About China
The People’s Republic of China is located in eastern Asia and is almost identical in size to the United States. China shares borders with 14 countries, the longest is located in the north with Mongolia (almost 4,700 km).
China is also the third largest country on earth with the world’s third and sixth longest rivers (Yangtze and Yellow) and the highest point (Mount Everest).
The total population in the country takes approximately 1.3 billion.
China has five autonomous regions, four municipalities (including Beijing 北京and Shanghai 上海) and two Special Administration Regions (SAR) – Hong Kong and Macau.
The capital of the country is Beijing, located in the north-eastern side with 20 million of population and a high variety of contrasts in architecture and way of life.
The urban center of Beijing is the south-eastern part of the municipality and is in a circular, or ring, pattern, with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City at the heart.
Beijing is also near the Xishan and Jundu mountains on a plain that gently slopes down to the Bohai Sea, an inlet of the Yellow Sea without forgetting that just 200 km away we can find the Gobi Desert beyond the mountains.
Brief history
The Feudal Shang Dynasty, settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century BC was very important for China because of the advantages he brought. The oracle bone script of this Dynasty represents the oldest form of Chinese writing found and is the direct ancestor of the modern Chinese characters.
About the Imperial China, it is important to mention, that the first unified Chinese state was established in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state. He proclaimed himself the “First Emperor” and imposed many reforms throughout the country. Between 206 BC and 220 AC we can see the Han Dynasty which expanded their empire’s territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and many parts of Central Asia.
A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty were the country of China enjoyed a golden age of develop having a rich economy with export goods and a high revelation in arts and culture. In this period the capital of China was moved from Nanjing to Beijing.
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of Imperial China. The presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution.
The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of mainland China and the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing the ROC’s territory to only Taiwan, Hainan, and their islands.
In October of 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the actual People’s Republic of China, which was commonly known in the West as “Communist China” or “Red China” during the Cold War.After Mao’s death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, who were blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly toke power from Mao’s anointed successor Hua Guofeng. Although he never became the head of China, he was the Paramount leader at that time.
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