China

Discovering China: A Country of Vast Diversity and Rich History

China, officially the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, representing 17.4% of the world’s population. Imagine a giant puzzle piece that fits perfectly into the map of our world, but this one holds within it a story as vast and complex as its landscape. From bustling metropolises to serene mountain ranges, China is a land where ancient traditions meet modern innovation in ways that are both awe-inspiring and humbling.

The History of a Nation

China’s history dates back over two millennia, with the Qin dynasty unifying the country under an emperor in 221 BCE. This was followed by periods of decline, civil war, and foreign invasion before becoming a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the Communist Party. The Great Wall, built to protect against invasions, is just one of many iconic symbols that tell this epic tale.

The Cultural Tapestry

China’s culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism and emphasizes a sense of deep history and national perspective. Think of it as a rich tapestry woven with threads from ancient dynasties, each adding its unique pattern to the whole. From traditional art and literature to cuisine and fashion, every aspect reflects this profound heritage.

The Economic Powerhouse

China is now a major economic power with significant influence globally, but its authoritarian government and human rights record have raised concerns. Picture China as the largest manufacturing nation since 2010, second-largest in high-tech manufacturing since 2012, and the world’s largest trading power. Yet, beneath this economic might lies a complex political landscape that challenges global perceptions.

The Technological Leap

China has made significant advancements in space exploration, including landing a probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019 and returning Moon samples to Earth in 2020. The country also sent Chang’e 6 on May 3, 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated from the orbiter and returner before landing on the Moon’s surface on June 1, 2024. The ascender launched back to lunar orbit on June 3, carrying samples collected by the lander.

The Environmental Challenges

China faces environmental deterioration and pollution due to rapid industrialization, with significant air pollution problems and limited clean water supply. Picture a bustling cityscape where smog often blankets the skyline, and rivers run murky. The government has prioritized reducing pollution and aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement, investing heavily in renewable energy. Despite this, China remains connected to global oil markets, highlighting the complexity of its environmental challenges.

The Future of a Rising Giant

China’s landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from densely populated alluvial plains in the east to broad grasslands in the north, hills and low mountain ranges in southern China, and major river deltas in central-eastern China. The country is home to the Himalayas, high plateaus, arid landscapes like the Gobi Desert, Mount Everest, and Ayding Lake.

China’s climate is mainly dry seasons and wet monsoons with pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. Environmental issues include desert expansion, water quality concerns, and pollution control. China has a diverse climate suitable for agriculture and is the world’s largest producer of various crops. The country is home to over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.

China is the third-largest country in the world by land area and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area. It has a long combined land border of 22,117 km and a coastline that covers approximately 14,500 km. China borders 14 nations and has several maritime neighbors.

The People’s Republic of China is a one-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics. The CCP is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants. However, China is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship, with restrictions on freedom of press, assembly, religion, and internet access.

The National Congress of the CCP is held every five years. The National Congress elects the Central Committee, who then elects the party’s Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee and general secretary (party leader), the top leadership of the country. The current general secretary is Xi Jinping.

China has close relationships with Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, North Korea, and Iran, as well as trade ties with Africa, Europe, and other regions. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated in 2013 to expand global infrastructure building with $50-100 billion per year funding.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is considered one of the world’s most powerful militaries, rapidly modernized in recent decades. It consists of four services, four independent arms, and nearly 2.2 million active personnel, holding the world’s third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and second-largest navy by tonnage.

China’s official military budget for 2023 was $224 billion, but SIPRI estimates real expenditure to be $296 billion, making up 12% of global military spending and accounting for 1.7% of the country’s GDP. According to SIPRI, China’s military spending from 2012 to 2021 averaged US$215 billion per year or 1.7% of GDP, behind only the United States at US$734 billion per year or 3.6% of GDP.

The PLA is commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC) and has significant criticism for its human rights record, including detention without trial, forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights, and excessive use of the death penalty.

China’s government has been accused of large-scale repression and human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, where significant numbers of ethnic minorities reside. The Chinese authorities have also cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong, especially after the passage of a national security law in 2020.

The situation of human rights in China has attracted significant criticism from foreign governments, foreign press agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The Chinese constitution states that citizens have fundamental rights including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights.

China has limited protections regarding LGBT rights and censorship of political speech and information is amongst the harshest in the world. The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to ‘social stability’. China also uses a massive espionage network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and surveillance of personal technology as a means of social control.

China ranks high in terms of restrictions on religion and has an estimated 3.8 million people living in conditions of modern slavery. The government’s treatment of Uyghurs meets the UN definition of genocide, while a separate UN Human Rights Office report said they could potentially meet the definitions for crimes against humanity.

Despite criticisms, international surveys show that the Chinese public have a high level of satisfaction with their government, with 91% of respondents having significant confidence in their government. China has the world’s second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP and largest in PPP, accounting for 18% of global economy. China’s economic growth has been above 6% since 1978, with a $17 trillion GDP in 2022.

Modern-day China is often described as state capitalism or party-state capitalism, with private enterprise expanding enormously. China is the world’s largest manufacturing nation since 2010 and second-largest in high-tech manufacturing since 2012. It is also the second-largest retail market, leading the world in e-commerce, electric vehicle consumption, and battery production.

China received 65.7 million international visitors in 2019, making it the fourth-most-visited country in the world. The country hosts the world’s second-largest number of World Heritage Sites, with over 56 sites recognized. China accounted for 18.6% of the world’s total wealth in 2022, second highest after the US.

China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million between 1978 and 2018, with the proportion of people living on less than $1.90 per day decreasing from 66.3% to 0.3%. Average standard of living multiplied by a factor of twenty-six, real wages grew seven-fold, and per capita incomes rose significantly.

China’s development is uneven, with high levels of economic inequality. In March 2024, China ranked second in the world in total number of billionaires and millionaires, with 473 Chinese billionaires and 6.2 million millionaires. China has been a member of the WTO since 2001 and is the world’s largest trading power.

China became the world’s largest commodity importer and largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment in 2022. The country’s foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.246 trillion as of March 2024, making it the world’s largest. China invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $147.9 billion in 2023.

Economists argue that the renminbi is undervalued due to currency intervention, giving China an unfair trade advantage. However, China has promoted internationalization of its currency to reduce dependence on the US dollar. The Chinese government has also been criticized for manufacturing counterfeit goods and violating intellectual property rights.

China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming dynasty. Ancient Chinese discoveries like papermaking, printing, and gunpowder became widespread across East Asia and later Europe. Chinese mathematicians used negative numbers first. After repeated defeats by European colonial powers, Chinese reformers promoted modern science and technology.

The Communist Party’s efforts to organize science based on Soviet model were gradually reformed after Mao’s death in 1976. The renminbi is a component of the IMF’s special drawing rights and the world’s fourth-most traded currency as of 2023. However, due to capital controls, it remains behind major currencies like the Euro, US dollar, and Japanese yen in international trade volumes.

Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research and R&D spending. In 2024, China spent around 2.7% of its GDP on R&D, totaling to $496 billion. The country received more patent applications than the US in 2018 and 2019 and ranked first globally in patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports in 2021.

China is developing its education system with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Its academic publication apparatus became the world’s largest publisher of scientific papers in 2016. In 2022, China overtook the US in the Nature Index, which measures the share of published articles in leading scientific journals.

The Chinese space program started in 1958 with some technology transfers from the Soviet Union. The country launched its first satellite in 1970 and became the third country to send humans into space in 2003. In 2011, China launched its first space station testbed, Tiangong-1. In 2022, China completed its own modular space station, the Tiangong, in low Earth orbit.

In recent years, China has made significant advancements in space exploration, including landing a probe on the far side of the Moon in 2019 and returning Moon samples to Earth in 2020. The country also sent Chang’e 6 on May 3, 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated from the orbiter and returner before landing on the Moon’s surface on June 1, 2024. The ascender launched back to lunar orbit on June 3, carrying samples collected by the lander.

The population of China was approximately 1.41 billion as of 2020, with a growth rate of 0.53% between 2010 and 2020. The government implemented a two-child limit during the 1970s, which is still in effect today. Beginning in the mid-1980s, China relaxed its one-child policy, initially allowing for two children if both parents were only children, and later increasing to three children in 2021 due to population aging.

The country has expanded its national road network significantly since the late 1990s and now has the world’s longest highway system. China is the world’s largest exporter of cars by number and has a significant rise in traffic accidents due to rapid growth. The country also has one of the busiest railway networks in the world, handling a quarter of global rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world’s tracks.

China’s high-speed rail system has reached 45,000 kilometers as of 2023, with services on several lines reaching up to 350 km/h and being the fastest conventional high speed railway services in the world. The network includes the longest HSR line in the world and three of the longest railroad bridges.

Rapid transit systems have accelerated growth since 2000, with 55 Chinese cities having urban mass transit systems in operation as of December 2023. China has the busiest metro system in the world, with five of the largest networks operating in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.

The civil aviation industry is state-dominated, with three major airlines making up 71% of the market. Air travel has expanded rapidly, with 551.2 million passengers in 2017, and China had approximately 259 airports as of 2024. The country has over 2,000 river and seaports, including 15 open to foreign shipping.

China’s water supply and sanitation infrastructure faces challenges such as rapid urbanization, water scarcity, contamination, and pollution. However, the country made progress in increasing access to basic sanitation, with 93% of rural households having access by 2022.

The National Health Commission oversees public health and preventive medicine efforts since the early 1950s. Diseases such as cholera and typhoid were nearly eradicated through health campaigns. Health improved rapidly after Deng Xiaoping introduced economic reforms in 1978 due to better nutrition. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized and experienced a significant rise in quality due to a $124 billion initiative that resulted in 95% of the population having basic health insurance coverage by 2011.

By 2022, China had established itself as a key producer and exporter of pharmaceuticals. Life expectancy at birth exceeds 78 years, infant mortality rate is 5 per thousand, and rates of stunting have declined significantly since the 1950s. Despite improvements in health, public health problems such as air pollution and mental health issues remain.

The COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019 and led to strict public health measures that were eventually abandoned.