China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. 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 Central Plain, major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow River, deserts, subtropical and temperate forests, plateaus, and mountain ranges such as the Himalayas. It is the world's second-most populous country after India, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion (17% of the world's population). Covering 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third largest country by area. Humans first arrived in China during the Paleolithic. During the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states emerged. In 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin, followed by the Han dynasty, ushering in two millennia of imperial rule across periods of unity and division. The imperial era saw the expansion of the Silk Road and the invention of gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass. After increased Western political, economic, and philosophical influence, the empire was succeeded by the Republic of China (ROC) after the 1911 Revolution. The Warlord Era and Chinese Civil War followed, interrupted by the Second Sino-Japanese War, which ended in a Chinese victory. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the PRC and the ROC retreated to Taiwan. Both sides still claim political legitimacy. Attempts by the CCP to advance its political program faltered through famine and political turmoil. The reform and opening-up that began in 1978 moved China towards a socialist market economy, spurring economic growth. China is a unitary 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 has the second-largest economy by nominal GDP. International organizations have criticized China, alleging authoritarianism and human rights abuses. Possessing a large military, space program, and nuclear stockpile, China has been described as a superpower due to its influence in geopolitics, science and technology, manufacturing, economics, and culture. Chinese art and culture have influenced much of Asia, 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 60 World Heritage Sites, including the Great Wall and Grand Canal. The Han, 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.