China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's second-most populous country after India, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion (17% of the world's population), across an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by area. 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 vast Central Plain, major rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow River, deserts, subtropical and temperate forests, plateaus, and mountain ranges such as the Himalayas.
Humans first arrived in China during the Paleolithic. By the 2nd millennium BCE, dynastic states had emerged. The 1st millennium BCE saw political turmoil and cultural growth. In 221 BCE, China was unified under the Qin and the succeeding Han dynasty, ushering in two millennia of imperial rule across periods of unity and division. Its achievements include the Silk Road and the invention of gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass. After increased Western political, economic, and philosophical influence, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the empire and established the Republic of China (ROC). The Warlord Era and Chinese Civil War followed, interrupted by the Second Sino-Japanese War. This ended in a Chinese victory in 1945. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the PRC and forced the ROC's retreat to Taiwan. Both sides claim political legitimacy. CCP attempts to advance communism 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.
The PRC 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 the PRC, alleging authoritarianism and human rights abuses. Possessing a large military 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 has influenced much of Asia. Chinese characters are among the oldest writing systems on Earth, 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, mostly 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.
The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese, Malay, and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna (चिन), used in ancient India. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture from the 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE, including the Mahabharata and the Laws of Manu. In 1655, the missionary Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from the name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) or the prior state of Qin. This remains a common etymology, although Indian sources precedes the dynasty, though not the state. Another possible source is the ancient Guizhou polity of Yelang, known as ʐina in Loloish languages.
The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" (中华人民共和国; Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó). The shorter form of this name is 中国; Zhōngguó, from zhōng ('central' or 'middle') and guó ('state'), a term first used for the demesne of the Western Zhou dynasty. The names of ruling imperial dynasties were typically used to refer to the region and state. In the 1800s, Zhongguo was officially adopted as the name of the country by the Qing dynasty. China is sometimes referred to as mainland China or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from the Republic of China on Taiwan or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions.
Evidence of early humans such as Homo erectus in China dates to the Paleolithic, around 1.7 million years ago, with unconfirmed sites as old as 2 million years ago. Modern Homo sapiens are attested from around 50,000 years ago. Following the end of the Last Glacial Period, in about 8,000 BCE, pottery-making Neolithic cultures emerged. By the 6000s BCE, sedentary agricultural societies had spread across the lower Yellow River basin. These societies became increasingly complex, urbanized, and stratified, but many experienced a population collapse in the late 2000s BCE for unclear reasons.
After 2000 BCE, a Bronze Age culture emerged in the Central Plain, dubbed the Erlitou culture after its main site. Erlitou has been controversially identified with the Xia, the traditionally-accepted first dynasty, but no written records exist to confirm this. The Shang dynasty purportedly succeeded the Xia around 1600 BCE, with its early stages tentatively identified with an expansionist state known archaeologically as the Erligang culture. The historicity of the Late Shang is attested through divinational writings in the oracle bone script. These are the earliest known form of writing in China and the ancestor of modern Chinese characters.
The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou c. 1046 BCE. The Zhou ruled over a vast and loose confederation of vassal states across central China gradually weakened by regional lords. Centralized authority finally collapsed in 771 BCE, giving way to constant regional warfare. During the Eastern Zhou, a multitude of small aristocratic Spring and Autumn period polities evolved into seven territorial Warring States over the following centuries. Literary and philosophical developments of this period include the emergence of various schools of thought, such as Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism, alongside Chinese classics like the Analects and the Tao Te Ching.
In the 220s BCE, Qin rapidly conquered the other warring states. In 221, its ruler Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the first emperor (皇帝; Huángdì) and founded the Qin dynasty. He led an autocratic Legalist state organized in a system of commanderies and counties. The dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after his death.
Following widespread revolts, the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE. The Han gradually reinstated centralized control, legitimizing their rule through Confucian scholarship. Military expeditions against the Xiongnu, a confederation of nomadic steppe tribes frequently in conflict with the dynasty, expanded Han influence into parts of Central Asia and helped to establish the Silk Road, allowing for trade connections between China and western Eurasia. Contemporaneously, merchants established maritime trade routes linking China, Southeast Asia, and India.
The Han faced widespread uprisings and the emergence of local warlords in the 100s CE. By 220, the empire was split into the Three Kingdoms. These were briefly united by the Jin dynasty in 280, which fell into civil war. Sinicized formerly nomadic peoples who had settled in Northern China, such as the Xiongnu, rebelled and founded new dynasties. These coalesced into the Northern and Southern dynasties in the 400s. During these conflicts, Buddhism was introduced to China via the Silk Road.
After centuries of warfare, China was reunited under the Sui in 589, who constructed the Grand Canal to link Northern and Southern China. The Sui collapsed in the 610s, and were succeeded by the Tang. The Tang dynasty centralized the state and dispatched military expeditions to pacify the surrounding regions. It promoted Buddhism, but through expanding international trade built a heavily cosmopolitan society centered on its capital of Chang'an. It reformed the civil service examinations and oversaw a flourishing of art, poetry, architecture, and scholarship. The 755–763 An Lushan rebellion weakened the Tang, which gradually fragmented before collapsing completely in 907.