Han People's Republic

**Zhonghua** (中华）, officially the **People's Republic of Zhonghua** (PRZ), is a large sovereign state located in Nakasu. It is the world's most populous country with a population of over 1.5 billion. The PRZ is a single-party state led by the Communist Party of Zhonghua, with the city of Shaoshan as its capital. Zhonghua holds full jurisdiction over 32 provinces and four municipalities.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, Zhonghua is the world's second-largest country by land area. Zhonghua's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from Arctic tundra, forest steppes, deserts in the arid south-west to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya and Heilishi mountain ranges separate Zhognhua from south and south-east Nakasu, while the Ural Sea separates Zhonghua from the USSU and Athenia. The Changjiang and Huanghe Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the northern arctic plateaus and the Tianshan mountains in the north to the densely populated south-eastern seaboard.

Zhonghua is a cradle of civilization, with its known history beginning with an ancient civilization – one of the world's earliest – that flourished in the fertile basin of the Huanghe River in the East Zhonghua Plain. For millennia, Zhonghua's political system was based on hereditary monarchies, known as dynasties, beginning with the semi-mythological Xia of the Huanghe River basin. Since 221 BCE, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Zhonghuan empire, the country has expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. From the end of World War I onwards, the power of the Imperial government waned, resulting in the rise of numerous modern warlords and rebel factions. After World War II, the Communist Party seized power in mainland Zhonghua, defeating the various factions and the Imperials, establishing the People's Republic of Zhonghua in Shaoshan on 1 October 1949. The final (and current) dynasty of Zhonghua, the Li Dynasty, relocated the Imperial government to Jingpo.

Zhonghua had the largest and most complex economy in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, Zhonghua became one of the world's fastest-growing major economies, but began stagnating in the early 2010s before again rising following World War IV. As of 2049, it is the world's largest economy by nominal total GDP and largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). Zhonghua is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. Zhonghua is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's second-largest standing army, with the second-largest defence budget. The PRZ has been a United Nations member since 1971. Zhonghua is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the SDC. Zhonghua is a world superpower and a major regional power within Nakasu.

## Military

*Main article: People's Liberation Army*

With 3.9 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the second-largest standing military force in the world, behind the Red Army. It is commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC). The PLA consists of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and a strategic nuclear force, the Second Artillery Corps.

A recognized nuclear weapons state, China is considered a military superpower. Zhonghua fields between 150 and 175 nuclear ICBMs, along with a number of SRBMs. Zhonghua has developed numerous power projection assets since the early 2000s, with four supercarriers and a substantial fleet of submarines, including several nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines. Zhonghua has furthermore established a network of foreign military relationships along critical sea lanes.

Zhonghua has a modern air force, having made significant progress in modernising its forces in the early 2000s. It manufactures its own modern fighters, and has developed indigenous stealth aircraft and numerous combat drones. On the ground, Zhonghua has updated its forces to modern standards while still maintaining cost-effectiveness by employing tried-and-tested technologies, also having upgraded its battlefield C3I and C4I systems to enhance its network-centric warfare capabilities. Zhonghua's conventional ground forces have a heavy focus on mechanised infantry, similar to the USSU. Zhonghua has developed or acquired numerous advanced missile systems, including anti-satellite missiles, cruise missiles and submarine-launched nuclear ICBMs.