China

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Humans first arrived in China during the Paleolithic. During the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states emerged. In 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin, followed by the Han dynasty, ushering in two millennia of imperial rule across periods of unity and division. The imperial era saw the expansion of the Silk Road and the invention of gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass. After increased Western political, economic, and philosophical influence, the empire was succeeded by the Republic of China (ROC) after the 1911 Revolution.

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Etymology

The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese, Malay, and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna (चिन), used in ancient India. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scriptures dating from the 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE, including the Mahabharata and the Laws of Manu. In 1655, the missionary Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the ancient state of Qin. This remains a common etymology. Another possible source is the ancient Guizhou polity of Yelang, known as ʐina in Loloish languages.

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History

Evidence of early humans such as Homo erectus in China dates to the Paleolithic, around 1.7 million years ago, with unconfirmed sites as old as 2 million years ago. Modern Homo sapiens are attested from around 50,000 years ago. Following the end of the Last Glacial Period, in about 8,000 BCE, pottery-making Neolithic cultures emerged. By the 6000s BCE, sedentary agricultural societies had spread across the lower Yellow River basin. These societies became increasingly complex, urbanized, and stratified, but many experienced a population collapse in the late 2000s BCE for unclear reasons.

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Geography

China's geography is highly varied, featuring a dry and mountainous west, alongside both mountains and wide river valleys in the east. Chinese civilization was traditionally centered in the lowlands around China's two longest rivers: the Yangtze and the Yellow River, both originating on the Tibetan Plateau. This temperate region is bordered by forest and steppe to the north, as well as the mountainous and subtropical south. China's shoreline spans the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, all part of the Pacific Ocean. Its largest island is Taiwan, and the largest governed by the PRC is Hainan. Poyang Lake is the largest of the country's many freshwater lakes.

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Politics

China is a unitary state under the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Since the 1980s, the CCP has called its guiding theories and policies socialism with Chinese characteristics, which it considers an adapted form of Marxism–Leninism that emphasizes a market economy as the primary stage of socialism. China describes itself as a socialist state, and a people's democratic dictatorship. Many academic sources describe it as an authoritarian state, although others dispute this label as reductive, or as oversimplifying its methods of political control.

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Economy

The modern PRC is often described by analysts as an example of state capitalism or party-state capitalism, with both market forces and the state playing a major role in the economy. Various state organs manage the economy according to the State Council's five-year plans. China describes its economic system as a socialist market economy, in which the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation under the control of a socialist state. The Chinese economy has expanded more than 20 times since 2000.

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Demographics

The 2020 Chinese census recorded the population as 1,411,778,724. About 17.95% were 14 years old or younger, 63.35% were between 15 and 59, and 18.7% were over 60. Between 2010 and 2020, the average population growth rate was 0.53%. Since 2022, deaths have outpaced births. China has one of the lowest total fertility rates (births per woman) in the world, around 1.0 as of 2025. China has a rapidly aging population: the proportion of Chinese over 65 is predicted to reach 26% by 2050, which would create a large economic and social burden from increased need for caretakers and medical assistance.

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Culture

Beginning in the Qin and Han dynasties and continuing over the following millennia, an area of Chinese cultural influence grew to encompass much of East Asia. Japan, Korea, and Vietnam adopted various political, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic concepts from China, facilitated by their adoption of Chinese characters and participation in the tributary system. China has 60 World Heritage Sites, including the Great Wall and Grand Canal, the second most of any country (behind Italy).

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