Chinaball

**Chinaball** (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of Chinaball (PRC; Chinese: 中华人民共和国; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó), is a countryball in East Asiaball. It is the world's most populous countryball, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. Chinaball spans five geographical time zones and borders 14 different countryballs, the second most of any countryball in the world after Russiaball. Covering an area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the world's third or fourth largest countryball. The country consists of 23 provinces, four municipalities, five autonomous regions, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kongball and Macauball). The national capital is Beijingball.

Chinaball emerged as one of the world's first civilizations in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. Chinaball was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. For millennia, Chinaball's political system was based on absolute hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynastyball in the 21st century BCE. Since then, Chinaball has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited core Chinaball and established the first Chinese empire. The succeeding Han dynastyball (206 BCE – 220 CE) saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynastyball (618–907) and Northern Song dynastyball (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asiaball, as the new Silk Road brought traders to as far as Mesopotamiaball and the Horn of Africaball. The Qing dynastyball, Chinaball's last dynasty, which formed the territorial basis for modern Chinaball, suffered heavy losses to foreign imperialism in the 19th century.

The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of Chinaball (ROC) replaced the Qing dynastyball. China was invaded by the Empire of Japanball during World War II. The Civil War resulted in a division of territory in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Partyball (CCP) established the People's Republic of Chinaball on the mainland while the Kuomintang-led ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwanball. Both claim to be the sole legitimate government of Chinaball, although the United Nationsball has recognized the PRC as the sole representation since 1971. Chinaball conducted a series of economic reforms since 1978, and entered into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Chinaball is currently governed as a unitary one-party socialist republic by the CCP. Chinaball is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a founding member of several multilateral and regional cooperation organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the RCEP, and is a member of the BRICS, the G8+5, the G20, the APEC, and the East Asia Summit. It ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, government transparency, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. Chinese authorities have been criticized by political dissidents and human rights activists for widespread human rights abuses, including political repression, mass censorship, mass surveillance of their citizens and violent suppression of protests.

Chinaball is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity and the second-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's second wealthiest country by total wealth. The countryball has a fast growing major economy, the world's largest manufacturer and exporterand has the world's largest standing army by military personnel, with the second-largest defense budget and is an officially recognized nuclear-weapon state. Chinaball is known for its well-known culture, cuisine, manufacturing, scientific and technological innovations with the second largest number of UNESCO sites in the world and the fourth-most visited country with 65.7 million visitors.