China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a unitaryone-party sovereign

state in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of
around 1.404 billion.[13] Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers
(3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area,[k][19] depending on the
source consulted. China also has the most neighbor countries in the world. Governed by
the Communist Party of China, it exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous
regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing),
and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
China emerged as one of the world's earliest civilizations, in the fertile basin of the Yellow
River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on
hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty in 21st
century BCE.[20] Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times.
In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin unified core China and established the first Chinese
dynasty. The succeeding Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 BC until 220 AD, saw some of
the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and
the compass,[21] along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention
of gunpowder and printing in the Tang dynasty (618 - 907) completed the Four Great
Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new maritime Silk Route brought
traders to as far as Mesopotamia and Somalia.[22] Dynastic rule ended in 1912 with
the Xinhai Revolution, as a republic replaced the Qing dynasty. The Chinese Civil War led
to the break up of the country in 1949, with the victorious Communist Party of
China founding the People’s Republic of China on the mainland while the
losing Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, a dispute which is still unresolved.
Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China's economyhas been one of the
world's fastest-growing with annual growth rates consistently above 6 percent.[23] As of
2016, it is the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and largest by purchasing
power parity (PPP).[24] China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest
importer of goods.[25] China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the
world's largest standing army and second-largest defense budget.[26][27][28] The PRC is a
member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the UN
Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal
multilateral organizations, including the ASEAN Plus mechanism, WTO, APEC, BRICS,
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BCIM and the G20. China is a great
powerand a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential
superpower.[29][30]