History
China's civilization dates back to at least 1250 BC. The imperial age, which began in 221 BC, lasted until the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912. In the 19th century, China suffered from economic problems and repeated conflict with Western powers, which resulted in the loss of several key ports. In the 1930s, Japan occupied much of north-eastern China and, in 1937, a full-scale Japanese invasion led to eight years of devastating war. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, won the country's long-running civil war, establishing the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Disastrous socialist policies, such as the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), cost millions of lives and ended only with Mao's death in 1976. After 1978, market-oriented economic reforms led to a steady opening up and made China one of the world's fastest-growing economies. As a result, living standards in most of the country have increased dramatically, lifting some 800 million people out of poverty.
Geography
China is the world's fourth-largest country by area. There are fertile plains and deltas in the east, while the west has mountains, high plateaus and desert. The climate is highly diverse — ranging from tropical in the south to subarctic in the north.
People and languages
Over 90 per cent of China's 1.4 billion people are Han Chinese, but there are 56 ethnic groups.
China's population has a considerable gender imbalance: the 2020 census counted 34.9 million more males than females. Men who are unable to find a female partner are known as "bare branches".
Standard Chinese (Mandarin) is spoken by the majority of people and is the lingua franca. Cantonese is spoken by about 4.3 per cent of the population — particularly in southern cities such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Government
The People's Republic of China is a one-party state, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Xi Jinping has been president since 2013. In 2018, he had the two-term limit for the presidency removed from the constitution. He will probably remain president for life.
Every five years, the CCP's National Congress sets major policies and selects people for top positions, such as the Central Committee, which has about 370 members — including ministers, provincial leaders and military officers.
The Central Committee acts rather like a board of directors for the CCP and selects the Politburo, which currently has 24 members. The Politburo, in turn, chooses the Politburo Standing Committee. This is the leadership's inner circle. Its size has ranged from five to nine people, with Xi at the very top, as the party's general secretary.
Economy
Since moving from a centrally planned to a more market-oriented economy, China has become the world's largest exporter and the largest trading nation. Real per-capita GDP has grown almost ten-fold since 1990. However, growth has been very uneven, and for a middle-income country, China still has a very large number of poor people.
Source: The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency; Council on Foreign Relations