People's Republic of China | |
---|---|
Anthem: "March of the Volunteers" 义勇军进行曲 | |
Capital | Beijing |
Largest city | Shanghai[1][2] |
Official languages | Standard Chinese |
Recognised regional languages | Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Zhuang, Cantonese, English, Portuguese, Korean |
Ethnic groups | 91.51% Han;[3] 55 recognised minorities |
Religion | State Atheism |
Demonym(s) | Chinese |
Government | Unitary socialist one-party state[4] |
Xi Jinping[a] | |
• Premier | Li Qiang |
Zhao Leji | |
Wang Huning | |
Legislature | National People's Congress |
Establishment | |
• Unification of China under the Qin Dynasty | 221 BC |
1 January 1912 | |
1 October 1949[5][6][7] | |
Area | |
• Total | 9,640,821 km2 (3,722,342 sq mi)[b] or 9,671,018 km²[b] (3rd/4th) |
• Water (%) | 2.8[c] |
Population | |
• 2023 census | 1,409 billion[3] (2nd) |
• Density | 139.6/km2 (361.6/sq mi) (83rd) |
GDP (PPP) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $27.449 trillion[8] (2nd) |
• Per capita | $21,250[8] (79rd) |
GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $17.96 trillion (IMF)[8]
$17.96 trillion (China NBS)[9][10] (2nd) |
• Per capita | $12,720[8] (72nd) |
Gini (2022) | 46.7[11] high |
HDI (2022) | 0.788[12] high · 75th |
Currency | Renminbi (yuan) (¥) (CNY) |
Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard Time) |
Date format | yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy年m月d日 (CE; CE-1949) |
Driving side | right, except for Hong Kong & Macau |
Calling code | +86[c] |
ISO 3166 code | CN |
Internet TLD | .cn[c] .中國[13] .中国 |
a. ^ Simple descriptions of the political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible.
b. ^ 9,598,086 km2 (3,705,842 sq mi) excludes all disputed territories. |
The People's Republic of China (PRC) (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國) is a one-party state in East Asia governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It was founded on 1 October 1949. It currently has more than 1.4 billion people (as of 2017).[3] It covers an area of 9.6 million square kilometers.
The capital city is Beijing and Shanghai is the city with the most people living in it. Along with the cities of Tianjin and Chongqing, these four cities are "municipalities" directly controlled by the national government. Two other cities are given the status of "special administrative region" (SAR). They are Hong Kong, which was once a colony of the United Kingdom and given back to China in 1997 and Macau, which Portugal gave back in 1999. These two cities remain highly autonomous or have much of their own power. Aside from the "municipalities" and the "SARs", there are 23 provinces and five "autonomous regions" or regions with more law-making rights than the provinces and with many people of a minority group population. They are the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region or Nei Mongol Autonomous Region and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
In the SARs, the central government is responsible for defense and foreign affairs but not daily operations for 50 years. PRC claims Taiwan as one of its many provinces. However, PRC does not have control of Taiwan. It has an entirely different political system and is officially known as the Republic of China.
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