# China (region)

34°12′25″N 113°49′44″E﻿ / ﻿34.207°N 113.829°E﻿ / 34.207; 113.829
China (simplified Chinese: 中国; traditional Chinese: 中國 Pinyin: Zhōngguó), in traditional concepts, refers to the nation located at the center of Tianxia.. Originally, it referred to the region including Henan Province and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River (Zhongyuan). Through interactions and conflicts with surrounding regimes across different dynasties, China's territorial boundaries have experienced multiple expansions and contractions, now extending to areas such as the Heilongjiang River Basin, the northern steppes, the Western Regions, the Tibetan Plateau, and the South China Sea islands. Currently, the regime widely recognized internationally as representing "China" is the People's Republic of China.
Huaxia is one of the cradles of human civilization. During the Neolithic period, organized settlements began to emerge in Zhongyuan region. Around the 27th century BCE, tribal states (fangguo) appeared, governed by a hegemon as the central authority. By the 20th century BCE, ancient China entered the hereditary feudal stage. In the 2nd century BCE, the Qin state defeated the other six states, achieving China's first unification.
For the next two millennia, China's political system operated under a semi-traditional hereditary monarchy, based on the foundation laid during the Xia Dynasty. Over this period, the country experienced multiple expansions, disintegrations, reorganizations, and dynastic changes, alternating between unification and division. In 1911, following the Xinhai Revolution, the Republic of China was established, transitioning the political system from a monarchy to a republic.
After the outbreak of the Second Chinese Civil War in 1945, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gradually gained control over most of China's territory. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established under the governance of the CCP, while the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) retreated to Taiwan later that year, resulting in the current cross-strait division。.
Within the United Nations system, the ROC government held China's representation for an extended period until it was replaced by the PRC following the adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971.
China's economy has held an important position in the world for a considerable period of its history, with its cycles typically corresponding to the rise and fall of dynasties. The history of China's economy can be divided into several stages: the first stage spans from ancient times to the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, with significant changes during the Three Kingdoms period, particularly under Eastern Wu; the second stage lasts from the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the An Lushan Rebellion marking a division between the two periods; the third stage extends from the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty to the Opium War.
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to conservative foreign policies, the implementation of the maritime ban (haijin), and the prevalence of agrarian-based and anti-commercial thought, China’s industrialization developed slowly. Meanwhile, Western countries, after the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, produced industrial goods in overwhelming quantities and quality compared to the handcrafted products of China’s economy at the time. The industrial revolution led to a significant increase in industrialization in the West, and economies based on industry rapidly developed, which resulted in China’s economy falling behind the West. However, since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policies in 1978, China’s economy has developed rapidly, and its influence on the world economy has become increasingly significant
Chinese culture, after thousands of years of historical evolution, is the result of long-term mutual exchanges, borrowing, and integration of ancient cultures across various regions and ethnic groups. Over the course of its long history, China has formed a diverse yet unified cultural pattern. As the dominant culture, Han culture has had a profound influence on Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, forming the Sinosphere based on Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese art forms include national music, crosstalk, Chinese opera, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese painting, literature, ceramics, and sculpture. Traditional recreational activities include Chinese chess, Go, Mahjong, and Chinese martial arts. Tea, alcohol, cuisine, and chopsticks are distinctive aspects of Chinese food culture, while traditional Chinese festivals include the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year), Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Chongyang Festival, and Dongzhi Festival.
Traditionally, China has been a Confucian state, using the lunar calendar as its system of timekeeping and the Five Relationships (Wu Lun) as moral guidelines. During the Spring and Autumn period, Confucius promoted the idea of "education for all" and the principle of teaching according to the abilities of the student, establishing private schools to cultivate talent. In the Han Dynasty, officials were selected through a system of recommendation (Chaju), while the Sui Dynasty introduced the imperial examination system (Keju) to select talent from the common people. Furthermore, throughout China's history, each dynasty established official historians, which allowed for the preservation of detailed historical records, such as the Twenty-Four Histories and Zizhi Tongjian. In the field of science, ancient China also made substantial achievements.
* ↑ 李民 (2010). 《中原文化与民族复兴》. 河南人民出版社. pp. 第7頁. ISBN 9787215072756.
* ↑ 萌典. 中華民國教育部. 上古時代，漢族文化發源黃河流域，以為居天下之中，故稱其地為「中國」。後各朝疆土漸廣，凡所轄境，皆稱為「中國」。
* ↑ 萌典. 中華民國教育部. 古代漢族最初多建都於河南省及其附近區域，以其位居四方之中，文化美盛，故稱其地為「中華」。後各朝疆土漸廣，凡所轄地，皆稱為「中華」。
* ↑ 新華字典. 商務印書館. Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-22. 古代华夏族多建都于黄河南北，以其在四方之中，因称之为中华。后各朝疆土渐广，凡所统辖，皆称中华，亦称中国。
* ↑ 左傳正義. 中國有禮儀之大，故稱夏，有服章之美，謂之華。
* ↑ Li Liu，《中国的新石器时代》，剑桥大学出版社：剑桥，2004，ISBN 0-521-81184-8.（英文）
* ↑ 國史大綱. 商務印書館. 經過戰國二百四、五十年的鬥爭，到秦始皇二十六年滅六國，而中國史遂開始有大規模的統一政府出現。……秦人統一。此間有極重要者四事：一為中國版圖之確立。二為中國民族之摶成。三為中國政治制度之創建。四為中國學術思想之奠定。……秦並六國，中國史第一次走上全國大一統的路。
* ↑ 李守孔 (Sep 1973). 中國現代史. Taipei: 三民書局.
* ↑ 張家駒，《兩宋經濟重心的南移》，湖北人民出版社，1957年
* ↑ 约翰•普伦德.中国以空前方式影响世界经济 Archived 2016-06-16 at the Wayback Machine2015-12-24
* ↑ ""中华民族多元一体格局"理论研究概述 · 中国民俗学网-中国民俗学会 · 主办 ·". www.chinafolklore.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-02-22.