China

1. China (The People’s Republic of China)

2. The Chinese flag is red with a large yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow five-pointed stars in the upper left-side corner. • The color red represents revolution • The stars symbolize the four social classes • the working class, • the peasantry, • the urban lower middle class • the national upper middle class (capitalists) • All united under the Communist Party of China.

3. Capital City is Beijing

4. Early History • Rice has been grown in southern China for 7,000 years. • Early Chinese became famous for weaving silk from silkworm cocoons. • Early cultures developed along rivers. • Around 2000B.C. Huang (Yellow) river valley was site of one of the earliest cultures in China.

5. Qin (Ch’in) Dynasty • The Qin Dynasty began the Great Wall of China around 500 B.C. • Dynasty is ruling family that passes power from generation to generation • The Qin (also known as Ch’in) began to use a writing system. • The name “China” comes from this dynasty.

6. Han Dynasty • The Han Dynasty continued the Great Wall and protected the Silk Road • They also invented the compass, paper, and porcelain. • Silk Road was a route used by trading caravans to take Chinese goods to lands west of China

7. Later Dynasties • In the 1200’s, Genghis Khan and the Mongols took over China • In about 100 years, the Ming Dynasty took over. They ran the Mongols out and built up the Great Wall to keep outsiders out of China. • In the 1600’s, the Manchu took over China. Their dynasty was called the Qing (Ching) Dynasty. • During the Qing dynasty, Europeans began to increase trade with China and began to influence China. The Manchu ruled until the 1900’s.

8. The Republics of China • In 1912, Sun Yat-sen led a revolution and forced the last Manchu emperor to abdicate. • This created the first Republic of China. • After Sun Yat-sen died, two groups fought for power—the Nationalists and the Communists. • Chiang Kai-shek led the Nationalists and Mao Zedong led the Communists.

9. Finally, the Communists won and Maoism (Mao Zedong’s version of Communism) took hold in China. • This was when the country changed its name to the People’s Republic of China. • Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalists moved to Taiwan (island off east coast of China) and set up The Republic of China on this island. • There is still disagreement between China and Taiwan over control of the island.

10. Government • Executive branch • Premier Wen Jiabao (head of government) • President is Hu Jintao (chief of state) • Leaders of Executive Branch are elected by the United People’s Congress • China is a communist state. • Basically only one political party—the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)

11. Legislative branch • National People’s Congress • Unicameral • Members elected by smaller “congresses” from cities, towns, regions, and military. • Judicial branch • Judges appointed by People’s Congress • Decisions are based on People’s Congress beliefs

12. Religion and Ethic Groups • China is officially an atheistic country. • Atheistic means the government’s official position is that there is no supreme being, or god. • There are followers of: Buddhism, Christianity (3-4%), Islam (1-2%), Daoism (Taoism). • Daoists (or Taoists) follow a philosophy that concentrates on understanding nature, increasing life expectancy, and living in harmony with nature.

13. Language • Standard Chinese, or Mandarin, is official language • Other languages include Cantonese (Yue), Shanghainese (Wu), and Hokkien-Taiwanese (Minnan). • Ethnic groups in China include • Han Chinese 91.5% • Others 8.5% (include Manchu, Korean, Tibetan, Mongol, Zhuang, etc.)

14. Economy • China is moving from a centrally planned system to a more market oriented system. • In China, all decisions on what was grown, made, sold were made by the Chinese government. No real market economy existed. • In the 1970’s the country began to move towards a system with more market ideas. However, the government still keeps a close control over the economy.

15. Natural Resources • coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest) • Major Industry • Mining and ore processing • Machine building • Armaments • Textiles and apparel • Consumer products (toys, electronics, etc) • Petroleum

16. Geography & Climate • Geography • mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east • Gobi Desert—coldest desert in world • Himalayan Mts.—Mt, Everest, tallest mountain in world (29,035 ft) • Climate • extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north

17. Environmental Issues • Air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal produces acid rain • Water pollution from untreated wastes • Estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to soil erosion and economic development • Desertification • Trade in endangered species

18. Literacy Rate Total 91.6% Male 95.7% Female 87.6% Life Expectancy Total 74.5 Male 72.5 Female 76.5 • GDP • $6,700 per capita • Population • 1,330,141,295 • Highest population in the world • Below Poverty Level • 2.8%