After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a three-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion. By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China’s population having basic health insurance coverage.
Total fertility rate
British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau returned to China in 1997 and 1999, respectively, as special administrative regions under the principle of one country, two systems. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings known collectively as the Northern Expedition. The Kuomintang moved the nation’s capital to Nanjing and implemented “political tutelage”, an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People program for transforming China into a modern democratic state.
Takaichi’s provocative remarks criticized in China’s Taiwan region
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. Taiwan, along with the Penghu, were handed over to ROC control; however, the validity of this handover is controversial. In June 1946, fighting between CCP and KMT forces broke out and the country resumed a state of civil war that lasted more than three years. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing war, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.
The CCP consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement, which included the state-tolerated executions of between 1 and 2 million landlords by peasants and former tenants. Though the PRC initially allied closely with the Soviet Union, the relations between the two communist nations gradually deteriorated, leading China to develop an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons. The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974. The historical consensus is that the policies of the Mao-era significantly reduced poverty.
- The Chinese authorities have also cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong, especially after the passage of a national security law in 2020.
- 33% of China’s territory is mountainous, 26% high plateaus, 19% basins and deserts, 12% plains, and 10% hills.
- According to the World Bank, China’s GDP grew from $150 billion in 1978 to $18.74 trillion by 2024.
- China’s lowest point, and the third lowest point on the Earth’s surface, is the arid Turpan Depression located in the far western part of the country.
Industry and services
He enacted Qin’s legalist reforms, notably the standardization of Chinese characters, measurements, road widths, and currency. His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi, Guangdong, and Northern Vietnam. The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor’s death.
In 2022, China’s highways had reached a total length of 177,000 km (110,000 mi), making it the longest highway system in the world. China has the world’s largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. The country is the world’s largest exporter of cars by number as of 2023. A side-effect of the rapid growth of China’s road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents. In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2023update, there are approximately 200 million bicycles in China.
However, the growth also severely impacted the country’s resources and environment, and caused major social displacement. Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader at the 18th CCP National Congress in 2012. Shortly after his ascension to power, Xi launched a vast anti-corruption crackdown, that prosecuted more than 2 million officials by 2022. During his tenure, Xi has consolidated power unseen since the initiation of economic and political reforms. By 1949, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the ROC government retreated offshore to Taiwan. On 1 October 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
- As of 2020update, China boasts the five longest metro systems in the world with the networks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen being the largest.
- These are not exclusive beliefs and often these will overlap as the respondents will have multiple beliefs at the same time.
- In 2022, China’s highways had reached a total length of 177,000 km (110,000 mi), making it the longest highway system in the world.
- In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China.
- The Republic of China, along with the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union, were recognized as the Allied “Big Four” in the Declaration by United Nations.
Tang Architecture: Building Timeless Glory
In 2019, China overtook the U.S. 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. China had 85 female billionaires as of January 2021update, two-thirds of the global total. China has had the world’s largest middle-class population since 2015; the middle-class grew to 500 million by 2024. Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai’s Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, as well as by the concept of “harmony without uniformity”, which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. The PRC has diplomatic relations with 179 United Nations member-states and maintains embassies in 174. As of 2024update, China has one of the largest diplomatic networks of any country in the world.
The renminbi is the world’s fourth-most traded currency as of 2023update. However, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, the U.S. The Chinese government has also been cited for failing to crack down on the manufacturing and export of counterfeit goods.
International organization participation
According to one group of scholars, one-child limits had little effect on population growth or total population size. The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may have contributed to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth. The 2020 census found that males accounted for 51.2% of the total population. However, China’s sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.8% of the population. China’s railways, which are operated by the state-owned China State Railway Group Company, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world’s rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world’s tracks in 2006.
The economic reforms marked China’s transition away from planned economy. In 1989, there were protests such those in Tiananmen Square, and then throughout the entire nation. Jiang Zemin was elevated to become the CCP general secretary, becoming the paramount leader.
The Numbers of a Decade: A Journey through China’s Modernization
Shanghai is China’s most populous urban area while Chongqing is its largest city proper, the only city in China with a permanent population of over 30 million. The figures in the table below are from the 2020 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists for total municipal populations. The large “floating populations” of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult; the figures below include only long-term residents.
By 2022, China had established itself as a key producer and exporter of pharmaceuticals, producing around 40 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients in 2017. China has the largest education system in the world, with about 287 million students and 18.85 million full-time chicken road game google play store teachers in over 470,300 schools in 2023. Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$817 billion in 2020. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces, it only totalled ¥3,204. China’s literacy rate has grown dramatically, from only 20% in 1949 and 65.5% in 1979, to 97% of the population over age 15 in 2020.
Guilin and Lijiang River National Park, China
For much of the country’s dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han dynasty. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. Over the millennia, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. The “three doctrines” of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism have historically shaped Chinese culture, enriching a theological and spiritual framework of traditional religion which harks back to the early Shang and Zhou dynasty.
China’s development momentum helps drive Africa’s modernization
China has the world’s second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, and the world’s largest in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). As of 2022update, China accounts for around 18% of the global economy by nominal GDP. China is one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, with its economic growth having been almost consistently above 5 percent since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in 1978. According to the World Bank, China’s GDP grew from $150 billion in 1978 to $18.74 trillion by 2024. It ranks 78th by nominal GDP per capita, making it an upper-middle income country.
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest in the world), 1,221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh). Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, one of the world’s largest population of humans. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction, due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and traditional Chinese medicine.
A wide variety of terrain and climate shape its numerous natural attractions. Abundant in a variety of resources, plants, animals, and minerals, the land has nurtured countless generations of Chinese people. Among the 55 minority groups, Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, and Miao have the largest populations. The hanfu movement has been popular in contemporary times and seeks to revitalize Hanfu clothing. China Fashion Week is the country’s only national-level fashion festival. Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to Chinese society.