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China,[h] officially the People's Republic of China (PRC),[i][11] is a country in East Asia. It is the second-most populous country after India, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion (17% of the world's population), across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by area.[j] It is divided into 33 province-level divisions, including two special administrative regions. Beijing is the capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city by urban area. Its geography features the vast Central Plain, major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow River, deserts, subtropical and temperate forests, and mountain ranges such as the Himalayas.
The first humans in China arrived during the Paleolithic. By the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states had emerged. The 1st millennium BCE saw political turmoil and cultural growth. In 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin and the succeeding Han dynasty, ushering in two millennia of imperial rule across periods of unity and division. Its achievements include widespread cultural influence, the Silk Road, and the invention of gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass. After increased Western political, economic, and philosophical influence, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the empire and established the Republic of China (ROC). The Warlord Era and Chinese Civil War followed, interrupted by Japan's invasion. This ended in a Chinese victory in 1945. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the People's Republic of China and forced the ROC's retreat to Taiwan. Both sides claim political legitimacy. CCP attempts to advance communism faltered through famine and political turmoil. The reform and opening up that began in 1978 moved China towards a market economy, spurring economic growth.
The PRC is a unitary communist state with the CCP as its sole ruling party. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and a member of many multilateral organizations. China is the world's largest manufacturer and makes up about one-fifth of the global economy. It is the second largest economy on Earth. International organizations rank China poorly in measures of democracy and human rights. Since the 2020s, it has been described as a superpower due to its large military, nuclear stockpile, and influence in geopolitics, science and technology, manufacturing, economics and culture.
Chinese art and culture has influenced much of Asia. Chinese characters are among the oldest writing systems on Earth, with a literary tradition dating back millennia to the Chinese classics. China is the birthplace of Confucianism and Daoism, which form the traditional three teachings of Chinese philosophy and folk religion alongside Buddhism. Chinese cuisine is diverse and highly regional, with rice as a staple in the south and wheat in the north. It has over 60 World Heritage Sites, including the Great Wall and Grand Canal. The Han, mostly speakers of Sinitic languages, are China's dominant ethnicity, although it is home to 55 recognized minorities, including the Hui, Mongols, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Zhuang.
Etymology
Main article: Names of China
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.[13] Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture 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 name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) or the prior state of Qin.[14] This remains a common etymology, although Indian sources precedes the dynasty.[14][15] Another possible source is the ancient Guizhou polity of Yelang, known as ʐina in Loloish languages.[14]
The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (中华人民共和国; Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó).[11] The shorter form is "China" (中国; Zhōngguó), from zhōng ('central' or 'middle') and guó ('state'), a term first used for the demesne of the Western Zhou dynasty.[k][16][17] The names of ruling imperial dynasties were typically used to refer to the region and state, with Zhongguo vague and uncommon. In the 1800s, Zhongguo was officially adopted as the name of the country by the Qing dynasty.[17] China is sometimes referred to as mainland China or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from the Republic of China on Taiwan or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions.[18]
History
Main article: History of China
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Chinese history.
Prehistory
Main article: Prehistory of China
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.[19] 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.[20][21] These societies became increasingly complex, urbanized, and stratified,[22] but many experienced a population collapse in the late 2000s BCE for unclear reasons.[23]
Ancient China
A set of bronze ritual vessels arranged in a museum display
A set of Western Zhou-era ritual bronzes, c. 1000 BCE
After 2000 BCE, a Bronze Age culture emerged in the Central Plain, dubbed the Erlitou culture after its main site. Erlitou has been controversially identified with the Xia, the traditionally-accepted first dynasty, but no written records exist to confirm this.[24][25][26] The Shang dynasty purportedly succeeded the Xia around 1600 BCE, with its early stages tentatively identified with an expansionist state known archaeologically as the Erligang culture.[27] The historicity of the Late Shang is attested through divinational writings in the oracle bone script. These are the earliest known form of writing in China and the ancestor of modern Chinese characters.[28][29]
The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou c. 1046 BCE. The Zhou ruled over a vast and loose confederation of vassal states across central China gradually weakened by regional lords.[30] Centralized authority finally collapsed in 771 BCE, giving way to constant regional warfare. During the Eastern Zhou, a multitude of small aristocratic Spring and Autumn period polities evolved into seven territorial Warring States over the following centuries.[31][32] Literary and philosophical developments of this period include the emergence of various schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism, alongside Chinese classics like the Analects and the Tao Te Ching.[31][33]
Imperial China
Further information: Chinese Empire
Classical period
A group of the Terracotta Warriors standing in an archaeological dig site
Soldier statues of the Terracotta Army, buried alongside Qin Shi Huang c. 210 BCE
In the 220s BCE, Qin rapidly conquered the other warring states. In 221, its ruler Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the first emperor (皇帝; Huángdì) and founded the Qin dynasty.[34][35] He led an autocratic Legalist state organized in a system of commanderies and counties. The dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after his death.[36][37]
Following widespread revolts, the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE.[l][38] The Han gradually reinstated centralized control, legitimizing their rule through Confucian scholarship.[39][40] Military expeditions against the Xiongnu, a confederation of nomadic steppe tribes frequently in conflict with the dynasty, expanded Han influence into parts of Central Asia and helped to establish the Silk Road, allowing for trade connections between China and western Eurasia. Contemporaneously, merchants established maritime trade routes linking China, Southeast Asia, and India.[39][41]
The Han faced widespread uprisings and the emergence of local warlords in the 100s CE.[42] By 220, the empire was split into the Three Kingdoms. These were briefly united by the Jin dynasty in 280, which fell into civil war. Sinicized formerly nomadic peoples who had settled in Northern China, such as the Xiongnu, rebelled and founded new dynasties.[43][44] These coalesced into the Northern and Southern dynasties in the 400s.[45] During these conflicts, Buddhism was introduced to China via the Silk Road.[46][47]
Medieval period
After centuries of warfare, China was reunited under the Sui in 589,[48] who constructed the Grand Canal to link Northern and Southern China.[49] The Sui collapsed in the 610s, and were succeeded by the Tang. The Tang dynasty centralized the state and dispatched military expeditions to pacify the surrounding regions. It promoted Buddhism, but through expanding international trade built a heavily cosmopolitan society centered on its capital of Chang'an.[50] It reformed the civil service examinations and oversaw a flourishing of art, poetry, architecture, and scholarship.[51][52][53] The 755–763 An Lushan rebellion weakened the Tang, which gradually fragmented before collapsing completely in 907.[54][55]
A section of a Song dynasty painting showing a boat nearly crashing into a bridge
Section from the Song-era landscape painting, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, early 1100s
The Song dynasty rose to power in 960. It faced military crises, unable to subdue its Sinicized non-Han neighbors, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty and the Tangut-led Western Xia. The consistent focus on defense allowed for a heavily centralized state and military, which made the first military application of gunpowder.[56][57] The proliferation of printing technology allowed books to become widely available,[58] while the elite class of scholar-officials grew increasingly powerful.[59] Production, population, and trade expanded massively, alongside innovations such as industrial metallurgy and hydraulic machinery.[60] The Song capital Kaifeng was overrun by the Jurchen-led Jin in 1127, forcing the Song to retreat to Southern China. During this period, the revivalist philosophical movement of Neo-Confucianism emerged.[61]
A black hand cannon in a museum display
The 13th century Heilongjiang hand cannon, dating to the Yuan dynasty
Late imperial period
In 1206, Genghis Khan united the nomadic Mongols to the north under the Mongol Empire. Over the following fifty years, they conquered the Western Xia and the Jin, in addition to their other conquests as far west as Europe. The empire split into separate khanates. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty and subjugated the Song by 1279.[62][63] The Yuan maintained a Mongol elite culture, but Chinese culture remained largely unchanged.[64]
In the 1340s, central China was devastated by disease, famine, and mass floods along the Yellow River. Various rebellions erupted, leading to a peasant leader declaring himself the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1368.[65][66] The Ming built a new capital at Beijing, with the Forbidden City as its imperial palace, although the lower Yangtze remained the wealthiest region. Trade grew, and the European colonization of the Americas brought new crops and a massive influx of silver to China.[67] The population doubled, and a growing publishing industry began producing works in vernacular Chinese. including the Four Classic Novels.[68]
Tax evasion became common among the rich during the 1500s, resulting in greater rent and tax burdens on the poor. The bankrupt and factionalized government was unable to contain peasant rebellions. The Manchu to the north declared the Qing dynasty in 1636 and conquered the Ming,[69] killing their last claimant emperor in 1662 and conquering a Ming rump state on Taiwan in 1683.[70] From the late 1600s to the end of the 1700s, the High Qing era saw economic growth and territorial expansion westward, including the occupation of Tibet and much of Central Asia.[71][72][73]
An oil painting of European and Chinese ships docked at a trading port
1805 painting of the European factories in Guangzhou (Canton).
European powers fought various wars against the Qing dynasty during the 19th century. These began with the United Kingdom's First O***m War in 1839–1842,[74][75] which resulted in the first of the "unequal treaties" imposed on the dynasty, which opened treaty ports, allowed Christian missionary activity, and loosened trade restrictions.[76] China faced an economic crisis and internal unrest, and uprisings such as the 1850–1864 Taiping Rebellion resulted in the deaths of millions.[77][78] Reformist factions of the Qing state responded with the Self-Strengthening Movement, seeking to adopt western weapons and technologies, but this had little impact for much of the empire.[79]
The Qing's defeat against the Empire of Japan in 1895 resulted in the loss of Taiwan and the growth of both reformist and revolutionary political movements. An imperial push for reform in 1898 was ended after an internal coup, while the anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion was defeated by a coalition of foreign powers in 1901. The Qing state again advanced reforms, but growing revolutionary and anti-Manchu sentiment culminated in the 1911 Revolution. A coalition of revolutionaries overthrew the Qing and declared the Republic of China in 1912.[80][81
Republic of China
Main article: Republic of China (1912–1949)
A black and white postcard showing the Shanghai Bund, with streetcars and European-style buildings
The Shanghai Bund, c. 1934
President Yuan Shikai crushed his main opposition, the Kuomintang and ruled China as a dictator until his death in 1916, following an abortive attempt to restore the monarchy. During the succeeding Warlord Era, feuding regional warlords and governors took power across China, while Tibet and Mongolia declared independence. The nominal republican government had little control outside Beijing. During this period, New Culture intellectuals and students rebelled against traditional society. A crackdown on a student protest in 1919 led to the May Fourth Movement and further agitation by intellectuals for a cultural and political upheaval, with many embracing Western political ideas such as communism.[82][83]
A black and white photograph of soldiers in combat at the Great Wall of China
Soldiers of the Eighth Route Army at the Great Wall in 1938
In the mid-1920s, the Kuomintang allied with the nascent Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and launched the Northern Expedition to reunify China. In 1927, the Kuomintang violent purged the CCP and gained the allegiance of the northern warlords, establishing a new government at Nanjing.[84] The CCP was driven into the countryside and repressed, before regrouping in the northwest.[85][86]
Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931, before launching an invasion of the rest of China in 1937. A renewed coalition between the CCP and Kuomintang fought Japan in what became a theater of World War II, as Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population and occupied most of China's major cities.[87][88][89] After the surrender of Japan in 1945, China became a founding member of the United Nations and regained control over Manchuria and Taiwan. The civil war between the CCP and the Kuomintang resumed the following year.[90]
People's Republic of China
Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
After a string of military victories, CCP chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The Kuomintang government retreated to Taiwan and continued to claim legitimacy.[91] The following year, the PRC began to occupy and annex Tibet.[92] The PRC, a "people's democratic dictatorship" under CCP control, enacted many reforms: it restructured the economy under state control, promoted literacy and women's equality, expanded heavy industry, and promoted land collectivization through the Land Reform Movement, which saw state-tolerated violence against landlords by the peasantry and the death of upwards of a million people.[93][94][95]
A group of pedestrians and cyclists by a large poster with Chinese political writing, alongside a portrait of Mao Zedong and a Chinese flag
A big-character poster and portrait of Mao Zedong in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution, 1976
In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a mass industrialization project which resulted in the Great Chinese Famine and around 30 million deaths. As the Cold War deepened, the PRC grew politically isolated from its former ally, the Soviet Union, as well as the Western Bloc. China detonated its first atomic bomb in 1964.[96][97] Attempting to reassert control of the CCP after the Great Leap, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, sparking a decade of political violence, crackdowns on perceived counterrevolutionaries, and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976.[98][99]
Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978. The PRC's reform and opening up during the 1980s and 1990s saw economic liberalization towards a "socialist market economy," rapid economic growth, friendlier relations with the West, and crackdowns on political dissidence in events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.[100] China shifted away from an agricultural economy and rapidly urbanized, although this led to stark economic inequality between urban and rural areas, as well as environmental deterioration.[101]
Geography
Main article: Geography of China
A topographic map of China
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 around its two largest 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, while to the south is the mountainous and subtropical south of the country.[102]
Large mountain ranges in the west, including the Himalayas and Tian Shan, separate China from South and Central Asia. The west features both the Turpan Depression, among the deepest points on land, and the high Tibetan Plateau.[103] The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 miles), lies on the border with Nepal.[104]
Climate
Main article: Climate of China
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.[105]
Köppen-Geiger climate classification map for mainland China[106]
The expansion of China's deserts, particularly the Gobi, has posed a persistent threat.[107] 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 spread across East Asia. Water quality, erosion, and pollution control have become important issues in China's foreign relations. Melting glaciers in the Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people.[108] In order to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), electricity generation from coal without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045.[109]
Much of China has a climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops.[110] In 2021, 12% of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland.[111]
Biodiversity
Main article: Wildlife of China
A giant panda, one of China's most famous symbols, at the Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan
China is one of 17 megadiverse countries,[112] lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms: the Palearctic and the Indomalayan. By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia.[113]
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals,[114] 1,221 species of birds,[115] 424 species of reptiles (seventh)[116] and 333 species of amphibians.[117] Wildlife in China is pressured by the large human population. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction, due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching.[118] Endangered wildlife is legally protected. As of 2019, China has over 2,750 nature reserves, covering 15% of China's total land area.[119][needs independent confirmation] Most wild animal species have been eliminated from the agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west.[120][121]
China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants,[122] and hosts various forest types. It gained 100,000 hectares (390 sq mi) of forestland per year between 2015 and 2025.[123] Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north, supporting mammals such as moose and Asian black bear, along with many bird species.[124] The understory of moist conifer forests may contain thickets of bamboo. Higher montane stands of juniper and yew instead feature rhododendrons. Subtropical forests, which are predominate in central and southern China, support a high density of plant species including numerous rare endemics. Tropical and seasonal rainforests, though confined to Yunnan and Hainan, contain a quarter of all the animal and plant species found in China.[124] China has over 10,000 recorded species of fungi.[125]
Environment
Main articles: Environment of China and Environmental issues in China
See also: Renewable energy in China, Water resources of China, Energy policy of China, and Climate change in China
The Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
In the early 21st century, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to rapid industrialization.[126][127] Environmental regulations are fairly stringent, although poorly enforced and often disregarded.[128] China has the second-highest death toll from air pollution, with approximately 1 million deaths as of 2016.[129][130] Although China ranks as the highest CO2 emitting country, it only emits 8 tons of CO2 per capita, significantly lower than many other developed countries.[131] Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest.[131]
China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in the 2010s.[132] In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.[133] According to government surveys, its forest coverage grew from 10% of the overall territory in 1949 to 25% in 2024.[134] In 2024, the government graded 90.4% of China's national surface water suitable for human consumption.[135]
China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization, with $546 billion invested in 2022.[136]Long heavily relying on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years.[137] In 2025, 54.4% of China's electricity came from coal, while 42% came from clean energy sources.[138] Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets.[139][140]
Political geography
Main articles: Borders of China, Coastline of China, and Territorial changes of the People's Republic of Chin

Map depicting territorial disputes between the PRC and neighboring states.
China is the second-largest country by land area after Russia, and the third- or fourth-largest by total area.[m] China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km2 (3,700,000 sq mi).[141] Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km2 (3,696,100 sq mi)[12] to 9,596,961 km2 (3,705,407 sq mi).[4][3]
China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi). Its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi), from the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin.[3] China borders 14 nations on land, and has several maritime neighbors.[142]
China resolved the demarcation of its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them.[143][144][145] China currently has disputed borders with India[146] and Bhutan.[147] It is involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and the entirety of South China Sea Islands.[148][149]
Politics
Main article: Politics of China
The Great Hall of the People
where the National People's Congress convenes
The Zhongnanhai, headquarters of the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party
The People's Republic of China is a communist state under the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics, which it describes as Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances.[150][151]
The PRC officially characterizes itself as a "people's democratic dictatorship" and a "whole-process people's democracy" organized around the Leninist principle of democratic centralism.[152][153][154] It is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship,[155][156] with very heavy restrictions in many civil areas, notably against freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, free formation of social organizations, freedom of religion and freedom of the Internet.[157] Other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for the multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in the Chinese governmental system.[158]
Chinese Communist Party
Main article: Chinese Communist Party
The CCP is the founding and sole ruling party of the PRC. According to the CCP constitution, the party's highest body is its National Congress, held every five years.[159] The National Congress elects the Central Committee, which convenes yearly as the highest party organ between congresses. The Central Committee then elects the party's Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) and the general secretary (party leader), the top national leadership.[159] The Politburo usually gathers once a month, while the smaller Politburo Standing Committee is thought to meet weekly.[160] The general secretary holds ultimate power and authority over party and state and serves as the paramount leader of China.[161] The current general secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012.[162] The National Congress also elects the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the supreme disciplinary organ.[163]
The government in China is under the sole control of the CCP.[164] The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members.[164] The appointment of CCP cadres and the leadership of all major state-owned enterprises is managed by the party's Organization Department.[160][165]: 140 The CCP maintains committees in the each level of government.[166] By law, the CCP leads over all major sectors of the country, including politics, military, society, economy, education, culture, diplomacy, ideology, law, national security, and propaganda and media.[167]
Government
Xi Jinping
CCP General Secretary and President
Li Qiang
Premier
Zhao Leji
Congress Chairman
Wang Huning
CPPCC Chairman
The National People's Congress (NPC), with nearly 3,000-members, as the supreme organ of state power holds the unified powers of the state,[168] creating a system where all state organs including the presidency, the State Council, the State Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the National Supervisory Commission are subject to its oversight through democratic centralism. However, observers often describe it as a "rubber stamp" body.[169] The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee, elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months.[169] Its elections are indirect and not pluralistic, with nominations at all levels being controlled by the CCP.[154][170] The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with eight minor parties having representation in the body while observing CCP leadership.[171]
The NPC elects the president, the ceremonial state representative. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CCP and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the armed forces. The premier is the head of government, with Li Qiang being the incumbent. The premier is officially nominated by the president and then elected by the NPC, and has generally been either the second- or third-ranking member of the PSC. The premier presides over the State Council, composed of four vice premiers, several state councillors, and the heads of ministries and commissions.[151] The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body that formally leads China's united front system, which aims to gather non-CCP groups and individuals to support the CCP.[172]
The governance of China is characterized by a high degree of political centralization but significant economic decentralization.[173]: 7 Policy instruments or processes are often tested locally before being applied more widely, resulting in a policy that involves experimentation and feedback.[174]: 14 The central government typically drafts formal policies, law, or regulations after a policy has been developed at local levels.[175]: 71
Citizen surveys show the Chinese public have a high level of satisfaction with their government.[173]: 137 These views are generally attributed to the material comforts and security available to large segments of the Chinese populace as well as the government's attentiveness and responsiveness.[173] : 136 A 2020 Harvard University survey found that citizen satisfaction with the government had increased since 2003.[176]
Administrative divisions
Main articles: Administrative divisions of China, Districts of Hong Kong, and Municipalities and parishes of Macau
The PRC is constitutionally a unitary state divided into 23 provinces,[n] five autonomous regions (each with a designated minority group), four direct-administered municipalities, as well as the special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau.[177] The PRC 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, though all these territories are governed by the Republic of China (ROC).[178][179] These divisions are grouped into six statistical regions: North, East, Southwestern, South Central, Northwestern, and Northeast China.[180]
First level administrative divisions of the PRC by type
Type List
Provinces
Anhui (安徽省)
Fujian (福建省)
Gansu (甘肃省)
Guangdong (广东省)
Guizhou (贵州省)
Hainan (海南省)
Hebei (河北省)
Heilongjiang (黑龙江省)
Henan (河南省)
Hubei (湖北省)
Hunan (湖南省)
Jiangsu (江苏省)
Jiangxi (江西省)
Jilin (吉林省)
Liaoning (辽宁省)
Qinghai (青海省)
Shaanxi (陕西省)
Shandong (山东省)
Shanxi (山西省)
Sichuan (四川省)
Yunnan (云南省)
Zhejiang (浙江省)
Taiwan (台湾省), governed by the Republic of China
Autonomous regions
Guangxi (广西壮族自治区)
Inner Mongolia (内蒙古自治区)
Ningxia (宁夏回族自治区)
Tibet (西藏自治区)
Xinjiang (新疆维吾尔自治区)
Direct-administered municipalities
Beijing (北京市)
Chongqing (重庆市)
Shanghai (上海市)
Tianjin (天津市)
Special administrative regions
Hong Kong (香港特别行政区)
Macau (澳门特别行政区)
Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of China
Diplomatic relations of China
People's Republic of China (PRC)
Republic of China (ROC)
Culture
ArchaeologyArchivesArtCalligraphyCinemaCuisineDanceLibrariesLiterature PoetryMartial artsMass mediaMusicNamesPhilosophySmokingSportTea cultureVariety artMajor Historical and Cultural SitesWorld Heritage Sites
Fours of China
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Sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia
Sovereign states
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States with limited
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Dependent
territories
Australia
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United Kingdom
Akrotiri and Dhekelia2 (Sovereign Base Areas)British Indian Ocean Territory
Special administrative
regions of China
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1 Spans the conventional boundary between Asia and another continent.2 Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in West Asia.
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East Asia
Countries and regions
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Ethnic groups
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Culture
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Environment
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Economy and Politics
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History
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Sports
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Education
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Military
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Science and technology
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Group of Eight (G8) and Group of Eight + Five (G8+5)
G8 members
CanadaFranceGermanyItalyJapanRussia (suspended)United KingdomUnited States
Representative
European Union
G8+5
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See also
G6G7G7+1G4 (Europe)G4 (UN)
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G20 major economies
African UnionArgentinaAustraliaBrazilCanadaChinaEuropean UnionFranceGermanyIndiaIndonesiaItalyJapanMexicoRussiaSaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaTurkeyUnited KingdomUnited States
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BRICS
Membership
Brazil Russia India China South Africa Egypt Ethiopia Iran United Arab Emirates Indonesia
Summits
Yekaterinburg 2009Brasília 2010Sanya 2011New Delhi 2012Durban 2013Fortaleza 2014Ufa 2015Goa 2016Xiamen 2017Johannesburg 2018Brasília 2019Saint Petersburg 2020New Delhi 2021Beijing 2022Johannesburg 2023Kazan 2024Rio de Janeiro 2025India 2026
Leaders
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Sports
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Related
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Categories: ChinaAtheist statesCommunist statesOne-party statesRepublicsBRICS nationsCountries and territories where Chinese is an official languageCountries in AsiaCradle of civilizationCountries in East AsiaG20 membersMember states of the United NationsCountries in Northeast AsiaStates with limited recognition