying by Huawei.[396][397]

China is developing its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012[398] and it started providing global services by the end of 2018.[399][400] Now China belongs to the elite group of three countries—US and Russia being the other two members—that provide global satellite navigation.

Transport

The Duge Bridge is the highest bridge in the world.

Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of national highways and expressways. In 2018, China's highways had reached a total length of 142,500 km (88,500 mi), making it the longest highway system in the world;[401] and China's railways reached a total length of 127,000 km by 2017.[402] By the end of 2018, China's high-speed railway network reached a length of 29,000 km, representing more than 60% of the world's total.[403] In 1991, there were only six bridges across the main stretch of the Yangtze River, which bisects the country into northern and southern halves. By October 2014, there were 81 such bridges and tunnels. China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. Sales of passenger cars in 2016 exceeded 24 million.[404] A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents,[405] with poorly enforced traffic laws cited as a possible cause—in 2011 alone, around 62,000 Chinese died in road accidents.[406] However, the Chinese government has taken a lot of steps to address this problem and has reduced the number of fatalities in traffic accidents by 20% from 2007 to 2017.[407] In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2012, there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China.[408]

File:PEKT3E.jpg
Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport is the 2nd-largest airport terminal in the world.

China's railways, which are state-owned, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006.[409][410] as of 2017, the country had 127,000 km (78,914 mi) of railways, the second longest network in the world.[411][412] The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when the world's largest annual human migration takes place.[410] In 2013, Chinese railways delivered 2.106 billion passenger trips, generating 1,059.56 billion passenger-kilometers and carried 3.967 billion tons of freight, generating 2,917.4 billion cargo tons-kilometers.[411]

China's high-speed rail (HSR) system started construction in the early 2000s. By the end of 2018, high speed rail in China had over 29,000 kilometers (18,020 mi) of dedicated lines alone, a length that exceeds rest of the world's high-speed rail tracks combined, making it the longest HSR network in the world.[413] With an annual ridership of over 1.1 billion passengers in 2015 it is the world's busiest.[414] The network includes the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, the single longest HSR line in the world, and the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which has three of longest railroad bridges in the world.[415] The HSR track network is set to reach approximately 30,000 km (19,000 mi) by the end of 2019.[416][417] The Shanghai Maglev Train, which reaches 431 km/h (268 mph), is the fastest commercial train service in the world.[418] In May 2019, China released a prototype for a maglev high-speed train that would reach a speed of 600 km/hr (375 mph); and it's expected to go into commercial production by 2021.[419]

The fastest train service measured by peak operational speed is the Shanghai Maglev Train which can reach 431 km/h (268 mph).

Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated. As of January 2016, 26 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation and 39 more have metro systems approved[420] with a dozen more to join them by 2020.[421] The Shanghai Metro, Beijing Subway, Guangzhou Metro, Hong Kong MTR and Shenzhen Metro are among the longest and busiest in the world.

File:West section of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (20180902174105).jpg
The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge is the longest sea crossing and the longest fixed link on earth.

There were approximately 229 airports in 2017, with around 240 planned by 2020. More than two-thirds of the airports under construction worldwide in 2013 were in China,[422] and Boeing expects that China's fleet of active commercial aircraft in China will grow from 1,910 in 2011 to 5,980 in 2031.[422] In just five years—from 2013 to 2018—China bought 1000 planes from Boeing.[423] With rapid expansion in civil aviation, the largest airports in China have also joined the ranks of the busiest in the world. In 2018, Beijing's Capital Airport ranked second in the world by passenger traffic (it was 26th in 2002). Since 2010, the Hong Kong International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport have ranked first and third in air cargo tonnage.

Some 80% of China's airspace remains restricted for military use, and Chinese airlines made up eight of the 10 worst-performing Asian airlines in terms of delays.[424] China has over 2,000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping. In 2017, the Ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Tianjin ranked in the Top 10 in the world in container traffic and cargo tonnage.[425]

The Port of Shanghai's deep water harbor on Yangshan Island in the Hangzhou Bay is from 2010 the world's busiest container port.
The Port of Shanghai's deep water harbor on Yangshan Island in the Hangzhou Bay is from 2010 the world's busiest container port.

Water supply and sanitation

Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in China is facing challenges such as rapid urbanization, as well as water scarcity, contamination, and pollution.[426] According to data presented by the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF in 2015, about 36% of the rural population in China still did not have access to improved sanitation.[427] In June 2010, there were 1,519 sewage treatment plants in China and 18 plants were added each week.[428] The ongoing South–North Water Transfer Project intends to abate water shortage in the north.[429]

Demographics

File:PRC Population Density.svg
A 2009 population density map of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. The eastern coastal provinces are much more densely populated than the western interior.
File:China population.svg
Population of China from 1960 to 2017

The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China as approximately 1,370,536,875. About 16.60% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 70.14% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% were over 60 years old.[430] The population growth rate for 2013 is estimated to be 0.46%.[431]

China used to make up much of the world's poor; now China makes up much of the world's middle class.[432] Although a middle-income country by Western standards, China's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions—800 million, to be more precise[433]—of its people out of poverty since 1978. By 2013, less than 2% of the Chinese population lived below the international poverty line of US$1.9 per day, down from 88% in 1981.[218] China's own standards for poverty are higher and still the country is on its way to eradicate national poverty completely by 2019.[434] From 2009–2018, the unemployment rate in China has averaged about 4%.[435]

Given concerns about population growth, China implemented a two-child limit during the 1970s, and, in 1979, began to advocate for an even stricter limit of one child per family. Beginning in the mid 1980s, however, given the unpopularity of the strict limits, China began to allow some major exemptions, particularly in rural areas, resulting in what was actually a "1.5"-child policy from the mid-1980s to 2015 (ethnic minorities were also exempt from one child limits). The next major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child.[436] In 2016, the one-child policy was replaced in favor of a two-child policy.[437] Data from the 2010 census implies that the total fertility rate may be around 1.4, although due to underreporting of births it may be closer to 1.5–1.6.[438]

According to one group of scholars, one-child limits had little effect on population growth[439] or the size of the total population.[440] However, these scholars have been challenged. Their own counterfactual model of fertility decline without such restrictions implies that China averted more than 500 million births between 1970 and 2015, a number which may reach one billion by 2060 given all the lost descendants of births averted during the era of fertility restrictions, with one-child restrictions accounting for the great bulk of that reduction.[441]

The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may have contributed to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth.[442][443] According to the 2010 census, the sex ratio at birth was 118.06 boys for every 100 girls,[444] which is beyond the normal range of around 105 boys for every 100 girls.[445] The 2010 census found that males accounted for 51.27 percent of the total population.[444] However, China's sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.82 percent of the total population.[444]

Ethnic groups

File:China Post logo with (New) Tai Lü script in Mohan, Yunnan.jpg
A trilingual sign in Sibsongbanna, with Tai Lü language on the top

China legally recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, who altogether comprise the Zhonghua Minzu. The largest of these nationalities are the Han Chinese, who constitute about 91.51% of the total population.[9] The Han Chinese – the world's largest single ethnic group[446] – outnumber other ethnic groups in every provincial-level division except Tibet and Xinjiang.[447] Ethnic minorities account for about 8.49% of the population of China, according to the 2010 census.[9] Compared with the 2000 population census, the Han population increased by 66,537,177 persons, or 5.74%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined increased by 7,362,627 persons, or 6.92%.[9] The 2010 census recorded a total of 593,832 foreign nationals living in China. The largest such groups were from South Korea (120,750), the United States (71,493) and Japan (66,159).[448]

Languages

1990 map of Chinese ethnolinguistic groups

There are as many as 292 living languages in China.[449] The languages most commonly spoken belong to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which contains Mandarin (spoken by 70% of the population),[450] and other varieties of Chinese language: Yue (including Cantonese and Taishanese), Wu (including Shanghainese and Suzhounese), Min (including Fuzhounese, Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch, including Tibetan, Qiang, Naxi and Yi, are spoken across the Tibetan and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages in southwest China include Zhuang, Thai, Dong and Sui of the Tai-Kadai family, Miao and Yao of the Hmong–Mien family, and Wa of the Austroasiatic family. Across northeastern and northwestern China, local ethnic groups speak Altaic languages including Manchu, Mongolian and several Turkic languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Salar and Western Yugur. Korean is spoken natively along the border with North Korea. Sarikoli, the language of Tajiks in western Xinjiang, is an Indo-European language. Taiwanese aborigines, including a small population on the mainland, speak Austronesian languages.[451]

Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.[452]

Chinese characters have been used as the written script for the Sinitic languages for thousands of years. They allow speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese varieties to communicate with each other through writing. In 1956, the government introduced simplified characters, which have supplanted the older traditional characters in mainland China. Chinese characters are romanized using the Pinyin system. Tibetan uses an alphabet based on an Indic script. Uyghur is most commonly written in Persian alphabet based Uyghur Arabic alphabet. The Mongolian script used in China and the Manchu script are both derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet. Zhuang uses both an official Latin alphabet script and a traditional Chinese character script.

Urbanization

Map of the ten largest cities in China (2010)

China has urbanized significantly in recent decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 55% in 2016.[453][454][455][456] It is estimated that China's urban population will reach one billion by 2030, potentially equivalent to one-eighth of the world population.[454][455] As of 2012, there are more than 262 million migrant workers in China, mostly rural migrants seeking work in cities.[457]

China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million,[458] including the seven megacities (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Wuhan.[459][460][461] By 2025, it is estimated that the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[454] The figures in the table below are from the 2010 census,[462] and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[463] the figures below include only long-term residents. Template:Largest cities of China

Education

File:13 Peking University.jpg
Beijing's Peking University, one of the top-ranked universities in China[464]

Since 1986, compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years.[465] In 2010, about 82.5 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school.[466] The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. In 2010, 27 percent of secondary school graduates are enrolled in higher education.[467] This number increased significantly over the last years, reaching a tertiary school enrollment of 48.4 percent in 2016.[468] Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level.[469]

In February 2006, the government pledged to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees.[470] Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$250 billion in 2011.[471] However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, only totalled ¥3,204.[472] Free compulsory education in China consists of primary school and junior secondary school between the ages of 6 and 15. In 2011, around 81.4% of Chinese have received secondary education.[473] By 2007, there were 396,567 primary schools, 94,116 secondary schools, and 2,236 higher education institutions in China.[474]

As of 2010, 94% of the population over age 15 are literate.[475] In 1949, only 20% of the population could read, compared to 65.5% thirty years later.[476] In 2009, Chinese students from Shanghai achieved the world's best results in mathematics, science and literacy, as tested by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance.[477] Despite the high results, Chinese education has also faced both native and international criticism for its emphasis on rote memorization and its gap in quality from rural to urban areas.[478]

Health

File:China Human Dev SVG.svg
Chart showing the rise of China's Human Development Index from 1970 to 2010

The National Health and Family Planning Commission, together with its counterparts in the local commissions, oversees the health needs of the Chinese population.[479] An emphasis on public health and preventive medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign. After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared along with the People's Communes. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a 3-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion.[480] By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China's population having basic health insurance coverage.[481] In 2011, China was estimated to be the world's third-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals, but its population has suffered from the development and distribution of counterfeit medications.[482]

As of 2012, the average life expectancy at birth in China is 75 years,[483] and the infant mortality rate is 12 per thousand.[484] Both have improved significantly since the 1950s.[lower-alpha 2] Rates of stunting, a condition caused by malnutrition, have declined from 33.1% in 1990 to 9.9% in 2010.[487] Despite significant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities, China has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution,[488] hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers,[489] and an increase in obesity among urban youths.[490][491] China's large population and densely populated cities have led to serious disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of SARS, although this has since been largely contained.[492] In 2010, air pollution caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China.[493]

Religion

The government of the People's Republic of China officially espouses state atheism,[494] and has conducted antireligious campaigns to this end.[495] Religious affairs and issues in the country are overseen by the State Administration for Religious Affairs.[496] Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations that lack official approval can be subject to state persecution.[150][497]

Over the millennia, Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. The "three teachings", including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism), historically have a significant role in shaping Chinese culture,[498][499] enriching a theological and spiritual framework which harkens back to the early Shang and Zhou dynasty. Chinese popular or folk religion, which is framed by the three teachings and other traditions,[500] consists in allegiance to the shen (), a character that signifies the "energies of generation", who can be deities of the environment or ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history.[501] Among the most popular cults are those of Mazu (goddess of the seas),[502] Huangdi (one of the two divine patriarchs of the Chinese race),[502][503] Guandi (god of war and business), Caishen (god of prosperity and richness), Pangu and many others. China is home to many of the world's tallest religious statues, including the tallest of all, the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan.

Clear data on religious affiliation in China is difficult to gather due to varying definitions of "religion" and the unorganized, diffusive nature of Chinese religious traditions. Scholars note that in China there is no clear boundary between three teachings religions and local folk religious practice.[498] A 2015 poll conducted by Gallup International found that 61% of Chinese people self-identified as "convinced atheist",[504] though it is worthwhile to note that Chinese religions or some of their strands are definable as non-theistic and humanistic religions, since they do not believe that divine creativity is completely transcendent, but it is inherent in the world and in particular in the human being.[505] According to a 2014 study, approximately 74% are either non-religious or practise Chinese folk belief, 16% are Buddhists, 2% are Christians, 1% are Muslims, and 8% adhere to other religions including Taoists and folk salvationism.[506][507] In addition to Han people's local religious practices, there are also various ethnic minority groups in China who maintain their traditional autochthone religions. The various folk religions today comprise 2–3% of the population, while Confucianism as a religious self-identification is common within the intellectual class. Significant faiths specifically connected to certain ethnic groups include Tibetan Buddhism and the Islamic religion of the Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and other peoples in Northwest China.

Culture

The Temple of Heaven, a center of heaven worship and an UNESCO World Heritage site, symbolizes the Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind.[508]
The Temple of Heaven, a center of heaven worship and an UNESCO World Heritage site, symbolizes the Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind.[508]
File:Fenghuang old town.JPG
Fenghuang County, an ancient town that harbors many architectural remains of Ming and Qing styles.

Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han dynasty.[509] The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective.[130] Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today.[510]

The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the traditional imperial order, but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and culture of obedience to the state. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRC in 1949 as a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim that the Communist Party's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, where many aspects of traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounced as "regressive and harmful" or "vestiges of feudalism". Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, art, literature, and performing arts like Peking opera,[511] were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at the time. Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted.[512]

Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival,[513][514] and folk and variety art in particular have sparked interest nationally and even worldwide.[515] China is now the third-most-visited country in the world,[516] with 55.7 million inbound international visitors in 2010.[517] It also experiences an enormous volume of domestic tourism; an estimated 740 million Chinese holidaymakers travelled within the country in October 2012 alone.[518]

Literature

Chinese literature is based on the literature of the Zhou dynasty.[519] Concepts covered within the Chinese classic texts present a wide range of thoughts and subjects including calendar, military, astrology, herbology, geography and many others.[520] Some of the most important early texts include the I Ching and the Shujing within the Four Books and Five Classics which served as the Confucian authoritative books for the state-sponsored curriculum in dynastic era.[521] Inherited from the Classic of Poetry, classical Chinese poetry developed to its floruit during the Tang dynasty. Li Bai and Du Fu opened the forking ways for the poetic circles through romanticism and realism respectively.[522] Chinese historiography began with the Shiji, the overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four Histories, which set a vast stage for Chinese fictions along with Chinese mythology and folklore.[523] Pushed by a burgeoning citizen class in the Ming dynasty, Chinese classical fiction rose to a boom of the historical, town and gods and demons fictions as represented by the Four Great Classical Novels which include Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber.[524] Along with the wuxia fictions of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng,[525] it remains an enduring source of popular culture in the East Asian cultural sphere.[526]

In the wake of the New Culture Movement after the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese literature embarked on a new era with written vernacular Chinese for ordinary citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun were pioneers in modern literature.[527] Various literary genres, such as misty poetry, scar literature, young adult fiction and the xungen literature, which is influenced by magic realism,[528] emerged following the Cultural Revolution. Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012.[529]

Cuisine

Foods from different regional cuisines: laziji from Sichuan cuisine; xiaolongbao from Jiangsu cuisine; rice noodle roll from Cantonese cuisine; and Peking duck from Shandong cuisine[530]

Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history and geographical variety, in which the most influential are known as the "Eight Major Cuisines", including Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, and Zhejiang cuisines.[531] All of them are featured by the precise skills of shaping, heating, colorway and flavoring.[532] Chinese cuisine is also known for its width of cooking methods and ingredients,[533] as well as food therapy that is emphasized by traditional Chinese medicine.[534] Generally, China's staple food is rice in the south, wheat based breads and noodles in the north. The diet of the common people in pre-modern times was largely grain and simple vegetables, with meat reserved for special occasions. And the bean products, such as tofu and soy milk, remain as a popular source of protein.[535] Pork is now the most popular meat in China, accounting for about three-fourths of the country's total meat consumption.[536] While pork dominates the meat market, there is also the vegetarian Buddhist cuisine and the pork-free Chinese Islamic cuisine. Southern cuisine, due to the area's proximity to the ocean and milder climate, has a wide variety of seafood and vegetables; it differs in many respects from the wheat-based diets across dry northern China. Numerous offshoots of Chinese food, such as Hong Kong cuisine and American Chinese food, have emerged in the nations that play host to the Chinese diaspora.

Sports

Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent and was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago.

China has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world. There is evidence that archery (shèjiàn) was practiced during the Western Zhou dynasty. Swordplay (jiànshù) and cuju, a sport loosely related to association football[537] date back to China's early dynasties as well.[538] Many traditional sports, such as dragon boat racing, Mongolian-style wrestling, and horse racing remain popular.

Physical fitness is widely emphasized in Chinese culture, with morning exercises such as qigong and t'ai chi ch'uan widely practiced, and commercial gyms and private fitness clubs popular across the country.

Basketball is the most popular spectator sport in China. The Chinese Basketball Association and the American National Basketball Association have a huge following among the people, with native or ethnic Chinese players such as Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian held in high esteem. China's professional football league, now known as Chinese Super League, was established in 1994. Other popular sports in the country include martial arts, table tennis, badminton, swimming, and snooker. Board games such as go (known as wéiqí in Chinese), xiangqi, mahjong, and more recently chess, are also played at a professional level.

Beijing National Stadium at night.

China has participated in the Olympic Games since 1932, although it has only participated as the PRC since 1952. China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In 2011, Shenzhen in Guangdong, China hosted the 2011 Summer Universiade. China hosted the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing. Beijing and its nearby city Zhangjiakou of Hebei province will also collaboratively host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, which will make Beijing the first city in the world to hold both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics.[539]

Notes

  1. Romanized as "Peking" prior to the adoption of Pinyin.
  2. Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (Order of the President No.37) Chinese Government, October 31, 2000. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  3. In the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese characters are used. The Mongolian script is used in Inner Mongolia and the Tibetan script is used in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, alongside simplified Chinese.
  4. China (People’s Republic of) 1982 (rev. 2004) Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Changhao Wei, Annotated Translation: 2018 Amendment to the P.R.C. Constitution (Version 2.0) NPC Observer. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  6. Xi Jinping holds four concurrent positions: General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (de facto paramount leader), President of the People's Republic of China (head of state), and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (Commander-in-chief) for both state and party.
  7. The area given is the official United Nations figure for the mainland and excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It also excludes the Trans-Karakoram Tract (5,800 km2 or 2,200 sq mi), Aksai Chin (37,244 km2 or 14,380 sq mi) and other territories in dispute with India.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 CIA, China The World Factbook. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census (No. 1) National Bureau of Statistics of China, April 28, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  10. Population density (people per sq. km of land area) The World Bank, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019 IMF. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  12. China's Economy Realized a Moderate but Stable and Sound Growth in 2015 National Bureau of Statistics of China, January 19, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  13. Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical update United Nations Development Programme, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  14. The Hong Kong Dollar is used in Hong Kong and Macau while the Macanese pataca is used in Macau only.
  15. Motor vehicles and metros drive on the right in mainland China. Hong Kong and Macau use left-hand traffic except several parts of metro lines. The majority of the country's trains drive on the left.
  16. The total area ranking relative to the United States depends on the measurement of the total areas of China and the United States.
  17. Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 0199573158).
  18. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Houghton-Mifflin, 2018, ISBN 1328841693).
  19. Amitendu, Palit (2012). China-India Economics: Challenges, Competition and Collaboration. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-62162-8. 
  20. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the total area of the United States, at 9,522,055 km² (3,676,486 sq mi), is slightly smaller than that of China. Meanwhile, the CIA World Factbook states that China's total area was greater than that of the United States until the coastal waters of the Great Lakes was added to the United States' total area in 1996. From 1989 through 1996, the total area of US was listed as 9,372,610 km² (3,618,780 sq mi) (land area plus inland water only). The listed total area changed to 9,629,091 km² (3,717,813 sq mi) in 1997 (with the Great Lakes areas and the coastal waters added), to 9,631,418 km² (3,718,711 sq mi) in 2004, to 9,631,420 km² (3,718,710 sq mi) in 2006, and to 9,826,630 km² (3,794,080 sq mi) in 2007 (territorial waters added).
  21. "United States". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 25 March 2008.
  22. China's border with Pakistan and part of its border with India falls in the disputed region of Kashmir. The area under Pakistani administration is claimed by India, while the area under Indian administration is claimed by Pakistan.
  23. "Nepal and China agree on Mount Everest's height", 8 April 2010.
  24. Lowest Places on Earth. National Park Service. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  25. (2008) Regional Climate Studies of China. Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-79242-0. 
  26. Waghorn, Terry, "Fighting Desertification", 7 March 2011.
  27. "Beijing hit by eighth sandstorm". BBC news. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  28. Coonan, Cliff (9 November 2007). The gathering sandstorm: Encroaching desert, missing water. The Independent.
  29. "Himalaya glaciers melting much faster", MSNBC, 24 November 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  30. FAOSTAT data.
  31. Ma, Xiaoying (2000). Environmental Regulation in China. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8476-9399-3. 
  32. "China acknowledges 'cancer villages'", BBC, 22 February 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  33. "Riot police and protesters clash over China chemical plant", BBC, 28 October 2012.
  34. "Beijing Orders Official Cars Off Roads to Curb Pollution", Bloomberg L.P., 14 January 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  35. WHO | Ambient air pollution: A global assessment of exposure and burden of disease.
  36. "Global carbon emissions hit record high in 2012", Reuters, 10 June 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  37. "China's decade plan for water" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. The Earth Institute. Columbia University. 24 October 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  38. Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters). The World Bank. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  39. 39.0 39.1 "China works to ease water woes", BBC, 11 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  40. "300 million Chinese drinking unsafe water", People's Daily, 23 December 2004. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  41. Hu, Hui, Qian Jin, and Philip Kavan. "A study of heavy metal pollution in China: Current status, pollution-control policies and countermeasures." Sustainability 6.9 (2014): 5820–5838.
  42. Friedman, Lisa, "China Leads Major Countries With $34.6 Billion Invested in Clean Technology", The New York Times, 25 March 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  43. Black, Richard, "China steams ahead on clean energy", BBC News, 26 March 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  44. Perkowski, Jack, "China Leads The World In Renewable Energy Investment", Forbes, 27 July 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  45. Bradsher, Keith, "China leads global race to make clean energy", 30 January 2010.
  46. "China's big push for renewable energy". Scientific American. 4 August 2008. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  47. China to plow $361 billion into renewable fuel by 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  48. "China tops the world in clean energy production." Ecosensorium. 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  49. 2015 Key World Energy Statistics. report. International Energy Agency (IEA). Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  50. 2016 Snapshot of Global Photovoltaic Markets, p.7, International Energy Agency, 2017
  51. AWEA 2016 Fourth Quarter Market Report. American Wind Energy Association. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  52. "Splashing out: China to spend 4 trillion yuan on water projects" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. Want China Times. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  53. Upton, John (25 July 2013). China to spend big to clean up its air. Grist Magazine. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  54. The Chinese people have stood up. UCLA Center for East Asian Studies. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  55. Peaslee, Amos J. (1956), "Data Regarding the 'People's Republic of China'", Constitutions of Nations, Vol. I, 2nd ed., Dordrecht: Springer, ISBN 978-94-017-7125-2 
  56. Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2004), History of Modern China, New Delhi: Atlantic, ISBN 978-81-269-0315-3 
  57. "Red Capture of Hainan Island", 9 May 1950. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  58. The Tibetans. University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  59. John W. Garver (1997). The Sino-American alliance: Nationalist China and American Cold War strategy in Asia. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-0025-7. Retrieved 20 July 2013. 
  60. Busky, Donald F. (2002). Communism in History and Theory. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.11.
  61. A Country Study: China. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  62. Madelyn Holmes (2008). Students and teachers of the new China: thirteen interviews. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3288-2. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
  63. "A hunger for the truth: A new book, banned on the mainland, is becoming the definitive account of the Great Famine.", chinaelections.org, 7 July 2008 {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}
  64. Mirsky, Jonathan, "Unnatural Disaster: 'Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958–1962,' by Yang Jisheng", 9 December 2012, p. BR22. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  65. Holmes, Leslie. Communism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2009). Template:ISBN. p. 32 "Most estimates of the number of Chinese dead are in the range of 15 to 30 million."
  66. Michael Y.M. Kao. "Taiwan's and Beijing's Campaigns for Unification" in Harvey Feldman and Michael Y. M. Kao (eds., 1988): Taiwan in a Time of Transition. New York: Paragon House. p.188.
  67. Hart-Landsberg, Martin; and Burkett, Paul. "China and Socialism: Market Reforms and Class Struggle". Monthly Review. Retrieved 30 October 2008.
  68. The Impact of Tiananmen on China's Foreign Policy. The National Bureau of Asian Research. Archived from the original on 4 April 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  69. Nation bucks trend of global poverty {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. China Daily. 11 July 2003. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  70. China's Average Economic Growth in 90s Ranked 1st in World. People's Daily. 1 March 2000. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  71. "China's Environmental Crisis", The New York Times, 26 August 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  72. China worried over pace of growth. BBC. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  73. China: Migrants, Students, Taiwan. Migration News. January 2006.
  74. In Face of Rural Unrest, China Rolls Out Reforms. Washington Post. 28 January 2006.
  75. Frontline: The Tank Man transcript. Frontline. PBS (11 April 2006). Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  76. "Bo Xilai scandal: Timeline", BBC, 5 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  77. 77.0 77.1 Moore, Malcolm, "Xi Jinping crowned new leader of China Communist Party", The Daily Telegraph, 15 November 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  78. "New China leadership tipped to be all male", Stuff.co.nz, 6 November 2012.
  79. "China frees up bank lending rates", BBC, 19 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  80. Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose, "China eyes fresh stimulus as economy stalls, sets 7pc growth floor", Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  81. The decade of Xi Jinping. Financial Times (25 November 2012). Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  82. "China sees both industrial output and retail sales rise", BBC, 9 December 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  83. "China's exports and imports decline", BBC, 10 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  84. "China orders government debt audit", BBC, 29 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  85. Chinese Imports: What's Behind the Slowdown?. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  86. 86.0 86.1 China ends one child policy. Slate (15 November 2013). Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  87. Chapter 1, Articles !, 3 Constitution of the People's Republic of China
  88. (January 1995) China, Corporatism, and the East Asian Model. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 33 (33): 29–53.
  89. 89.0 89.1 Freedom in the World 2011: China. Freedom House (2011). Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  90. "Xi reiterates adherence to socialism with Chinese characteristics", 5 January 2013.
  91. "China's 'Chairman of Everything': Behind Xi Jinping's Many Titles", 25 October 2016.
  92. Article 97 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China
  93. CFR.org. CFR.org. Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  94. Democratic Parties. People's Daily. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  95. Constitution of the People's Republic of China. (1982)
  96. "BBC, Country Report: China", BBC News. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  97. Shirk, Susan, "China's Next Leaders: A Guide to What's at Stake", 13 November 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  98. Beijingers Get Greater Poll Choices. China Daily (2003). Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  99. Lohmar, Bryan; and Somwaru, Agapi; Does China's Land-Tenure System Discourage Structural Adjustment?. 1 May 2006. USDA Economic Research Service. Retrieved 3 May 2006.
  100. "China sounds alarm over fast-growing gap between rich and poor". Associated Press via Highbeam (subscription required to see full article). 11 May 2002. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  101. "A Point Of View: Is China more legitimate than the West?", 2 November 2012.
  102. Gwillim Law (2 April 2005). Provinces of China. Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  103. Chang, Eddy (22 August 2004). Perseverance will pay off at the UN {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}, The Taipei Times.
  104. "China says communication with other developing countries at Copenhagen summit transparent", People's Daily, 21 December 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  105. "BRICS summit ends in China". BBC. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  106. "Taiwan's Ma to stopover in US: report", mysinchew.com, 12 January 2010.
  107. Macartney, Jane. "China says US arms sales to Taiwan could threaten wider relations", The Times, 1 February 2010.
  108. Keith, Ronald C.. China from the inside out – fitting the People's republic into the world. PlutoPress, 135–136. 
  109. "An Authoritarian Axis Rising?", 29 June 2012.
  110. China, Russia launch largest ever joint military exercise. Deutsche Welle (5 July 2013). Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  111. "Energy to dominate Russia President Putin's China visit", BBC, 5 June 2012.
  112. Gladstone, Rick, "Friction at the U.N. as Russia and China Veto Another Resolution on Syria Sanctions", The New York Times, 19 July 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  113. "Xi Jinping: Russia-China ties 'guarantee world peace'", BBC, 23 March 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  114. Dillon, Dana; and Tkacik, John, Jr.; China's Quest for Asia. Policy Review. December 2005 and January 2006. Issue No. 134. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
  115. "Clinton signs China trade bill", CNN, 10 October 2000.
  116. "US trade gap widens on increased Chinese imports". BBC News. 14 October 2010.
  117. "Chinese President Hu Jintao resists Obama calls on yuan". BBC News. 13 April 2010.
  118. 118.0 118.1 Palmer, Doug, "Obama should call China a currency manipulator: Romney aide", Reuters, 24 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  119. "US says China not a currency manipulator", BBC, 27 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  120. McLaughlin, Abraham; "A rising China counters US clout in Africa" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. Christian Science Monitor. 30 March 2005.
  121. Lyman, Princeton N.; "China's Rising Role in Africa" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. 21 July 2005. Council of Foreign Relations. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  122. Politzer, Malia. "China and Africa: Stronger Economic Ties Mean More Migration". Migration Information Source. August 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  123. China-Africa trade likely to hit record high. China Daily (28 December 2012). Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  124. "Is Brazil a derivative of China?". Forbes.com. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  125. "China, Argentina agree to further strategic ties". Xinhua.com. 9 September 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  126. Chinese Civil War. Cultural-China.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  127. "China denies preparing war over South China Sea shoal". BBC. 12 May 2012.
  128. "Q&A: China-Japan islands row", BBC News, 27 November 2013.
  129. "Asian nations should avoid military ties with third party powers, says China's Xi", China National News. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  130. 130.0 130.1 "A Point Of View: What kind of superpower could China be?", BBC, 19 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  131. Watts, Jonathan, "China: witnessing the birth of a superpower", The Guardian, 18 June 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  132. Sanders, Sol (29 June 2007). China's utterly distorted economy is a train wreck waiting to happen. World Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  133. Broken BRICs: Why the Rest Stopped Rising. Foreign Affairs (November 2012). Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  134. Grinin, Leonid. "Chinese Joker in the World Pack" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. Journal of Globalization Studies. Volume 2, Number 2. November 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
  135. Sorman, Guy (2008). Empire of Lies: The Truth About China in the Twenty-First Century, 46, 152. ISBN 978-1-59403-284-4. 
  136. World Report 2009: China. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  137. "China Requires Internet Users to Register Names". AP via My Way News. 28 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  138. Bradsher, Keith, "China Toughens Its Restrictions on Use of the Internet", New York Times, 28 December 2012.
  139. (May 2013)How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression. American Political Science Review 107 (2): 326–343.
  140. "Discipline and Punish: The Birth of China's Social-Credit System", The Nation, 23 January 2019.
  141. "China's behavior monitoring system bars some from travel, purchasing property", CBS News, 24 April 2018.
  142. "The complicated truth about China's social credit system", WIRED, 21 January 2019.
  143. Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index – 2005. Reporters Without Borders (30 April 2009). Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  144. World Press Freedom Index 2014. Reporters Without Borders. Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  145. 145.0 145.1 Wingfield, Rupert, "China's rural millions left behind", BBC, 7 March 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  146. Luard, Tim, "China rethinks peasant apartheid", BBC, 10 November 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  147. Ni, Ching-Ching, "China to Abolish Contentious Agricultural Levy", Los Angeles Times, 30 December 2005. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  148. "China ends school fees for 150m", BBC, 13 December 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  149. Didi Tang. "Forced abortion highlights abuses in China policy", 9 January 2014.
  150. 150.0 150.1 "China bans religious activities in Xinjiang". Financial Times. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  151. "China's Capital Cases Still Secret, Arbitrary", The Washington Post, 24 December 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  152. "Amnesty sees hope in China on death penalty", Yahoo news, 27 March 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  153. Seth Faison, "In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protestors", The New York Times, 27 April 1999
  154. 154.0 154.1 (Dec 2013) Changing the soup but not the medicine: Abolishing re-education through labor in China. 
  155. Spiegel, Mickey (2002). Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-1-56432-269-2. 
  156. "China 'moves two million Tibetans'", BBC, 27 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  157. "Fresh unrest hits China's Xinjiang", BBC, 29 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  158. "China 'holding at least 120,000 Uighurs in re-education camps'", The Guardian, 25 January 2018.
  159. The Guardian, 11 January 2019 china war on islam
  160. Denyer, Simon, "China detains relatives of U.S. reporters in apparent punishment for Xinjiang coverage", 28 February 2018.
  161. 161.0 161.1 "China's Progress in Human Rights in 2004". Gov.cn. July 2005. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  162. "China seeks to improve workplace safety". USA Today. 30 January 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  163. "China's reform and opening-up promotes human rights, says premier". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2006.
  164. "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao talks reform, but most countrymen never get to hear what he says". The Washington Post. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  165. Service providers wanted. Development and Cooperation (2 August 2012). Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  166. China. The Minderoo Foundation Pty Ltd. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  167. Laogai: "Reform Through Labor" in China. Archived from the original on 25 June 2002.
  168. "Prison slaves: China is the world's factory, but does a dark secret lurk behind this apparent success story?", Al Jazeera English, 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  169. CBS: 60 minutes Chinese Labor Camps with Harry Wu (1991).
  170. "Chinese human rights campaigner Harry Wu dies: A former prisoner of conscience, Wu exposed the brutality of China's prison camps", UCA News, 27 April 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  171. The Guardian, 5 February 2019 fears organs came from chinese prisoners
  172. "The new generals in charge of China's guns", BBC, 14 November 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  173. 173.0 173.1 Mar. 2014: Deciphering China's latest defence budget figures. SIPRI (March 2014). Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  174. Annual Report To Congress – Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2009 (PDF). Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  175. Nolt, James H. Analysis: The China-Taiwan military balance. Asia Times. 1999. Retrieved 15 April 2006.
  176. Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2013. US Secretary of Defense (2013). Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  177. Andrew, Martin (18 August 2005). The Dragon Breathes Fire: Chinese Power Projection. AsianResearch.org. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  178. 178.0 178.1 IN FOCUS: Long march ahead for Chinese naval airpower. Flightglobal.com (26 November 2012). Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  179. China's first aircraft carrier completes sea trial. Xinhua News Agency (15 August 2011). Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  180. "China: Aircraft Carrier Now in Service", The Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  181. "China unveils fleet of submarines". The Guardian. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  182. "India, Japan join hands to break China's 'string of pearls'", Times of India, 30 May 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  183. J-10. SinoDefence.com (28 March 2009). Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  184. Inside China's Secret Arsenal. Popular Science (20 December 2012). Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  185. "Early Eclipse: F-35 JSF Prospects in the Age of Chinese Stealth." China-Defense. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  186. "Chengdu J-20 – China's 5th Generation Fighter." {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}} Defense-Update.com. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  187. Washington Journal. (12 August 2015) "U.S. Military Approach toward China". Mark Perry, Politico writer, interview by Steve Scanlan, host. C-Span. Retrieved 12 August 2015. C-Span website
  188. Al Jazeera America Wire Service. (11 May 2015) Japan moves to boost role of military. Retrieved 12 August 2015. Al Jazerra America website
  189. Ground Forces. SinoDefence.com. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  190. Surface-to-air Missile System. SinoDefence.com. 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  191. (23 December 2008) "HQ-19 (S-400) (China)", Jane's Weapons: Strategic. IHS. 
  192. "China plays down fears after satellite shot down". Agence France-Presse via ChannelNewsAsia. 20 January 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  193. "Chinese Navy Tests Land Attack Cruise Missiles: Implications for Asia-Pacific". New Pacific Institute. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  194. "China expanding its nuclear stockpile". The Washington Times. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  195. The United States leads upward trend in arms exports, Asian and Gulf states arms imports up, says SIPRI. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  196. China claims to have successfully tested its first hypersonic aircraft. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  197. World Bank World Development Indicators. World Bank. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  198. Dahlman, Carl J. China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st Century. WBI Development Studies. World Bank Publications.. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  199. Angus Maddison. Chinese Economic Performance in the Long Run. Development Centre Studies. Accessed 2007. p.29. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  200. China's economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018, officials say.
  201. GDP PPP (World Bank). World Bank (2018). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  202. Marsh, Peter, "China noses ahead as top goods producer", Financial Times, March 13, 2011.
  203. Levinson, Marc (Feb 21, 2018). U.S. Manufacturing in International Perspective.
  204. Report - S&E Indicators 2018 | NSF - National Science Foundation.
  205. Business, Daniel Shane, CNN. China will overtake the US as the world's biggest retail market this year.
  206. Five trends shaping the future of e-commerce in China.
  207. Huang, Echo. China buys one out of every two electric vehicles sold globally (in en).
  208. China Installs 44.3 Gigawatts Of Solar In 2018 (in en-US) (23 January 2019).
  209. Global PV capacity is expected to reach 969GW by 2025 (in en-GB) (21 December 2017).
  210. Kollewe, Justin McCurry Julia, "China overtakes Japan as world's second-largest economy", The Guardian, 2011-02-14. (written in en-GB)
  211. Bird, Mike. China Just Overtook The US As The World's Largest Economy.
  212. 2019-07-06, List of countries by GDP (PPP). Retrieved 2019-07-08 
  213. Elkins, Kathleen (15 May 2018). The countries with the most billionaires.
  214. China Is Set to Keep Minting New Millionaires Faster Than U.S..
  215. GDP PPP (World Bank). World Bank (2018). Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  216. "China's path to tackling regional inequality", Financial Times, 2 February 2016.
  217. India, Press Trust of, "China lifting 800 million people out of poverty is historic:World Bank", Business Standard India, 13 October 2017.
  218. 218.0 218.1 China's Approach to Reduce Poverty: Taking Targeted Measures to Lift People out of Poverty.
  219. Data | The World Bank.
  220. China brings nearly 13 mln people out of poverty in 2017 – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  221. China's extreme poverty rate to fall below 1% in 2018: World Bank – People's Daily Online.
  222. "Shanghai's GDP grows 8.2% in 2011". China Daily. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  223. 223.0 223.1 Global 500. Fortune (2014). Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  224. China is already a market economy—Long Yongtu, Secretary General of Boao Forum for Asia. EastDay.com (2008). Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  225. "Communism Is Dead, But State Capitalism Thrives". Vahan Janjigian. Forbes. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  226. "The Winners And Losers In Chinese Capitalism". Gady Epstein. Forbes. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  227. John Lee. "Putting Democracy in China on Hold". The Center for Independent Studies. 26 July 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  228. English@peopledaily.com.cn (13 July 2005). People.com. People. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  229. Businessweek.com. BusinessWeek (22 August 2005). Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  230. Microsoft Word – China2bandes.doc. OECD. Archived from the original on 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  231. Data shows strength of China's private enterprises.
  232. Agency, , "China's middle class overtakes US as largest in the world", 14 October 2015. (written in en-GB)
  233. China's Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States. Congressional Research Service (5 September 2013).
  234. "China must be cautious in raising consumption", China Daily. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
  235. Exports of goods and services (% of GDP). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  236. World Bank. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  237. Walker, Andrew, "Will China's Economy Stumble?", BBC, 16 June 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  238. Joe Weisenthal (22 February 2011). 3G Countries. Businessinsider.com. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  239. 8 February 2019, List of countries by steel production. Retrieved 21 February 2019 
  240. 13 January 2019, List of countries by primary aluminium production. Retrieved 21 February 2019 
  241. 30 January 2019, List of countries by motor vehicle production. Retrieved 21 February 2019 
  242. CNBC.com, Andrew Zaleski, special to (6 September 2017). China's blueprint to crush the US robotics industry.
  243. IFR. Global industrial robot sales doubled over the past five years (in en).
  244. Robots are key in China's strategy to surpass rivals (in en-US).
  245. China Quick Facts. World Bank. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  246. "China Becomes World's Biggest Energy Consumer", Wall Street Journal, 19 July 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  247. The Ultimate Guide To China's Voracious Energy Use. Business Insider (17 August 2012). Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  248. "China overtakes US as the biggest importer of oil", BBC, 10 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  249. Three countries are leading the renewable energy revolution.
  250. China's Economic Numbers Have a Credibility Problem (19 April 2018).
  251. Post Magazine (23 August 2017). Can you still trust China's economic data after province admits cooking books? | South China Morning Post. Scmp.com. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  252. Why Chinese officials are coming clean over cooking the books.
  253. "China's economy slows but data hints at rebound", BBC, 18 October 2012.
  254. "China Loses Control of Its Frankenstein Economy", Bloomberg L.P., 24 June 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  255. The lowdown on China's slowdown: It's not all bad (15 July 2013). Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  256. GDP of China, Germany, UK, France and Italy. 2006–2017.
  257. China's Economic Outlook in Six Charts (in en).
  258. China's middle class doubling to 600 million is a key investment opportunity (in en) (18 February 2019).
  259. 2017 China Tourism Facts & Figures (21 October 2018).
  260. China Inbound Tourism in 2016 (1 September 2018).
  261. Number of 150m+ Completed Buildings – The Skyscraper Center.
  262. 2015 Tall Building Year in Review.
  263. Huang, Echo. A single city in China built more skyscrapers last year than the US and Australia combined (in en).
  264. McCarthy, Niall. No Other Country Comes Close To China In Skyscraper Construction [Infographic] (in en).
  265. CNN, Oscar Holland (12 December 2018). China built more skyscrapers in 2018 than ever before (in en).
  266. 42% of global e-commerce is happening in China. Here's why.
  267. » 2019: China to Surpass US in Total Retail Sales eMarketer Newsroom (in en-US).
  268. China's next retail disruption: End-to-end value chain digitisation.
  269. E-commerce exports to China and Asia (in en).
  270. Frost & Sullivan: Mobile Payments market in China is expected to witness three-fold growth with doubling of active mobile payment users by 2023 (in en-US).
  271. Chart of the Day: China’s Mobile Payment Transaction Volume Hits $41.51 Trillion in 2018 - Caixin Global (in en).
  272. "China now rivals U.S. in VC investments", Venturebeat, 14 October 2017.
  273. John Watling (14 February 2014). China's Internet Giants Lead in Online Finance. The Financialist. Credit Suisse. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  274. Fannin, Rebecca. China Rises To 38% of Global Venture Spending In 2018, Nears US Levels (in en).
  275. "35-Year-Old Unknown Creates the World's Most Valuable Startup", Bloomberg.
  276. The AI 100: Artificial Intelligence Startups That You Better Know (in en-US) (6 February 2019).
  277. Allen, Gregory (February 6, 2019). Understanding China's AI Strategy.
  278. "China Created a New Tech Unicorn Every 3.8 Days Last Year", Bloomberg.
  279. IDC – Smartphone Market Share – Vendor.
  280. Global Smartphone Market Share: By Quarter (in en-US) (16 November 2018).
  281. Kanthan, Chris (9 February 2019). Huawei, tech war and geopolitics (in en-US).
  282. Report for Selected Countries and Subjects (in en-US).
  283. Global trade growth loses momentum as trade tensions persist (in en).
  284. China Focus: China's record high foreign trade volume highlights economic resilience - Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  285. "UPDATE 1-China's May forex reserves rise unexpectedly to $3.1 trillion", Reuters, 2019-06-10. (written in en)
  286. "China's Foreign-Exchange Reserves Surge, Exceeding $2 Trillion", Bloomberg L.P., 15 July 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  287. China's forex reserves reach USD 2.85 trillion. Smetimes.tradeindia.com. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  288. 288.0 288.1 FDI in Figures. OECD. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  289. Sakib Sherani. Pakistan's remittances. dawn.com. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  290. "Being eaten by the dragon", 11 November 2010.
  291. "Washington learns to treat China with care". CNNMoney.com. 29 July 2009.
  292. Hornby, Lucy, "Factbox: US-China Interdependence Outweighs Trade Spat", Reuters, 23 September 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  293. "2007 trade surplus hits new record – $262.2B", China Daily, 11 January 2008. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  294. "China widens yuan, non-dollar trading range to 3%", 23 September 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  295. Intellectual Property Rights. Asia Business Council. September 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  296. MIT CIS: Publications: Foreign Policy Index. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  297. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=104&pr.y=16&sy=2018&ey=2018&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=924%2C132%2C134%2C534%2C158%2C112%2C111&s=NGDPD&grp=0&a=
  298. Mourdoukoutas, Panos. China Is Closing The Innovation Gap With America (in en).
  299. Competitiveness Rankings (in en-US).
  300. "The Global Competitiveness Report 2018", World Economic Forum, pp. 27.
  301. The World's Largest Companies: China Takes Over The Top Three Spots. Forbes (7 May 2014). Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  302. Huang, Yukon (Fall 2013). Does Internationalizing the RMB Make Sense for China?. Cato Journal.
  303. Chan, Norman T.L. (18 February 2014). Hong Kong as Offshore Renminbi Centre – Past and Prospects. HKMA. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  304. "RMB Settlement", Kasikorn Research Center, Bangkok, 8 February 2011
  305. Kramer, Andrew E., "Sidestepping the U.S. Dollar, a Russian Exchange Will Swap Rubles and Renminbi", The New York Times, 14 December 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  306. Kosuke Takahashi. Japan, China bypass US in currency trade. Asia Times Online. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  307. China and Australia Announce Direct Currency Trading. Department of the Treasury (Australia). Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  308. New Initiatives to Strengthen China-Singapore Financial Cooperation. Monetary Authority of Singapore. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  309. "Chancellor George Osborne cements London as renminbi hub".
  310. Bank of Canada announces signing of reciprocal 3-year Canadian dollar/renminbi bilateral swap arrangement. Bank of Canada. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  311. "The top 10 most traded currencies in the world", IG, 4 September 2018.
  312. RMB now 8th most widely traded currency in the world. Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  313. Huang, Zheping. China's middle class has overtaken the US's to become the world's largest (in en).
  314. 400 million strong and growing: China's massive middle class is its secret weapon (in en-US) (2018-11-16).
  315. "China's growing middle class", 26 April 2012.
  316. Rising Wages: Has China Lost Its Global Labor Advantage? (in en).
  317. Rapoza, Kenneth. China Wage Levels Equal To Or Surpass Parts Of Europe (in en).
  318. Mapping China's middle class. McKinsey. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  319. "China 'creates two billionaires a week'", BBC News. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  320. "China's billionaires double in number". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  321. China retail sales growth accelerates. China Daily (18 January 2013). Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  322. China's retail sales up 12.4 pct in Q1. Global Times (15 April 2013). Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  323. "Super Rich have Craze for luxury goods". China Daily. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  324. "China inflation exceeding 6%". BusinessWeek. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  325. "Steep rise in Chinese food prices". BBC. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  326. "China's GDP grows 9.1% in third quarter". Financial Times. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  327. "Income inequality on the rise in China", 12 January 2013.
  328. "Inequality in China: Rural poverty persists as urban wealth balloons", 29 June 2011.
  329. "Income inequality: Delta blues", The Economist, 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  330. Gini coefficient in China: inequality of income distribution in China from 2005 to 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  331. The Controversial Chinese Economist Uncovering Tough Truths, Bloomberg Businessweek, 24 March 2017
  332. "The richest 1 percent now owns more of the country's wealth than at any time in the past 50 years", Washington Post.
  333. Monaghan, Angela, "US wealth inequality – top 0.1% worth as much as the bottom 90%", The Guardian, 13 November 2014. (written in en-GB)
  334. Yu, Q. Y. (1999). The Implementation of China's Science and Technology Policy. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-56720-332-5. 
  335. Vogel, Ezra F. (2011). Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05544-5. 
  336. DeGlopper, Donald D. (1987). "Soviet Influence in the 1950s", China: a country study. Library of Congress. 
  337. "Huawei beats Apple to become second-largest smartphone maker", The Guardian, 1 August 2018.
  338. 338.0 338.1 R&D share for basic research in China dwindles.
  339. Normile, Dennis (10 October 2018). Surging R&D spending in China narrows gap with United States (in en).
  340. CNBC (26 February 2018). China spent an estimated $279 billion on R&D last year.
  341. Research and development (R&D) – Gross domestic spending on R&D – OECD Data (in en).
  342. (March 2006)The Siren Song of Technonationalism. Far Eastern Economic Review.
  343. A Peek Into the 'Black Box' of Where China's Hefty R&D Budget Goes. Bloomberg (1 October 2014). Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  344. Report – S&E Indicators 2018 | NSF – National Science Foundation.
  345. THE RISE OF CHINA IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING.
  346. "The Big Spenders in Research and Development", US News & World Report.
  347. China Drives International Patent Applications to Record Heights; Demand Rising for Trademark and Industrial Design Protection (in en).
  348. WIPO experts call China's IP system role model – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  349. Chadwick, Jonathan. Huawei the biggest filer of patents with the EPO in 2017 (in en).
  350. 350.0 350.1 The Nobel Prize in Physics 1957. Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  351. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1998. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  352. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  353. Yuan T. Lee – Biographical. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  354. Nobel Prize announcement. Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  355. "Desperately seeking math and science majors" CNN. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  356. McCarthy, Niall. The Countries With The Most STEM Graduates [Infographic] (in en).
  357. "China is Overtaking the U.S. in Scientific Research", Bloomberg.
  358. "Who's afraid of Huawei?", The Economist, 4 August 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  359. Shares in China's Lenovo rise on profit surge. New Straits Times (17 August 2012).
  360. "Lenovo ousts HP as world's top PC maker, says Gartner", BBC, 11 October 2012.
  361. "China retakes supercomputer crown", BBC, 17 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  362. Williams, Christopher, "'Titan' supercomputer is world's most powerful", The Daily Telegraph, 12 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  363. Robots to boost China's economy. People's Daily (6 January 2013). Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  364. Axe, David, "China Now Tops U.S. in Space Launches", Wired, 16 April 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  365. David Eimer, "China's huge leap forward into space threatens US ascendancy over heavens". Daily Telegraph. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  366. Johnson-Freese, Joan. China launched more rockets into orbit in 2018 than any other country (in en).
  367. Long, Wei (25 April 2000). China Celebrates 30th Anniversary Of First Satellite Launch. Space daily.
  368. "Rocket launches Chinese space lab", BBC, 29 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  369. Rincon, Paul, "China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon", BBC News, 14 December 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  370. "China Spends More on Infrastructure Than the U.S. and Europe Combined", Bloomberg.
  371. Woetzel, Jonathan. Bridging global infrastructure gaps | McKinsey (in en).
  372. China: mobile users 2018 (in en).
  373. McCarthy, Niall. China Now Boasts More Than 800 Million Internet Users And 98% Of Them Are Mobile [Infographic] (in en).
  374. Purnell, Newley, "U.S. Campaign Against Huawei Runs Aground in an Exploding Tech Market", Wall Street Journal, 21 February 2019. (written in en-US)
  375. China breaks 1B 4G subscriber mark (in en-GB) (22 January 2018).
  376. 金丹. Chinese 4G users surpass 1 billion: ministry – Chinadaily.com.cn.
  377. GSMA Mobile Economy 2018.
  378. China's Mobile and Broadband Internet Speeds (in en).
  379. United States's Mobile and Broadband Internet Speeds (in en).
  380. The World's Internet in 2018: Faster, Modernizing and Always On (10 December 2018).
  381. China's telecommunication sector grows steadily in August – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  382. Tier 1 or below average? The truth about China's Internet speed.
  383. Broadband Development Status and Trend in China. (Nov 2018).
  384. Point Topic: Global fixed broadband take-up & forecasts to 2025 + Rethink TV: China to lead in gigabit broadband services – Technology Blog.
  385. 385.0 385.1 China ranked in top 5 for 4G penetration · TechNode (in en-US) (8 November 2018).
  386. 关晓萌. 'Digital China' adds data, kilometers of high-speed cables – Chinadaily.com.cn.
  387. IDC Forecasts Worldwide Spending on the Internet of Things to Reach $745 Billion in 2019, Led by the Manufacturing, Consumer, Transportation, and Utilities Sectors.
  388. Hilbert, Martin (June 2016). The bad news is that the digital access divide is here to stay: Domestically installed bandwidths among 172 countries for 1986–2014. Telecommunications Policy 40 (6): 567–581.
  389. Woyke, Elizabeth. China is racing ahead in 5G. Here's what that means. (in en).
  390. China : China Mobile Shanghai and Huawei Launch First 5G Digital Indoor System in Shanghais Hongqiao Railway Station (in en-US).
  391. CGTN (18 February 2019), Shanghai railway station to become world's first with 5G technology. Retrieved 21 February 2019 
  392. China: China Telecom broadband customers 2017 | Statistic (in en).
  393. Parietti, Melissa. The World's Top 10 Telecommunications Companies.
  394. Blog: China operator H1 2018 scorecard (in en-GB) (21 August 2018).
  395. "Huawei, ZTE Provide Opening for China Spying, Report Says", Bloomberg L.P., 8 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  396. Ciaran Martin, UK's cybersecurity chief, rebuffs US on Huawei risk.
  397. No evidence of malicious activity by Huawei, says UK cybersecurity boss (in en) (21 February 2019).
  398. "China's Beidou GPS-substitute opens to public in Asia", BBC, 27 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  399. China's BeiDou officially goes global – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  400. "China Is Building a $9 Billion Rival to the American-Run GPS", Bloomberg.
  401. China: total highway length 2017 | Statistic (in en).
  402. China becomes world's first country with complete high-speed rail network – People's Daily Online.
  403. Babones, Salvatore. China's High-Speed Trains Are Taking On More Passengers In Chinese New Year Massive Migration (in en).
  404. Automotive Industry in China: Sales – Statistics & Facts. Industry News. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  405. Road Traffic Accidents Increase Dramatically Worldwide. Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  406. "Chinese bus collides with tanker, killing 36", BBC, 26 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  407. China: number of fatalities in traffic accidents 2017 | Statistic (in en).
  408. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 470MBikes
  409. "Chinese Railways Carry Record Passengers, Freight" Xinhua 21 June 2007
  410. 410.0 410.1 "China's trains desperately overcrowded for Lunar New Year", 22 January 2009.
  411. 411.0 411.1 Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (in zh-hans). National Railway Administration of the People's Republic of China (10 April 2014).
  412. 伍妍. Rail system to grow by 4,000 km in 2018 – Chinadaily.com.cn.
  413. Countries With the Most High Speed Rail (in en).
  414. China Exclusive: Five bln trips made on China's bullet trains – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  415. "China opens world's longest high-speed rail route", BBC, 26 December 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  416. Full speed ahead for China's high-speed rail network in 2019 (in en) (2019-01-03).
  417. China's high-speed railway length to top 30,000 km in 2019 - Xinhua | English.news.cn.
  418. "Top ten fastest trains in the world" railway-technology.com 29 August 2013
  419. Wang, Serenitie (2019-05-24). China unveils 600km/h maglev train prototype (in en).
  420. "China to let more cities build metro systems – Economic Information Daily", 16 May 2016.
  421. "China's Building Push Goes Underground", 10 November 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  422. 422.0 422.1 "Primed to be world leader", China Daily, 5 July 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  423. Boeing Delivers Its 2,000th Airplane to China (in en-US).
  424. "China 'suffers worst flight delays'", BBC, 12 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  425. "Top 50 World Container Ports" World Shipping Council {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}} Accessed 2 June 2014
  426. Hook, Leslie. "China: High and dry: Water shortages put a brake on economic growth", 14 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  427. Website of the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation. JMP (WHO and UNICEF). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  428. Global Water Intelligence:"New directions in Chinese wastewater", October 2010, p. 22, quoting the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
  429. Wang, Yue, "Chinese Minister Speaks Out Against South-North Water Diversion Project", 20 February 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  430. Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census[1 (No. 1)]. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  431. Population Growth Rate. CIA. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  432. "The American Dream Is Alive. In China.", The New York Times, 18 November 2018. (written in en-US)
  433. Lahiri, Zheping Huang, Tripti. China's path out of poverty can never be repeated at scale by any other country (in en).
  434. hermesauto (7 December 2018). After 40 years, China aims to close chapter on poverty (in en).
  435. China Unemployment Rate [1999 – 2019 [Data & Charts]].
  436. "China formalizes easing of one-child policy", 28 December 2013.
  437. Top legislature amends law to allow all couples to have two children. Xinhua News Agency (27 December 2015).
  438. "The most surprising demographic crisis", The Economist, 5 May 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  439. (2012)Population, Policy, and Politics: How Will History Judge China's One-Child Policy?. Population and Development Review 38: 115–29.
  440. Whyte, Martin K. (2015). Challenging Myths about China's One-Child Policy. The China Journal.
  441. (2017) The Astonishing Population Averted by China's Birth Restrictions: Estimates, Nightmares, and Reprogrammed Ambitions. Demography 54 (4): 1375–1400.
  442. Parry, Simon, "Shortage of girls forces China to criminalize selective abortion", The Daily Telegraph, 9 January 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  443. "Chinese facing shortage of wives", BBC News, 12 January 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  444. 444.0 444.1 444.2 "Chinese mainland gender ratios most balanced since 1950s: census data". Xinhua. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  445. The odds that you will give birth to a boy or girl depend on where in the world you live. Pew Research Center (24 September 2013).
  446. Lilly, Amanda. "A Guide to China's Ethnic Groups", 7 July 2009.
  447. (2011) China's Geography: Globalization and the Dynamics of Political, Economic, and Social Change. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7425-6784-9. 
  448. "Major Figures on Residents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and Foreigners Covered by 2010 Population Census". National Bureau of Statistics of China. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  449. Languages of China – from Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
  450. (2008) Language Planning and Policy in Asia: Japan, Nepal, Taiwan and Chinese characters. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 978-1-84769-095-1. 
  451. "Languages". 2005. Gov.cn. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  452. (2011) Rough Guide Phrasebook: Mandarin Chinese. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-4053-8884-9. 
  453. Urban population (% of total). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  454. 454.0 454.1 454.2 Preparing for China's urban billion pp. 6, 52. McKinsey Global Institute (February 2009). Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  455. 455.0 455.1 "Urbanisation: Where China's future will happen", The Economist, 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  456. National Data. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  457. "China Now Has More Than 260 Million Migrant Workers Whose Average Monthly Salary Is 2,290 Yuan ($374.09)", International Business Times, 28 May 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  458. "China's urban explosion: A 21st century challenge", CNN, 20 January 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  459. "China's mega city: the country's existing mega cities", 24 January 2011.
  460. Overview. Shenzhen Municipal E-government Resources Center. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  461. "Wu-Where? Opportunity Now In China's Inland Cities", 7 August 2012.
  462. Tabulation of the 2010 Census of the People's Republic of China. China Statistics Press.
  463. Francesco Sisci. "China's floating population a headache for census". The Straits Times. 22 September 2000.
  464. Peking University Ranking | CWUR World University Rankings 2018-2019.
  465. 9-year Compulsory Education. China.org.cn. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  466. "China eyes high school enrollment rate of 90%", 8 August 2011.
  467. "China's higher education students exceed 30 million", 11 March 2011.
  468. School enrollment, tertiary (% gross). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  469. Vocational Education in China. China.org.cn. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  470. "China pledges free 9-year education in rural west". China Economic Net. 21 February 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  471. "In Education, China Takes the Lead", 16 January 2013.
  472. "Chinese Education: The Truth Behind the Boasts", 4 April 2013.
  473. School enrollment, secondary (% gross). World Bank. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  474. "Factbox: Education in China", 7 August 2008.
  475. Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above). World Bank. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  476. (2014) 49 Myths about China. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3622-6. 
  477. "China Beats Out Finland for Top Marks in Education". TIME. 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  478. Balding, Christopher (19 November 2017). China's Top Economic Risk? Education.. Bloomberg.
  479. Ministry National Health and Family Planning Commission. nhfpc.gov.cn. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  480. "China's $124 Billion Health-Care Plan Aims to Boost Consumption", 22 January 2009.
  481. "Great Progress, but More Is Needed", 1 November 2011.
  482. Barboza, David, "2,000 Arrested in China in Counterfeit Drug Crackdown", 5 August 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  483. Life expectancy at birth, total (years). World Bank. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  484. Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births). World Bank. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  485. "Life expectancy increases by 44 years from 1949 in China's economic powerhouse Guangdong", People's Daily, 4 October 2009.
  486. "China's Infant Mortality Rate Down". 11 September 2001. China.org.cn. Retrieved 3 May 2006.
  487. (2012). Despite Gains, Malnutrition Among China's Rural Poor Sparks Concern. Science 336 (6080).
  488. McGregor, Richard (2 July 2007). 750,000 a year killed by Chinese pollution. Financial Times. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
  489. "China's Tobacco Industry Wields Huge Power" article by Didi Kirsten Tatlow in The New York Times 10 June 2010
  490. "Serving the people?". 1999. Bruce Kennedy. CNN. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  491. "Obesity Sickening China's Young Hearts". 4 August 2000. People's Daily. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  492. "China's latest SARS outbreak has been contained, but biosafety concerns remain". 18 May 2004. World Health Organization. Retrieved 17 April 2006.
  493. Wong, Edward, "Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China", 1 April 2013.
  494. (2001) Religious Minorities and China (in English). Minority Rights Group International. 
  495. (9 May 2014) Muslim Education in the 21st Century: Asian Perspectives (in English). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-81500-6. “Subsequently, a new China was found on the basis of Communist ideology, i.e. atheism. Within the framework of this ideology, religion was treated as a 'contorted' world-view and people believed that religion would necessarily disappear at the end, along with the development of human society. A series of anti-religious campaigns was implemented by the Chinese Communist Party from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. As a result, in nearly 30 years between the beginning of the 1950s and the end of the 1970s, mosques (as well as churches and Chinese temples) were shut down and Imams involved in forced 're-education'.” 
  496. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. National Religious Affairs Administration. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  497. Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Chapter 2, Article 36.
  498. 498.0 498.1 (2010) Chinese Religion: A Contextual Approach. London: A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-84706-475-2.  pp. 9–11.
  499. Miller, James (2006). Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-626-8.  p. 57.
  500. Tam Wai Lun, "Local Religion in Contemporary China", in Xie, Zhibin (2006). Religious Diversity and Public Religion in China. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-5648-7.  p. 73.
  501. Teiser, Stephen F. (1996), "The Spirits of Chinese Religion", in Donald S. Lopez Jr., Religions of China in Practice, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press . Extracts in The Chinese Cosmos: Basic Concepts.
  502. 502.0 502.1 Laliberté, André (2011). Religion and the State in China: The Limits of Institutionalization. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 40 (2): 3–15. ISSN 1868-4874 (online), ISSN 1868-1026 (print). p. 7: "[...] while provincial leaders in Fujian nod to Taoism with their sponsorship of the Mazu Pilgrimage in Southern China, the leaders of Shanxi have gone further with their promotion of worship of the Yellow Emperor (Chinese: 黃帝; Template:!(Template:!(pinyin]]: Huáng Dì)".
  503. Sautman, Barry (1997), "Myths of Descent, Racial Nationalism and Ethnic Minorities in the People's Republic of China", in Dikötter, Frank, The Construction of Racial Identities in China and Japan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, at 75–95, ISBN 978-962-209-443-7  pp. 80–81.
  504. Gallup International Religiosity Index. WIN-Gallup International (April 2015).
  505. Adler, Joseph A. (2011). "The Heritage of Non-Theistic Belief in China". {{{booktitle}}}.
  506. China Family Panel Studies 2014 survey. See release #1 (archived) and release #2 (archived). The tables also contain the results of CFPS 2012 and Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) results for 2006, 2008 and 2010.
  507. Wenzel-Teuber, Katharina. Statistics on Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China – Update for the Year 2016. Religions & Christianity in Today's China VII: 26–53.
  508. Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing. UNESCO. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  509. (1997) China: Understanding Its Past. University of Hawaii Press. 
  510. (2005). Historical and Contemporary Exam-driven Education Fever in China. KEDI Journal of Educational Policy 2 (1): 17–33.
  511. Tour Guidebook: Beijing. China National Tourism Administration. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  512. "Why China is letting 'Django Unchained' slip through its censorship regime", Quartz, 13 March 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  513. "China: Traditional arts". Library of Congress – Country Studies. Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  514. China: Cultural life: The arts. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  515. "China: Folk and Variety Arts". Library of Congress – Country Studies. Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  516. "What is the world's favourite holiday destination?", BBC, 4 August 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  517. Microsoft Word – UNWTO Barom07 2 en.doc. UNWTO (2010). Archived from the original on 15 October 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
  518. "China's Economy: What the Tourist Boom Tells Us", Time, 17 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  519. Archived copy. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  520. The Canonical Books of Confucianism – Canon of the Literati (14 November 2013). Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  521. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (6 June 2014). Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  522. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (18 April 2011). Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  523. {{{title}}}. 明清小说研究 (April 1997).
  524. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  525. Archived copy (12 March 2014). Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  526. {{{title}}}. Journal of Northeast Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) (June 2010).
  527. "新文化运动中的胡适与鲁迅". 中共杭州市委党校学报. April 2000. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  528. "魔幻现实主义文学与"寻根"小说" {{#invoke:webarchive|webarchive}}. 文学评论. February 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  529. "莫言:寻根文学作家". 东江时报. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  530. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (16 September 2013). Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  531. Eight Major Cuisines (2 June 2011). Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  532. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (15 November 2014). Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  533. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (23 September 2013). Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  534. Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified (1 April 2011). Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  535. {{{title}}}. Food and Nutrition in China (January 2008).
  536. "China's Hunger For Pork Will Impact The U.S. Meat Industry", 19 June 2013.
  537. Tom Dunmore, Historical Dictionary of Soccer (Scarecrow Press, 2011, ISBN 0810871882).
  538. Sport in Ancient China Liu Jue (刘珏). Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  539. Beijing 2022 Winter Games Olympics – results & video highlights International Olympic Committee. Retrieved September 6, 2019.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Dunmore, Tom. Historical Dictionary of Soccer. Scarecrow Press, 2011. ISBN 0810871882
  • Jacques, Martin.When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order. Penguin Books, 2012. ISBN 0143118005
  • Lagerwey, John. China: A Religious State. Hong Kong University Press, 2010. ISBN 9888028030
  • Meng, Fanhua. Phenomenon of Chinese Culture at the Turn of the 21st century. Enrich Professional Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9814332356
  • Ross, Robert S. (ed.). East Asia in Transition: Toward a New Regional Order. Routledge, 1995. ISBN 1563245604
  • Selden, Mark. The People's Republic of China: Documentary History of Revolutionary Change. Monthly Review Press, 1979. ISBN 0853454663
  • Shambaugh, David L. China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation. University of California Press, 2008. ISBN 0520260074
  • Wei, Chunjuan Nancy. "From Mao to Deng to Xi: How Incentives Work for China" International Journal on World Peace XXXVI(2) (June 2019): 31-57.
  • Ye, Sang. China Candid: The People on the People's Republic. University of California Press, 2006. ISBN 0520245148

External links

All links retrieved


Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.


Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "lower-alpha", but no corresponding <references group="lower-alpha"/> tag was found

Pages in category "Bible"

The following 150 pages are in this category, out of 150 total.