China, officially the People's Republic of China, is a country in East Asia.
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125 Facts About China
3.
China is currently governed as a unitary one-party socialist republic by the CCP.
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4.
China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a founding member of several multilateral and regional cooperation organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the RCEP, and is a member of the BRICS, the G8+5, the G20, the APEC, and the East Asia Summit.
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6.
China is a recognized nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and second-largest defense budget.
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7.
China is considered to be a potential superpower due to its large markets, high innovation, economic potential, growing military strength, and influence in international affairs.
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8.
In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty.
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9.
China is sometimes referred to as the Mainland when distinguishing the ROC from the PRC.
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11.
Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world.
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13.
Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses.
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14.
Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with the gradual conquest of Western Xia by Genghis Khan, who invaded Jin territories.
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15.
Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture.
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16.
China was forced to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to the British under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, the first of the Unequal Treaties.
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17.
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang was proclaimed provisional president.
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18.
The political division in China made it difficult for Chiang to battle the communist-led People's Liberation Army, against whom the Kuomintang had been warring since 1927 in the Chinese Civil War.
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19.
However, the validity of this handover is controversial, in that whether Taiwan's sovereignty was legally transferred and whether China is a legitimate recipient, due to complex issues that arose from the handling of Japan's surrender, resulting in the unresolved political status of Taiwan, which is a flashpoint of potential war between China and Taiwan.
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20.
China developed an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons.
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21.
In 2013, China initiated the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure investment project.
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23.
China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to the subtropical forests in the wetter south.
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25.
Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.
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26.
China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer.
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27.
Major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the Gobi Desert.
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28.
China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms: the Palearctic and the Indomalayan.
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29.
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals, 1, 221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh).
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30.
China has over 32, 000 species of vascular plants, and is home to a variety of forest types.
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31.
China has over 10, 000 recorded species of fungi, and of them, nearly 6, 000 are higher fungi.
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32.
China is the country with the second highest death toll because of air pollution, after India.
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33.
In 2020, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced that China aims to peak emissions before 2030 and go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the Paris climate accord.
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34.
China had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.
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35.
China has the largest power capacity of installed solar photovoltaics system and wind power system in the world.
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36.
People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia.
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37.
Chinese constitution states that the People's Republic of China "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants, " and that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism.
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38.
China'storians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China by reference to these "generations".
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40.
The National People's Congress in 2018 altered the country's constitution to remove the two-term limit on holding the Presidency of China, permitting the current leader, Xi Jinping, to remain president of China for an unlimited time, earning criticism for creating dictatorial governance.
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41.
Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption.
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44.
China was a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.
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45.
China has a close economic and military relationship with Russia, and the two states often vote in unison in the United Nations Security Council.
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46.
China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013 as measured by the sum of imports and exports, as well as the world's largest commodity importer.
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47.
China is the largest trading partner for the ASEAN nations, with a total trade value of $345.
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48.
In 2020, China became the largest trading partner of the European Union for goods, with the total value of goods trade reaching nearly $700 billion.
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49.
China became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2001.
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50.
China has had a long and complex trade relationship with the United States.
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51.
In 2000, the United States Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" with China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries.
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52.
China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most important export market.
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53.
Since the turn of the century, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation; in 2019, Sino-African trade totalled $208 billion, having grown 20 times over two decades.
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55.
However many of these loans made under the Belt and Road program are unsustainable and China has faced a number of calls for debt relief from debtor nations.
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56.
China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them.
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57.
China uses a massive espionage network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and surveillance of personal technology as a means of social control of persons living in the country.
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59.
China has the second-largest military reserve force, only behind North Korea.
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60.
In terms of purchasing power parity, China's economy has been the largest in the world since 2014, according to the World Bank.
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61.
China is the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods.
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62.
China had one of the largest economies in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline.
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63.
Since economic reforms began in 1978, China has developed into a highly diversified economy and one of the most consequential players in international trade.
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64.
China has three out of the ten largest stock exchanges in the world—Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen—that together have a market capitalization of over $15.
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65.
China has four out of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers, which is more than any country in the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index.
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66.
China has been the world's No 1 manufacturer since 2010, after overtaking the US, which had been No 1 for the previous hundred years.
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67.
China has been No 2 in high-tech manufacturing since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation.
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68.
China is the second largest retail market in the world, next to the United States.
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69.
China is the world's leader in electric vehicles, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars in the world in 2018.
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70.
China is the leading producer of batteries for electric vehicles as well as several key raw materials for batteries.
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71.
China has a large informal economy, which arose as a result of the country's economic opening.
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72.
In 2019, China overtook the US as the home to the highest number of people who have a net personal wealth of at least $110, 000, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse.
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73.
China had 85 female billionaires as of January 2021, two-thirds of the global total, and minted 24 new female billionaires in 2020.
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74.
China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million.
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75.
China reduced the extreme poverty rate—per international standard, it refers to an income of less than $1.
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76.
China's GDP was slightly larger than Germany's in 2007; however, by 2017, China's $12.
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77.
China was the only major economy in the world to grow in 2020, recording a 2.
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78.
China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international trade value of US$4.
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79.
In 2012, China was the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment, attracting $253 billion.
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80.
China is a major owner of US public debt, holding trillions of dollars worth of U S Treasury bonds.
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81.
In 2008, China established dim sum bond market and expanded the Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity.
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82.
China has had the world's largest middle class population since 2015, and the middle class grew to a size of 400 million by 2018.
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83.
Wages in China have grown a lot in the last 40 years—real wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007.
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84.
Per capita incomes have risen significantly – when the PRC was founded in 1949, per capita income in China was one fifth of the world average; per capita incomes now equal the world average itself.
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85.
China has the world's highest number of billionaires, with nearly 878 as of October 2020, increasing at the rate of roughly five per week.
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86.
China has a high level of economic inequality, which has increased in the past few decades.
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87.
China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming dynasty.
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88.
In 2017, China spent $279 billion on scientific research and development.
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89.
China is developing its education system with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics; in 2009, China graduated over 10, 000 PhD engineers, and as many as 500, 000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.
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90.
China became the world's largest publisher of scientific papers since 2016.
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91.
In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth country to do so independently.
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92.
In 2003, China became the first country in Asia and the third country in the world to independently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; as of 2022, fourteen Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women.
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94.
In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover onto the lunar surface.
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95.
In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the Far side of the Moon.
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96.
In 2021, China became the second nation in history to independently land a rover on Mars, joining the United States.
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97.
Currently, China is building its own space station, Tiangong, in low Earth orbit.
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98.
China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1.
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99.
China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials.
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100.
China has developed its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012 as well as global services by the end of 2018.
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101.
China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production.
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102.
China has over 2, 000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping.
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103.
Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in China is facing challenges such as rapid urbanization, as well as water scarcity, contamination, and pollution.
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104.
China used to make up much of the world's poor; now it makes up much of the world's middle class.
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105.
China legally recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, who altogether comprise the Zhonghua Minzu.
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106.
Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.
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107.
China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million, including the 17 megacities as of 2021 of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Xi'an, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Linyi, Shijiazhuang, Dongguan, Qingdao and Changsha.
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108.
The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions.
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109.
China has the largest education system in the world, with about 282 million students and 17.
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110.
China had over 3, 000 universities, with over 40 million students enrolled in mainland China.
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112.
In 2011, China was estimated to be the world's third-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals, but its population has suffered from the development and distribution of counterfeit medications.
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113.
China is home to many of the world's tallest religious statues, including the tallest of all, the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan.
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114.
Clear data on religious affiliation in China is difficult to gather due to varying definitions of "religion" and the unorganized, diffusive nature of Chinese religious traditions.
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115.
Scholars note that in China there is no clear boundary between three teachings religions and local folk religious practice.
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116.
Chinese historiography began with the Shiji, the overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four Histories, which set a vast stage for Chinese fictions along with Chinese mythology and folklore.
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117.
Pork is the most popular meat in China, accounting for about three-fourths of the country's total meat consumption.
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118.
Traditional Chinese opera is a form of musical theatre in China originating thousands of years and has regional style forms such as Beijing opera and Cantonese opera.
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119.
China has the largest number of movie screens in the world since 2016, China became the largest cinema market in the world in 2020.
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120.
The top 3 highest-grossing films in China currently are Wolf Warrior 2, Ne Zha (2019), and The Wandering Earth (2019).
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121.
China has one of the oldest sporting cultures in the world.
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122.
China has participated in the Olympic Games since 1932, although it has only participated as the PRC since 1952.
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123.
China hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where its athletes received 48 gold medals – the highest number of gold medals of any participating nation that year.
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124.
China won the most medals of any nation at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, with 231 overall, including 95 gold medals.
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125.
China hosted the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin and the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing; the first country to host both regular and Youth Olympics.
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