China

China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most-populous country. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the national capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city and largest financial center.

The region has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era. Early Chinese dynasties, such as the Shang and the Zhou, emerged in the basin of the Yellow River before the late second millennium BCE. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in Zhou authority and significant conflict, as well as the emergence of literature, philosophy, and historiograpahy. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor for the first time where appointed non-hereditary officials rules counties instead aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia in which China was governed by imperial dynasties, including the Qin, Han, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. With the invention of gunpowder and paper, the establishment of the Silk Road, and the building of the Great Wall, Chinese culture—including languages, traditions, architecture, philosophy and more—flourished and has heavily influenced East Asia and beyond.

In 1912, after decades of struggle, the monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of China (ROC) was established. Despite ultimate winning in the Second Sino-Japanese War, as a part of the World War II, numerous atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre torched the land. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fought Kuomintang-led government on-and-off since 1927 and in 1949 CCP established control over most of ROC's territory and the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, the country is split with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China. Early communist rule saw two major projects: the Great Leap Forward, which resulted in a sharp economic decline and massive famine; and the Cultural Revolution, a movement to purge all non-communist elements of Chinese society that led to mass violence and persecution while its military became involved in the Korean War. Economic reforms that begin in 1978 moved the country away from planned economics, but political reforms were cut short by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Economic reform continued to strengthen the nation's economy in the following decades while raising China's standard of living significantly.

China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is a founding member of the United Nations (UN), and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, and the RCEP. It is a member of the BRICS, the G20, APEC, the SCO, and the East Asia Summit. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, China is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the second-wealthiest country, albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy, and human rights. The country is one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer, although its economic growth has slowed greatly in the 2020s. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget. China is a great power, a regional power and is widely considered to be a potential superpower.