People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China
National anthem	March of the volunteers
Capital	Beijing
Official language	Standard Chinese
Government type	One-party totalitarian dictatorship state
President	Xi Jinping
Prime Minister	Li Qiang
Currency	Renminbi (CNY)
Time zone	UTC (UTC+8)
Country codes	Internet TLD : .cn Calling code : +86

The People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó, PRC) is a one-party totalitarian dictatorship state in the region called China. The PRC is not only the largest sovereign state in East Asia by a considerable margin, but is also home to the largest human population in the world: over 1.4 billion people. It also holds the record as the largest and most successful communist nation, in that it has survived and in some ways prospered while others, such as the Soviet Union, have not.

China is considered one of the cradles of civilization. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of 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 technology—flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties. For more information, see China, history.

Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy 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, human rights, and religious freedom. The country has been one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget. It is a great power and a regional power, and has been described as an emerging superpower. China is known for its cuisine and culture, and has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the second-highest number of any country.

Population

At of 2023, the PRC's population was 1.4 billion. This figure excludes Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan. The population density was 375 per square mile (145 people per square kilometer). As a comparison, this population density is about four times that of the United States. The population distribution is highly uneven. If a line was to be drawn form the north east to the south west such that the land area was bisected 50/50, then fully 95% of mainland China's population would be found to the South and East of the line while the other 50% of the land area, in the north and west, would contain just 5% of the people. The coastal areas are most densely populated with 400 people per square kilometer. Inland provinces have a typical density of just 90 people per square Kilometer. When looking at the high plateaus of the west of China, there may be as spars a population as 10 per square kilometer.

The population in mainland China is predominantly rural. 745 million people, or 57% of the population, live in rural areas. Migration from the country side to the cities has been discouraged by the state. People are registered to a city as either urban or rural. Migrants to the cities often have to forgo benefits and may not be able to send their children to the cities schools. The general education level remains low. Although the education system has developed since 1949, the number of people with higher education is just 75 million or 6% of the national population and secondary (high school) graduates account for just 15%. In the adult population, 4% are considered illiterate compared to the general figure of just 1% in developed countries.

The PRC's population accounts for one in five humans. The population soared over the last two hundred years and particularly in the 1950s. It is estimated that in 1750 there were just 250 million people in China. By the beginning of the 1950s the population had more than doubled to 535 million. It continued to rise at an accelerated rate to 700 million in 1964. The state encouraged population growth at this time with slogans such as, "There is strength in numbers." and, "The more people, the stronger we are." It was thought that population growth was essential for economic growth and also that the people lost during the wars, revolutions, and invasions that marked the first half of the 19th century must be replaced.

Other factors also played a significant role. Mortality rates declined as the health system was improved and modernized. In 1949 there were just 3,670 medical institutions but by 1998 the figure had risen to 314,000. In the same period, the number of trained health personnel went from 0.93 per thousand of the population to 3.64. The effect of improved health care can be seen in the mortality rates. Previously the mortality rate or pregnant or postnatal women was 1.5% were as current figures are just 0.056%. Another factor in population growth was the traditional culture which encouraged early marriage, early child birth and large families. It was seen as a sign of good fortune to have many children. Small families and those with no children were looked down upon especially in remote and rural areas.

The rate of growth increased yet further during the 1970s. By this time, problems caused by population growth were becoming apparent. The government began to encourage responsible family planning. In 1971, the government introduced a new family planning policy. This encouraged late marriage, late childbearing, and a four-year interval between births. One child was considered good, two were acceptable, and three considered too many.

A policy of "one child per couple" was introduced in the 1980s as the population neared 1 billion. In 2015, that policy was discontinued.

One-Child policy

Year	Population (millions)	Population Increase (millions)
1841	413
1931	475	60
1949	535	60
1959	656	120
1969	785	130
1979	970	180
1989	1100	140
1999	1250	115

In the 20th century, the rapid growth in population in the PRC caused problems. Attempts were first made from the beginning of the 1970s to leash in population growth. These controls and incentives were further strengthened in the 1980s. Traditionally, marriage was encouraged early and couples were expected to bare children quickly and frequently. The law was changed to raise the legal age of marriage. Currently, the law is 20 years old for women and 22 years old for men. Family planning information encouraged a further delay of at least three years. The couple were then encouraged to wait further before having children. Another element of traditional culture was to raise a large family. This was curtailed by official government policy until about 2014, and couples were encouraged to have only one child per family. In a few cases a second child was allowed such as for ethnic minorities living in rural areas or for parents of children who were disabled by illness and thus not able to mature to normal adulthood. However, even where the second child was permitted, family planning and social stigma discouraged it.

The strict family planning controls in China have not been without negative side affects. There is a historical cultural preference to have male children. In Chinese culture, a daughter will belong to her husband's family after marriage so will not support her parents in their old age. In contrast, a son will continue the family business or farm and so provide for his parents. The preference for male children, combined with the one-child policy, led to an excess of female child orphans in China, and in the 1990s through around 2007, there was a lucrative and active stream of adoptions of (mainly female) babies by American parents. However, increased restrictions by the Chinese Government slowed foreign adoptions significantly in 2007 and again in 2015.

As of 2024, the government has greatly scaled back attempts to limit the birth rate, as an aging population was trending to create other social problems. In 2015, the government discontinued the one-child policy, and in 2021 the Communist Party’s top decision-making body announced that it would allow all Chinese couples to have three children.

Ethnic Minorities

Mainland China is made up of 56 ethic groups or nationalities. Of these, the Han, account for the majority (91.6%) of the population at, 1,159,400,000 people . The other 55 ethic groups are considered minority groups and as such have special rights in China constitution. The largest minority group is the Zhuang with 16,178,800 people. Of the 55 minorities only 18 have a population of more than one million in people and 20 have populations below 100,000. However, despite their small numbers, the ethnic groups receive special rights under the country's constitution. At the beginning of New China in 1949, the ethnic minorities in China were poorly developed and their populations in decline. There were, according the first national census in 1953, 34,013,000 ethnic people. By 2005 there were around 120 million ethnic people in China.

The constitution states that all 56 nationalities in China are equal and that the rights and interests of all people should be given protection by the state. To this end, a system of positive discrimination is practised in favour of the minorities. Each compact ethnic community, regardless of size, must be represented at their local people's congress. Also each minority must be represented at the National People's Congress (NPC). This policy meant that the 8% of the population that belongs to ethnic minorities is represented by 15% of the total delegates at the ninth NPC.

All ethnic groups, except form the Manchu and Hui, use their own spoken languages and many have their own writing too. Ethnic languages are encouraged and developed. Ethnic minority school often use their own language as do local news papers, TV, radio and other publications.

History

China is considered one of the cradles of civilization: the first human inhabitants in the region arrived during the Paleolithic age; by the late second millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature, philosophy, and historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of 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 technology—flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties.

After decades of struggle, the 1911 Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of China the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era, which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of the rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led Nationalist government. Following the country's invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the KMT and CCP temporarily agreed to a truce in favor of a united front against the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre had a lasting impact on the country. The end of war with Japan in 1945 was quickly followed by a resumption of hostilities between the KMT and CCP. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming the People's Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan. The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China. Following the implementation of land reforms, further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split, the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States. Mao's successor Deng Xiaoping focused on market-oriented economic development, and by 2000 output had quadrupled, population growth ended (by imposing a one-child policy), and good relations were secured with the West. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls and Internet censorship remain tight. The corresponding movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989.

The Great Wall of China. PHOTO CREDIT: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikipedia Commons

Politics

Diplomacy

The existence of the PRC has remained controversial; it was not until 1972 that the country was recognised by the United Nations, which until then had accepted only the Republic of China, i.e. the de facto state of Taiwan. The U.N. gave the PRC the seat held by Taiwan, and the U.S. extended de facto, then de jure recognition. To this day, some commentators prefer to refer to the PRC as 'Mainland China'.

Diplomatic relations with other states are mixed. On the one hand, relations between the PRC and Taiwan have gradually improved, with open hostility much rarer nowadays. Likewise, the PRC has developed closer economic ties with Japan, though arguments persist over the role of that nation in China during World War II. Relations with the United Kingdom have been friendly since the sovereignty of Hong Kong, a former British colony, passed to the PRC in 1997. On the other hand, the PRC is eyed with some unease in Asia and the wider world, as a potential spark for possible conflict. As of 2024, relations with the United States are strained, including on the issues of trade and Taiwan.

Human rights

Of more general concern than what country is the 'true' China is the PRC's uneven record on human rights; the Chinese Communist Party has been reluctant to engage with Western ideas of what constitutes fair treatment of its citizens, such as the promotion of multi-party democracy. In a country where 70% of the population live a rural lifestyle, the PRC has often resisted calls to place these issues at the top of the agenda. Critics would argue that it places its own rule as the main priority. Also, freedom of speech and religion are mostly disregarded in the PRC, and many groups, such as the Falun Gong, are strictly monitored.

Under Mao, millions of Chinese were killed by famines or government action against the middle classes. The "Cultural revolution" in the 1960s was a counterattack against intellectuals endorsed by Mao. Human rights violations lessened after Mao's death in 1975, but the sharp crackdown on students demanding democracy at Tienanmen Square (in central Beijing) in 1989 disappointed hopes for continued liberalization.

Unrestricted internet access is not generally available in China; though restrictions have been relaxed on occasion, the 'Great Firewall' usually blocks many websites. To do business in the Chinese market, Google agreed to comply with government restrictions and censors. China loosened its restrictions as it prepared to showcase its achievements for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Freedom of speech and religion are strictly controlled, and groups such as the Falun Gong are monitored, with periodic crackdowns involving imprisonment, coercion and harassment; Falun Gong is a particularly controversial group, with a variety of opinions within and outside China as to their activities and how threatening to Chinese 'social harmony' they may be.

China retains the death penalty and has permitted the use of torture, as have other countries; however, reform has also occurred, with the U.S. State Department correspondingly removing China from its 'top ten' list of human rights violators in 2008. China also allows local village elections, which independent candidates may contest.

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre; "Tank Man" temporarily stops the advance of Type 59 tanks on June 5, 1989, in Beijing. This photograph (one of six similar versions) was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press.

Detainees listening to speeches in a camp in Lop County, Xinjiang, April 2017

Economy

From its inception in the 20th century to well into the 21st century, the PRC's economy has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy.

China's economy, based on rice and wheat farming, was generally prosperous until the 18th century. Population pressures and failure to adopt new technology led to an impoverished nation by 1900.

After Mao's death the policy of modernization along Western lines has led to a remarkable rate of economic growth in the industrial cities, which have pulled in millions of peasants from the still poor rural areas. Slack environmental standards have led to serious pollution problems.

The modern Chinese economy has benefited from investments from Taiwan and Hong Kong. They jumped far ahead of China by 1970 in terms of technology, and in recent years have invested in mainland industries.

These two factors have changed Chinese economy, from a command economy to a more socialist state, with the Chinese economy increasingly in the hands of privately-owned businesses, not state- or military-run enterprises. The 2001 declaration by Jiang Zemin (former leader of the Communist Party) of the "theory of three represents" -- that the CCP represents not only workers, but also intellectuals and entrepreneurs -- was an explicit affirmation of what had been a trend for the previous years.

Energy and transportation

The Three Gorges Dam and hydroelectric plant in China, the world's largest hydroelectric generation facility. PHOTO CREDIT: Wikipedia Commons.

The rapid increase in trucks and automobiles has made China a major importer of oil, helping raise world prices. As of 2023, about 60% of Chinese electrical energy comes from burning coal, making it the largest coal user in the world, and also the greatest emitter of greenhouse gases. It has some of the world's most polluted urban air, primarily caused by burning massive amounts of coal, motor vehicle emissions, and industrial pollution. In recent years, China has become a major investor in renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar, and in 2024 these are rapidly outpacing fossil fuels in overall percentage of power generation.

Culture

2008 Olympics

Perhaps the PRC's most visible, recent cultural achievement was to win the right to stage the 2008 Summer Olympics in the capital Beijing. While the modern PRC was established only in 1949, its people are the latest generation of one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world, stretching back over 4000 years.

Religion

In addition to the native folk religions, China is home of two of the world's oldest surviving religions, Confucianism and Taoism. Buddhism, carried over from India and Tibet, has strongly influenced China, and today there are several schools of Buddhism in the country.

In addition, China has several religious minorities. Islam in China is rather moderate, and Chinese Muslims (majority are of Hui ethnicity) often define their faith in Taoist or Confucian terms, although they do not believe in the supernatural elements of those faiths. Christianity was suppressed or taken over by the state after 1949. In recent years, the restrictions have eased. However, several religious groups that reject governmental control are subject to monitoring and government crackdowns, notably the Falun Gong (see human rights, above).

Attribution

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