Portal:China
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Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, but only the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas. The ancient Chinese civilization – one of the world's earliest – flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, known as dynasties, beginning with the semi-mythological Xia of the Yellow River basin (c. 2000 BCE). Since 221 BCE, when the Qin dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the country has expanded, fractured and been reformed numerous times. The Republic of China (ROC) overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949. After the defeat of the Empire of Japan in World War II, the Communist Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang in mainland China and established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the Kuomintang relocated the ROC government to its present capital of Taipei. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2013, it is the world's second-largest economy by both nominal total GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world's largest exporter and importer of goods. China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army, with the second-largest defense budget. The PRC has been a United Nations member since 1971, when it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BCIM and the G20. China is a regional power within Asia and has been characterized as a potential superpower by a number of commentators. Selected article The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms. Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government, known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. The Han dynasty was an age of economic prosperity, and saw a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty. The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BCE remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty. The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government, but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. From the reign of Emperor Wu onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics. Science and technology during Han saw significant advances, including papermaking, the rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer employing an inverted pendulum. Selected picture Mount Lu, located south of the city of Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province. The mountain is a prominent tourist attraction, and is situated in Lushan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Did you know...
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What are WikiProjects? Selected biography Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 –September 9, 1976) was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, military strategies, and his brand of Communist policies are now collectively known as Maoism. Mao remains a controversial figure to this day, with a contentious and ever-evolving legacy. He is officially held in high regard in China as a great revolutionary, political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Many Chinese also believe that through his policies, he laid the economic, technological and cultural foundations of modern China, transforming the country from an agrarian society into a major world power. Additionally, Mao is viewed by many as a poet, philosopher, and visionary, owing the latter primarily to the cult of personality fostered during his time in power. As a consequence, his portrait continues to be featured prominently on Tiananmen and on all Renminbi bills. Mao is regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern world history, and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. Anniversaries for December 5
China's Politics  The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, officially General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is head of the Communist Party of China and the highest-ranking official within China, a standing member of the Politburo and head of the Secretariat. The officeholder is usually considered the paramount leader of China. According to the Constitution, the General Secretary serves as an ex officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body. Since the early 1990s, the holder of the post has been, except for transitional periods, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making the holder the Commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army. The current General Secretary is Xi Jinping (picture), who took the office at the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012. Categories Topics
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Related portalsWikipedias in languages found in China粵語 / 廣東話 (Cantonese) • 古文 / 文言文 (Classical Chinese) • 贛語 (Gan) • Hak-kâ-fa (Hakka) • قازاق تىلى (Kazakh) • 中文 / 普通話 (Mandarin) • 閩東語 (Min Dong) • 閩南語 (Min-nan) • བོད་ཡིག (Tibetan) • ئۇيغۇرچە (Uyghur) • 吳語 / 吳儂軟語 (Wu) • Sawcuengh (Zhuang) Associated WikimediaThe following Wikimedia sister projects provide more on this subject:
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