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Guandong

Guandong

Guangdong (; Postal System Pinyin: Kwangtung or Canton Province, Jyutping: gwong2 dung1; Vietnamese: Quảng Đông), is a province on the south coast of the People's Republic of China. Sometimes, "Canton Province" (based on an obsolete French-derived transliteration of "Guangdong") is used to mean Guangdong. This is as opposed to "Canton (City)", which refers to the city of Guangzhou, the provincial capital. "Guang" itself means "expanse" or "vast", and was associated with the region from the Western Jin Dynasty onwards. "Guangdong" and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean "expanse east" and "expanse west". Together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called the "Two Guangs" (兩廣 liăng guăng). The modern abbreviation 粵/粤 (Yue) is related to the Hundred Yuet (百越), a collective name for various peoples that lived in Guangdong and other areas in ancient times.

History

Guangdong was far removed from the center of ancient Chinese civilization in the north China plain. It was populated by peoples collectively known as the Hundred Yuet (百越), who may have been Tai-Kadai and related to the Zhuang people in modern Guangxi. Chinese administration in the region began with the Qin Dynasty, which, after establishing the first unified Chinese empire, expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery (南海郡) at Panyu (番禺), near what is now Guangzhou. The Han Dynasty administered Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as Jiao Province (交州). Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms, Guangdong was made its own province, the Guang Province (廣州), in 226. As time passed, the demographics of what is now Guangdong slowly shifted to Han Chinese-dominance, especially during several periods of massive migration from the north during periods of political turmoil and/or nomadic incursions from the fall of the Han Dynasty onwards. For example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s-750s and 800s-810s[http://www.nhyz.org/yxx/jxzy/zy/zy48.htm]. As more migrants arrived, the local population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11836649], or displaced. Together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit (嶺南道), or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang Dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit(廣南東路 guǎng nán dōng lù) in 971 during the Song Dynasty. "Guangnan East" is the source of "Guangdong". As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song Dynasty retreated southwards, eventually ending up in today's Guangdong. The Battle of Yamen (1279) in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, Guangdong was a part of Jiangxi. Its present name, "Guangdong Province" was given in early Ming Dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links with the rest of the world. European merchants coming northwards via the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, particularly the British, traded extensively through Guangzhou. Macau, on the coast of Guangdong, was the first European settlement in China (since 1557). It was the opium trade through Guangzhou that triggered the Opium Wars, opening an era of foreign incursion and intervention in China. In addition to Macau, Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and Kwang-Chou-Wan to the French. In the 19th century, Guangdong was also the major port of exit for laborers in southeast Asia and the Western United States. Until the late 20th century, residents in Chinatowns tended to be overwhelmingly from Guangdong, so much so that Cantonese, spoken by less than 10% of Chinese people in China, remains the lingua franca of the Chinese diaspora in many places abroad. During the 1850s, the first revolt of the Taiping Rebellion took place in Guangdong. Because of direct contact with the West, Guangdong was a center of anti-Manchu and anti-imperialist activity. The generally acknowledged founder of modern China, Sun Yat-Sen, was from Guangdong. During the early 1920s of the Republic of China, Guangdong was the staging area for KMT to prepare for the Northern Expedition, an effort to bring the various warlords of China back under the central government. Whampoa Military Academy was built near Guangzhou to train military commanders. In recent years, the province has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aided in part by its close trading links with Hong Kong, which borders it. It is now the province with the highest gross domestic product in China. Hainan island was originally part of Guangdong but it was separated as its own province in 1988. Guangdong is believed to be the source of SARS in 2003.

Administrative divisions

The current immediate administrative divisions of Guangdong consist of 21 prefecture-level cities:
- Chaozhou (潮州)
- Dongguan (东莞)
- Foshan (佛山)
- Guangzhou (广州)
- Heyuan (河源)
- Huizhou (惠州)
- Jiangmen (江门)
- Jieyang (揭阳)
- Maoming (茂名)
- Meizhou (梅州)
- Qingyuan (清远)
- Shantou (汕头)
- Shanwei (汕尾)
- Shaoguan (韶关)
- Shenzhen sub-provincial city (深圳)
- Yangjiang (阳江)
- Yunfu (云浮)
- Zhanjiang (湛江)
- Zhaoqing (肇庆)
- Zhongshan (中山)
- Zhuhai (珠海) The above division govern, in total, 49 districts, 30 county-level cities, 42 counties, and 3 autonomous counties. See the list of administrative divisions of Guangdong for county-level divisions.

Geography

Guangdong faces the South China Sea to the south and has a total of 4,300 km of coastline. Leizhou Peninsula is on the southwestern end of the province. There are a few inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula. The Pearl River Delta is the convergent point of three upstream rivers: the East River, North River, and West River. The river delta is filled with hundreds of small islands. The province is geographically separated from the north by a few mountain ranges collectively called the Southern Mountain Range (南岭). The highest point in the province is about 1,600 meters above sea level. Guangdong borders Fujian province to the northeast, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces to the north, Guangxi autonomous region to the west, and Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions to the south. Hainan province is offshore across from the Leizhou Peninsula. Cities around the Pearl River Delta include Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Shunde, Taishan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. Other cities in the province include Chaozhou, Chenghai, Kaiping, Nanhai, Panyu, Shantou, Shaoguan, Xinhui, Zhanjiang and Zhaoqing.

Economy

After the communist takeover and until the start of the Deng Xiaoping reforms in 1978, Guangdong was an economic backwater. Economic development policies encouraged industrial development in the interior provinces which were weakly linked to Guangdong via transportation links. The government policy of economic autarky made Guangdong's access to the ocean irrelevant. Deng Xiaoping's open door policy radically changed the economy of the province as it was able to take advantage of its access to the ocean, its closeness to Hong Kong, and historical links to overseas Chinese. In addition, until the 1990s when the Chinese taxation system was reformed, the province benefited from the relatively low rate of taxation placed on it by the central government due to its historical status of being economically backward. The province is now one of the richest in the nation, with the highest GDP among all provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was 165 billion USD (the same size as Hong Kong's) and it contributes approximately 12% of national economic output. It has three of the four Special Economic Zones: Shenzhen, Shantou and Zhuhai. The affluence of Guangdong, however, remains very much concentrated near the Pearl River Delta.

Demographics

Even though official statistics show Guangdong as the 4th most populous province of China with about 80 million people, recently released information [http://media.163.com/05/0201/11/1BGKCSFN0014183O.html] suggests that there are an additional 30 million immigrants who reside in Guangdong for at least six months every year, making Guangdong the most populous province of China with a population of more than 110 million. The massive influx of migrants from other provinces, dubbed the "floating population", is due to Guangdong's booming economy and high demand for labour. Owing to the closeness of Guangdong to the ocean, Guangdong is also the ancestral home to large numbers of overseas Chinese. Most of the railroad laborers in the Western United States in the 19th century came from the province. Emigration in recent years has slowed due to the relatively good economy in the province. The majority of the province's population is Han Chinese. There is a small Yao population in the northern part of the province. Other smaller minority groups include Miao, Li, and Zhuang. Because of the high population density and the close proximity in which humans and animals live, Guangdong has often been the source of respiratory diseases such as influenza. In late 2002, Guangdong was the initial source of SARS.

Politics

During the 1980s, the Guangdong provincial government had a reputation of resisting central government directives, especially those regarding the economy. At the same time, the good economic situation of Guangdong has made it relatively quiet in the area of political and economic activism. Although some in the West assume that Guangdong's economic growth and distinctive language would give rise to separatism, this is not the case, and there has never been any significant support for separatism. Although both Hong Kong and Macau have historically been part of Guangdong, the Basic Laws of both Special Administrative Regions (SARs) explicitly forbid provincial governments from intervening in political issues. Many issues, such as border policy and water rights, regarding the relationship between Hong Kong and Macao and the rest of China are settled via negotiation between the SAR's and the Guangdong provincial government. Because the SAR's are subdivisions of China, it is impossible for a negotiation to occur between the central government and the SAR government since they are of different statuses with the central government the higher power. However, because Guangdong and the SAR's of equal status with neither having control over the other, negotiation between them is possible and in fact encouraged on issues in which the Central Government has no opinion.

Culture

Culturally speaking, Guangdong is not homogeneous. The central region, which is also the political and economic center, is populated predominantly by Cantonese-speakers. Cantonese, rather than the official Mandarin, also serves as the lingua franca for 60,000,000 or so people of Guangdong speaking various dialects. This region is also associated with Cantonese cuisine (Simplified Chinese: 粤菜; Traditional Chinese: 粵菜), which is very well known in China, not just as one of the richest and most prestigious cuisines, but also as a cuisine specializing in exotic tastes. Cantonese opera (Simplified Chinese: 粤剧; Traditional Chinese: 粵劇) is a form of Chinese opera popular in Cantonese speaking areas. The southeast coast of Guangdong, around the cities of Chaozhou and Shantou, forms its own cultural sphere. Here, the people speak Teochew, and their cuisine is Chiuchow cuisine. The northeast hills is populated by the Hakka people, who speak Hakka. Their cuisine is Hakka cuisine. See also:
- Music of Guangdong
- Hakka architecture

Tourism

Miscellaneous topics

Professional sports teams based in Guangdong include:
- Chinese Basketball Association
  - Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers
- Chinese Football Association Jia League
  - Guangzhou Rizhiquan
- Chinese Football Association Super League
  - Shenzhen Jianlibao

Colleges and universities


- Foshan University (Guangzhou, Foshan)
- Jinan University (Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen)
- Shantou University (Shantou)
- South China University of Technology (Guangzhou)
- Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, Zhuhai)

External links


- [http://www.gd.gov.cn/ The official website of Guangdong]
- [http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-guangdong-large.jpg Large map of Guangdong]
- [http://www.getgd.net/gd_surv/gd_sur6.html Administration Districts of Guangdong] Category:Provinces of the People's Republic of China Category:Pearl River Delta zh-min-nan:Kńg-tang ko:광둥 성 ja:広東省 th:มณฑลกวางตุ้ง

Postal System Pinyin

In the early twentieth century, China (starting with the dying Qing Empire) used Postal (Office) System Pinyin (Traditional Chinese:郵政式拼音 Pinyin: Yóuzhèngshì Pīnyīn) (unrelated to the modern Hanyu Pinyin), based on Wade-Giles (in particularly, Herbert Giles's A Chinese-English Dictionary) for postal purposes, especially for placenames on letters and stamps, and was not for universal usage. It uses some already common European names of Chinese places that override the Wade-Giles system, and incorporate some dialectal pronunciations. The postal system was decided after the Imperial Postal Joint-Session Conference (帝國郵電聯席會議) in spring 1906 in Shanghai. Main differences with Wade-Giles include:
- Complete lack of diacritic and accent marks.
- Chi, ch'i, and hsi (pinyin ji, qi, and xi) are represented as either tsi, tsi, and si or ki, ki, and hi depending on historic pronunciation, e.g.,
  - Peking (Pei-ching, Beijing)
  - Tientsin (T'ien-chin, Tianjin)
  - Tsinan (Chi-nan, Ji'nan)
- Except being the sole vowel in the syllable, the Wade-Giles u become w, e.g.,
  - Ankwo (An-kuo, Anguo)
  - Chinchow (Chin-chou, Jinzhou)
- Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian placenames are to be Romanized from the local dialects, such as Hakka, Cantonese, and Min (systems also obtained from Giles' A Chinese-English Dictionary).
  - Amoy (Hsia-men, Xiamen)
  - Swatow (Shan-t'ou, Shantou)
  - Quemoy (Chin-men, Jinmen)
- Popular pre-existing (from 19th century of earlier) European names for place in China are to be retained, such as those of the treaty ports.
  - Canton (Kuang-chou, Guangzhou) See also: Romanization Category:Chinese language romanization Category:Postal system

Vietnamese

When used as an adjective, Vietnamese refers to anything that originates from Vietnam. It may refer to more than one article:
- The Vietnamese language, the most widely spoken member of the Mon-Khmer languages
- The Vietnamese people, the dominant ethnic group of Vietnam

Political divisions of China

Due to China's large population and area, the political divisions of China have always consisted of several levels since ancient times. The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for three de jure levels of government. Currently, however, there are five practical (de facto) levels of local government in mainland China: the province, prefecture, county, township, and village. The Republic of China on Taiwan uses a slightly different system, with streamlined provinces and no prefectures. (see Political divisions of the Republic of China for more details) The provinces serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants. Most of the provinces of China have boundaries which were established in the late Ming Dynasty. Major changes since then have been the reorganization of provinces in the Northeast after the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949 and the establishment of autonomous regions which are based on Soviet nationality theory.

Levels

The constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for three levels: the province, county, and township. However, two more levels have been inserted in actual implementation: the prefecture, under provinces; and the village, under townships. (There is a sixth level, the district public office, under counties, but it is being abolished.) Each of the levels correspond to a level in the Civil service of the People's Republic of China.

Province level

The People's Republic of China administers 33 province-level (省级 shěngjí) divisions, including 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and 2 special administrative regions. The Republic of China administers 2 municipalities and 2 provinces (though both provincial governments have been largely streamlined). In mainland China, provinces are theoretically subservient to the PRC central government, but in practice provincial officials have a large amount of discretion with regard to economic policy. Unlike the United States, the power of the central government was (with the exception of the military) not exercised through a parallel set of institutions until the early 1990s. The actual practical power of the provinces has created what some economists call federalism with Chinese characteristics. Most of the provinces of China, with the exception of the provinces in the northeast, have boundaries which were established during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Sometimes provincial borders veer markedly away from cultural or geographical boundaries, a phenomenon described as "dog's teeth interlocking" (犬牙交错 quǎnyájiāocuò). This was an attempt by the imperial government to discourage separatism and warlordism through a divide and rule policy. Nevertheless, provinces have come to serve an important cultural role in China. People tend to be identified in terms of their native provinces, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants. The most recent administrative changes have included the elevation of Hainan and Chongqing to provincial level status and the organization of Hong Kong and Macau as Special Administrative Regions. In Taiwan, Taipei and Kaohsiung were elevated to the status of centrally administered municipalities after the retreat of the KMT-led government.

Provinces

Provinces (省 shěng) are the most common type of province-level division.
Disputed area
Main article: Political status of Taiwan Political status of Taiwan.]] Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China has considered Taiwan to be its 23rd province. However, the Republic of China currently controls this province, which consists of Taiwan island and the Pescadores. The ROC also controls one county of Fuchien (or Fukien) province: Kinmen; and part of a second county: Lienchiang. In addition, the ROC officially claims all of mainland China (including Tibet), outer Mongolia and Tuva. This claim was unofficially dropped by then ROC President Lee Teng-hui in 1991, but has not been followed up by constitutional amendment. Maps of China published in Taiwan will often show provincial boundaries as they were in 1949 which do not match the current administrative structure as decided by the Communist Party of China post-1949, and include all of the areas claimed by the ROC.

Autonomous regions

Autonomous regions (自治区 zìzhìqū) are province-level divisions with a designated ethnic minority, and are guaranteed more rights under the constitution. For example, they have a chairman (where regular provinces have governors), who must be of the ethnic group as specified by the autonomous region (Tibetan, Uyghur, etc) Autonomous regions were established after communist takeover, following Soviet nationality policy. There are five in total.

Municipalities

Municipalities (直辖市 zhíxiáshì) are large cities that have the same administrative level as provinces. Municipalities directly control county-level divisions, without an intervening prefecture-level. In practice, the actual metropolitan area of a municipality is only a tiny fraction of its total area; the rest of the municipality consists of towns and farmland. Chongqing is an extreme example of this — the rural population of this municipality exceeds its urban population. There are 4 municipalities in the People's Republic of China. There are 2 municipalities administered by the ROC. These are quite different from the municipalities found in Mainland China: rather than governing an area many times larger than the metropolitan area, they govern only a portion of the metropolitan areas of which they are a part. See Political divisions of the Republic of China. Since these two cities were elevated after 1949 by a government the PRC considered no longer legitimate, the PRC does not consider them to be centrally administered municipalities and refers to Taipei, and not Jhongsing Village, as the provincial capital of Taiwan.

Special administrative regions

Special administrative regions (特別行政區/特别行政区 tèbiéxíngzhèngqū) (SARs) are local administrative regions enjoying a high degree of autonomy under the One country, two systems arrangement, and come directly under the Central People's Government, as provided in the articles 12 of both basic laws of the two SARs. Unlike provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, whose legal basis is provided for in Article 30 of the 1982 Constitution that governs administrative divisions, special administrative regions are provided for in Article 31 in anticipation of the retrocession of Hong Kong and Macau. The two SARs were established in 1997 and 1999 when the sovereignty of the two entities was transferred (from the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively) to the People's Republic of China. The two special administrative regions come directly under the Central People's Government. As opposed to other provincial-level administrative divisions (provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions), SARs reserve a much higher level of autonomy, with their own courts of last resort, legal systems, passports, currencies, customs control, immigration policies, extradition, etc., except diplomatic relations and national defence. The SARs participate in various international organisations and sporting events as separate members/teams from the PRC. Both SARs are small, and neither uses the administrative structure of mainland China. Hong Kong is divided into 18 districts, each with a consultative district council. Macau is divided into two concelhos and seven freguesias (parishes) with no formal duties. See also:
- Districts of Hong Kong
- Parishes of Macau

Prefecture level

:For a complete listing of all the prefecture-level divisions of China, see the article for each province. Prefecture-level (地级 dìjí) divisions exists in mainland China, not Taiwan. This level is the second level of the administrative structure. As of December 31, 2004, the second level of mainland China's administrative structure consisted of 333 divisions comprised of:
- prefecture-level cities (283)
- prefectures (17)
- autonomous prefectures (30)
- Leagues (3) -- Inner Mongolia only Prefecture-level cities (地级市 dìjíshì) form the vast majority of prefecture-level divisions. Prefecture-level cities are generally composed of an urban center and surrounding rural areas much larger than the urban core, and thus are not "cities" in the strict sense of the term. Most provinces are divided into only prefecture-level cities and contain no other second-level administrative units. Of the 22 provinces and 5 autonomous regions of Mainland China, only 3 provinces (Yunnan, Guizhou, Qinghai) and 2 autonomous regions (Xinjiang, Tibet) have more than three second-level or prefecture-level divisions that are not prefecture-level cities. Prefectures (地区 dìqū) are another level of government found at the prefecture-level. These were formerly the dominant second-level division, which is why this administrative level is often called "prefecture-level". However, they were replaced for the most part by prefecture-level cities in the from 1983 to 1990s. Today, prefectures exist mostly in Xinjiang and Tibet only. Leagues (盟 méng) are effectively the same as prefectures, but they are to be found only in Inner Mongolia. Like prefectures, leagues have mostly been replaced with prefecture-level cities. The unique name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia. Autonomous prefectures (自治州 zìzhìzhōu) are prefectures with one or several designated ethnic minority/minorities. These are mostly to be found in China's western regions.

County level

For a complete listing of all the county-level divisions of China, follow the links in these tables As of December 31, 2004, there are 2862 county-level (县级 xiànjí) divisions, including 852 districts, 374 cities, 1464 counties, 117 autonomous counties, 49 banners, 3 autonomous banners, 2 special regions and 1 forestry area in mainland China. The Republic of China governs 23 county-level divisions, including 18 counties and 5 provincial municipalities. Counties (县 xiàn) are the most common county-level division. Counties have continuously existed since the Warring States Period, much earlier than any other level of government in China. In Sinologist literature, xian are often translated as "districts" or "prefectures". Wikipedia will try to maintain consistency and translate all of them as "counties". Autonomous counties (自治县 zìzhìxiàn) are counties with one or several designated ethnic minority/minorities. These are analogous to autonomous regions (at the province-level) and autonomous prefectures (at the prefecture-level). Inner Mongolia has banners (旗 qí) and autonomous banners (自治旗 zìzhìqí), which are the same as counties and autonomous counties except in name. The name is a holdover from earlier forms of administration in Mongolia. County-level cities (县级市 xiànjíshì) are, like prefecture-level cities, not "cities" in the traditional sense of the word, since they are actually large administrative regions that cover both urban and rural areas. It was popular for counties to become county-level cities in the 1990s, though this has since been halted. In Taiwan, county-level cities are known as provincial cities (省轄市 shěngxiáshì). Districts (市辖区 shìxiáqū or simply 区 qū) are another type of county-level division. These were formerly the subdivisions of urban areas, consisting of built-up areas only. In recent years, however, many counties have been converted into districts, so that today districts are often just like counties, with towns, villages, and farmland. There are also a few special county-level divisions. There is a county-level forestry area (林区 línqū) in Hubei province, Shennongjia, that is a county-level division; so are two special districts (特区 tèqū) in Guizhou province, Liuzhi and Wanshan.

Township level

As of December 31, 2004 there were 43275 township-level (乡级 xiāngjí) divisions. These include 19892 towns, 16130 township, 1126 ethnic townships, 277 sumu, 1 ethnic sumu, 5829 subdistricts, and 20 district public offices in mainland China. At the same administrative level, the Republic of China administers 32 county-administered cities, 226 rural townships, and 61 urban townships. (See Political divisions of the Republic of China.) In the mainland, in general, urban areas are divided into subdistricts (街道办事处 jiēdàobànshìchù or simply 街办 jiēbàn, literally "street offices"), while rural areas are divided into towns (镇 zhèn), townships (乡 xiāng), and ethnic townships (民族乡 mínzúxiāng). Sumu (苏木 sūmù) and ethnic sumu (民族苏木 mínzúsūmù) are the same as townships and ethnic townships, but are unique to Inner Mongolia. The Republic of China is different from mainland China in that it also has county-administered cities (縣轄市 xiànxiáshì), which are cities at the township level. The People's Republic of China has no equivalent of this. Also, the urban townships and rural townships of the Republic of China are the same as towns and townships of the mainland; the difference is in the translation to English. District public offices (区公所 qūgōngsuǒ) are a vestigial level of government in mainland China. These once represented an extra level of government between the county- and township-levels. Today there are very few of these remaining and they are gradually being phased out.

Village level

The village level (cun) serves as organizational (census, mail system) and not so much importance in political representative power. Basic local divisions like neighborhoods and communities are not informal like in the West, but have defined boundaries and designated heads (one per area): In general, In urban area, every subdistrict of a district of a city administers (thus is divided into) many communities (社区 shèqū or 小区 or 居住区) or neighborhoods (居民区 jūmínqū). Each of them have a neighborhood committee or community committee or residents' committee (社区居民委员会 jūmínwěiyuánhùi or simply 居委会 jūwěihùi) to administer the dwellers of that neibourhood or community; while rural areas are organized into village committees (村民委员会 cūnmínwěiyuánhùi or simply 村委会 cūnwěihùi) or villager groups (村民小组 cūnmínxiǎozǔ). A "village" in this case can either be a natural village (自然村 zìráncūn), or one that spontaneously and naturally exists, or an administrative village (行政村 xíngzhèngcūn), which is a bureaucratic entity.

Special cases

Although every single administrative division has a clearly defined level associated with it, sometimes an entity may be given more autonomy than its level allows for. For example, a few of the largest prefecture-level cities are given more autonomy. These are known as sub-provincial cities (副省级市 fùshěngjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a prefecture, but still lower than a province. Such cities are half a level higher than what they would normally be. Although these cities still belong to provinces, their special status gives them a high degree of autonomy within their respective provinces. A similar case exists with some county-level cities. Some county-level cities are given more autonomy. These cities are known as sub-prefecture-level cities (副地级市 fùdìjíshì), meaning that they are given a level of power higher than a county, but still lower than a prefecture. Such cities are also half a level higher than what they would normally be. Sub-prefecture-level cities are often not put into any prefecture (i.e. they are directly administered by their province). An extreme example is Pudong District of Shanghai. Although its status as a district would define it as county-level, the district head of Pudong is given sub-provincial powers. In other words, it is one and a half levels higher than what it would normally be.

Summary

This table summarizes the divisions of the area administered by the People's Republic of China. Note: Province-, prefecture-, and county-level data are accurate as of December 31, 2004. Township-level data are accurate as of December 31, 2004.

History

Main article: History of the political divisions of China Before the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by a network of kings, nobles, and tribes. The rivalry of these groups culminated in the Warring States Period, and the state of Qin eventually emerged dominant. The Qin Dynasty was determined not to allow China to fall back into disunity, and therefore designed the first hierarchical administrative divisions in China, based on two levels: jùn commanderies and xiàn counties (xian is usually translated as "districts" or "prefectures" in Sinologist literature, but here we will use "county", the contemporary term). The Han Dynasty that came immediately after added zhōu (usually translated as "provinces") as a third level on top, forming a three-tier structure. The Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty abolished commanderies, and added circuits (dào, later lù under the Song) on top, maintaining a three-tier system that lasted through the Song Dynasty. (As a second-level division, zhou are translated as "prefectures".) The Mongol-established Yuan Dynasty introduced the modern precursors to provinces, bringing the number of levels to four. This system was then kept more or less intact until the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule China. The Republic of China streamlined the levels to just provinces and counties, and made the first attempt to extend political administration beyond the county level by establishing townships below counties. This was also the system officially adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1949, which defined the administrative divisions of China as three levels: provinces, counties, and townships. In practice, however, more levels were inserted. Greater administrative areas were inserted on top of provinces, but they were soon abolished, in 1954. Prefectures were inserted between provinces and counties; they continue be ubiquitously applied to nearly all areas of China. District public offices were inserted between counties and townships; once ubiquitous as well, they are currently being abolished, and very few remain. The most recent developments major developments have been the establishment of Chongqing as a municipality and the creation of Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.

Reform

Main article: Reform of the political divisions of China In recent years there have been calls to reform the administrative divisions and levels of China. Rumours of an impending major reform have also spread through various online bulletin boards. The abolishment of district public offices is an ongoing reform to remove an extra level of administration from between the county and township levels. There have also been calls to abolish the prefecture level, and some provinces have transferred some of the power prefectures currently hold to the counties they govern. There are also calls to reduce the size of the provinces. The ultimate goal is to reduce the different administration levels from five to three, (Provincial, County, Village) reducing the amount of corruption that goes on in between and reducing the number of government workers to reduce budget.

See also


- Asia
- China
- Capitals of subnational entities of China
- List of China administrative regions by area
- List of China administrative regions by GDP per capita
- List of China administrative regions by gross domestic product
- List of China administrative regions by ethnic group
- List of China administrative regions by population
- List of China administrative regions by population density
- Tiao-kuai, something like federalism
- Chinese democracy movement

External links


- [http://www.sungwh.freeserve.co.uk/chinese/chinasch.htm Schematic Representation of the Provinces of China]
- [http://www.asiawind.com/pub/forum/fhakka/mhonarc/msg00311.html Literal Meaning and Brief History of the Provinces]
- [http://www.china.org.cn/english/eng-shuzi2003/gq/biao/1-1.htm Statistics]
- [http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2003-08/22/content_1039416_3.htm Descriptions of the levels] (in Traditional Chinese)
  - An [http://202.130.245.40/ch-zhengzhi/zhengzhi6.htm all-in-one-page version]
- [http://www.xzqh.org/index.htm Political divisions down to town-level] (in Simplified Chinese) China, Political Divisions of Category:People's Republic of China category:Republic of China ko:중화인민공화국의 행정 구역 ja:中華人民共和国の行政区分 simple:List of provinces of China

People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China (PRC; Simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国, Traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國; Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó ), commonly referred to as China, is an East Asian country. The exact meaning of PRC and China varies. In an ongoing dispute, the PRC claims sovereignty over Taiwan and some neighboring islands, whose control was never relinquished by the Republic of China. The PRC asserts the Republic of China to be an illegitimate and supplanted entity and administratively categorizes Taiwan as the 23rd province of the PRC. (See China and Political status of Taiwan for more information.) The term "mainland China" is sometimes used to denote the area under the PRC's rule, usually excluding the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau. The PRC refers to the period of its rule as New China (新中国) whenever it contrasts itself with China before 1949. In some contexts, particularly in economics, trade and sports events, China and People's Republic of China is often used to refer to the PRC with Hong Kong and Macau excluded.

Geography and climate

The PRC is the largest country in area in East Asia, the [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html fourth largest] in the world and the second largest by land area. It borders 14 nations (counted clockwise): Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and North Korea.North Korea The PRC contains a large variety of landscape. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, are found extensive and densely populated alluvial plains; the shore of the South China Sea is more mountainous and southern China is dominated by hill country and lower mountain ranges. In the central-east are found the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Huang He and Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Other major rivers include the Xijiang River, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west, major mountain ranges, notably the Himalaya with China's highest point Mount Everest, and high plateaus feature among the more arid landscape of deserts such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. Due to a prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. According to China's Environmental Protection Agency, the Gobi Desert has been expanding "like a tsunami" and is a major source of dust storms which affect Mainland China and other parts of northeast Asia such as Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Dust from the northern plains has been tracked to the West Coast of the United States. River management (human waste dumping, factory pollution, and water extraction for irrigation and drinking) and dust erosion are problems affecting other countries that have become recent important concerns for relations between China and its neighboring countries.

History

After World War II, the Chinese Civil War between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang ended in 1949 with the Communists in control of mainland China and the Kuomintang in control of Taiwan and some outlying islands of Fujian. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong emphatically declared the People's Republic of China, establishing a communist state, and proclaiming "the Chinese people have stood up."communist state Supporters of the Maoist Era claim that under Mao, China's unity and sovereignty was assured for the first time in a century, and there was development of infrastructure, industry, healthcare, and education, which raised standard of living for the average Chinese. They also believe that campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were essential in jumpstarting China's development and purifying its culture. Supporters may also doubt statistics or accounts given for death tolls or other damages incurred by Mao's campaigns. Critics of Mao's regime assert that Mao's administration imposed strict controls over everyday life, and believe that campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution contributed to or caused millions of deaths, incurred severe economic costs, and damaged China's cultural heritage. The Great Leap Forward in particular preceded a massive famine in China which, according to numbers guessed by credible Western and Eastern [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm sources], 20–30 million people died; most Western and many Chinese analysts attribute this to the Great Leap Forward, while others, including Mao at the time, attribute this to natural disasters; still others doubt this figure entirely, or claim that many more people died due to famine or other consequences of political chaos during the rule of Chiang Kai-Shek. Following the dramatic economic failures of the early 1960s, Mao stepped down from his position as chairman of the People's Republic. The National People's Congress elected Liu Shaoqi as Mao's successor. Mao remained head of the Party but was removed from day to day management of economic affairs which came under the control of a more moderate leadership under the dominant influence of Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and others who initiated economic reforms. In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, which is viewed by his opponents (including both Western analysts and many Chinese people who were youth at the time) as a strike back at his rivals by mobilizing the youth of the country in support of his thought and purging the moderate leadership, but is viewed by his supporters as an experiment in direct democracy and a genuine attempt at purging Chinese society of corruption and other negative influences. Disorder followed but gradually under the leadership of Zhou Enlai moderate forces regained influence. After Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping, seen as the leader of the economic reformists, succeeded in winning the power struggle, and Mao's widow, Jiang Qing and her associates, the Gang of Four, who had assumed control of the country, were arrested and put on trial. Since then, the government has gradually and greatly loosened governmental control over people's personal lives, and began transitioning China's planned economy into a mixed economy. Supporters of the economic reforms point to the rapid development of the consumer and export sectors of the economy, the creation of an urban middle class that now constitutes 15% of the population, higher living standards (which is shown via dramatic increases in GDP per capita, consumer spending, life expectancy, literacy rate, and total grain output) and a much wider range of personal rights and freedoms for average Chinese as evidence of the success of the reforms. Critics of the economic reforms claim that the reforms have caused wealth disparity, environmental pollution, rampant corruption, widespread unemployment associated with layoffs at inefficient state-owned enterprises, and has introduced often unwelcome cultural influences. Consequently they believe that China's culture has been corrupted, the poor have been reduced to a hopeless abject underclass, and that the social stability is threatened. They are also of the opinion that various political reforms, such as moves towards popular elections, have been unfairly nipped in the bud. Regardless of either view, today, the public perception of Mao has improved dramatically, and images of Mao and Mao related objects have become fashionable.state-owned enterprise Despite these concessions to capitalism, the Communist Party of China remains in control and has maintained repressive policies against groups which it feels are threats, such as Falun Gong and the separatist movement in Tibet. Supporters of these policies claim that these policies safeguard stability in a society that is torn apart by class differences and rivalries, has no tradition of civil participation, and limited rule of law. Opponents of these policies claim that these policies severely violate norms of human rights that the international community recognizes, and further claim that this results in a police state, which creates an atmosphere of fear and ignorance. In 1989, the death of pro-reform official Hu Yaobang led to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, during which students and others held protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and elsewhere to campaign for democratic reform and freedom. The protests ended on June 3 - June 4 when PLA troops entered the square, killing hundreds. The event brought worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the PRC government. The PRC government itself has since remained relatively silent on the issue, though it has also defended it by saying that it was necessary for the continued stability of the country. The People's Republic of China adopted its current constitution on December 4, 1982.

Politics

1982 (NPC), highest legistlative body, of China convenes.]] In the technical terminology of political science the PRC was a communist state for much of the 20th century, and is still considered a communist state by many, though not all political scientists. Attempts to characterize the nature of the China's political structure into a single, simple category are typically seen as lacking sufficient depth to be satisfactory. A major reason for this is China's political history: for over two thousand years, prior to 1949, the state had been ruled by some form of centralized imperial monarchy with strong Confucian influences, which have left significant traces on subsequent political and social structures. This was followed by a chaotic succession of largely authoritarian Chinese Nationlist governments as well as warlord-held administration since the first Chinese Revolution of 1912. The PRC regime has variously been described as authoritarian, communist, socialist and various combinations of those terms. It has also been described as a communist government. This may be called state capitalist by more left-leaning communists. It appears China is slowly becoming capitalist in its economic system. China recently released an official statement on its political structure, upholding the notion that the state should be ruled by democratic means. The government of the PRC is controlled by the Communist Party of China. There are some other parties in PRC, though they are often closely associated or subparties within the CPC. The effect of the other parties on the government remains minimal. While there have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that contested elections are now held at the village level and legislatures have shown some assertiveness from time to time, the party retains effective control over governmental appointments. While the state uses authoritarian methods to deal with challenges to its rule, it simultaneously attempts to reduce dissent by improving the economy, allowing expression of personal grievances, and giving lenient treatment to persons expressing dissent whom the regime does not believe are organizers. Censorship of political speech is routine. The Communist Party has a policy of suppressing any protests and organizations that it considers a threat to its power, as was the case after the Tianamen Square protests. However, there are limits to the repression that the Party is willing or able to achieve. The media have become increasingly active in publicizing social problems and exposing corruption and inefficiency at lower levels of government, although recently the PRC has tended to increase crackdowns on reporters. The Party has also been rather unsuccessful at controlling information, and in some cases has had to change policies in response to public outrage. Although organized opposition against the Party is not tolerated, demonstrations over local issues are frequent and increasingly tolerated. The support that the Communist Party of China has among the Chinese population is unclear, as there are no national elections, and private conversations and anecdotal information often reveals conflicting views. Many in China appear appreciative of the role that the government plays in maintaining social stability, which has allowed the economy to grow without interruption. Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor in the PRC, and the growing discontent with widespread corruption within the leadership and officials.

Ongoing debates

The PRC government argues that the notion of human rights should include economic standards of living and measures of health and economic prosperity. In other words, when critiquing its internal situation, it sees the rise in the standard of living of the Chinese people as an indicator of improvement of the human rights situation, and when looking at the situation abroad, often notes the high rate of crime and/or poverty in places reputedly having a high standard of human rights. However, Western governments and NGOs have argued that arbitrary and lengthy incommunicado detention, forced confessions, torture, and mistreatment of prisoners as well as severe restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, privacy, and worker rights are violations of their definition of human rights. They argue the issues stem from the PRC government's intolerance of dissent and the inadequacy of legal safeguards for individual political rights. The issue is covered in article Human rights in the People's Republic of China The PRC describes itself as a multiethnic state providing ethnic autonomy in the form of autonomous administrative entities. PRC policy gives advantages to ethnic minorities in areas such as high school or college admission and government employment. It also officially condemns Han chauvinism. However, it currently faces independence movements in Tibet, and Xinjiang. Independence groups and many foreign observers are critical of the PRC's ethnic policies. They consider practices such as the organization and generous financial encouragement of Han Chinese movement into non-Han Chinese areas, to be chauvinistic and colonial, bent on demographically swamping non-Han Chinese areas and reducing the possibility that any independence movement could succeed. Within China, many people are also critical of the above policies. For example, Han Chinese in Xinjiang tend to be resentful and perceive of themselves as being treated as "second-class citizens" as a result of policies that favour minorities. Many people also consider these policies to have encouraged the formation of separatist movements and to have threatened the territorial integrity of China.

Political divisions

The People's Republic of China has administrative control over 22 provinces (省); the government of the People's Republic of China considers Táiwān (台湾), which is actually controlled by the Republic of China, to be its 23rd province. (See Political status of Taiwan for more information.) Apart from provinces there are 5 autonomous regions (自治区) containing concentrations of several minorities; 4 municipalities (直辖市) for China's largest cities and 2 Special Administrative Regions (SAR) (特别行政区) governed by the PRC. The 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions and 4 municipalities can be collectively referred to as "mainland China", a term which usually excludes Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. mainland China The following are a list of administrative divisions of areas under the control of the People's Republic of China. Provinces（省）
- Ānhuī (安徽)
- Fújiàn (福建)
- Gānsù (甘肃)
- Guǎngdōng (广东)
- Guìzhōu (贵州)
- Hǎinán (海南)
- Héběi (河北)
- Hēilóngjiāng (黑龙江)
- Hénán (河南)
- Húběi (湖北)
- Húnán (湖南)
- Jiāngsū (江苏)
- Jiāngxī (江西)
- Jílín (吉林)
- Liáoníng (辽宁)
- Qīnghǎi (青海)
- Shaanxi (Shǎnxī) (陕西)
- Shāndōng (山东)
- Shānxī (山西)
- Sìchuān (四川)
- Yúnnán (云南)
- Zhèjiāng (浙江) Autonomous regions（自治区）
- Guǎngxī (广西壮族自治区)
- Inner Mongolia (Nèi Měnggǔ) (内蒙古自治区)
- Níngxià (宁夏回族自治区)
- Xīnjiāng (新疆维吾尔自治区)
- Tibet (Xīzàng) (西藏自治区)
Municipalities（直辖市）
- Běijīng (北京市)
- Chóngqìng (重庆市)
- Shànghǎi (上海市)
- Tiānjīn (天津市)
Special Administrative Regions（特别行政区）
- Hong Kong (Xiānggǎng) (香港特别行政区)
- Macau (Àomén) (澳门特别行政区)
Claimed by the PRC, but governed by Republic of China
- Táiwān (台湾) (disputed)
Claimed by the Republic of China, but given up by PRC
- Outer Mongolia

Foreign relations

The People's Republic of China maintains diplomatic relations with most countries in the world, but makes acknowledging its claim to Taiwan and severing any official ties with the Republic of China (ROC) government a prerequisite for diplomatic exchanges. It actively opposes foreign travels by current and former political officials of Taiwan, such as Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian, and other persons it sees politically dangerous, such as Tenzin Gyatso (considering Tibet) and and Li Hongzhi (considering Falun Gong). Falun Gong]] In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative for "China" in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council; it is also considered a founding member although the PRC was not in control at the founding of the UN. (See China and the United Nations) It was for a time a member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, but now is an observer. Much of the current foreign policy is based on the concept of China's peaceful rise. Sino-Japanese relations have been strained several times in the past few decades by Japan's refusal to acknowledge its past war crimes and violations to Chinese satisfaction, most notable among which is the Nanjing Massacre. Recent incidents with the United States include the United States bombing of Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict in May 1999, alleged in nuclear secrets espionage reported in Cox report, US spy plane on mission colliding with Chinese jet flighter near Hainan Island in April 2001. Some NGOs and Western governments have criticized China for alleged human rights abuses and its foreign relations with many Western Nations suffered following the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989. In addition to Taiwan, China is involved in several other territorial disputes. The PRC makes all of these claims on irredentist grounds, while the opposing claimants tend towards viewing irredentism as a baseless ideology or view the PRC as being motivated by resources, military considerations, or nationalism considerations:
- With India:
  - Aksai Chin, administered by China, claimed by India
  - Arunachal Pradesh / South Tibet, administered by India, claimed by China
- Over islands on the East China Sea or South China Sea:
  - Paracel Islands, administered by China, claimed by Vietnam and the ROC
  - Spratly Islands: the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam each claim sovereignty over the entire group, while Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei claim parts of the group.
  - Senkaku Islands / Diaoyu Islands, administered by Japan, claimed by the PRC and the ROC In 2004, Russia agreed to transfer Yinlong Island as well as one half of Heixiazi Island to China, ending a long-standing border dispute between Russia and China. Both islands are found at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, and were until then administered by Russia and claimed by China. The event was meant to foster feelings of reconciliation and cooperation between the two countries by their leaders, but it has also sparked different degrees of discontents on both sides. The transfer has been ratified by both the Chinese National People's Congress and the Russian State Duma but has yet to be carried out to date. Outside official opinion, it is popular for nationalists to make irredentist claims to Mongolia, Tuva and Outer Manchuria, as well as (less commonly) the Ryukyu Islands, Bhutan, the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar, and Central Asia southeast of Lake Balkhash.

Military

Lake Balkhash The PRC maintains military forces consisting of army, navy, air force, and strategic nuclear forces. Its 2.25 million strong force makes it the largest army, in terms of sheer number of troops, in the world. The People's Liberation Army's official budget for 2005 is $30 billion, possibly excluding foreign weapons purchases, military-related R&D. the paramilitary PAP and possible hidden budget. However, even the highest estimates set the military spending considerably less in relative than e.g. the United States. The PRC, despite possession of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, is widely seen both within and outside of China as having only limited ability to project military power beyond its borders and is not generally considered to be a true superpower, although it is widely seen as a major regional power. This is due to the limited effectiveness of its navy, such as lacking aircraft carriers, and air-force, which is large but generally considered obsolete by western standards. The PRC has embarked on a massive modernization program for its military. The PRC has been actively purchasing state-of-the-art fighters such as Su-27, Su-30 and has also been producing its own relatively modern fighters. A comprehensive effort has been undertaken to modernise the air-defense after observing the effects of air-superiority in Iraq. The air-defence revolves around the ultra-modern S-300 Surface-to-Air missile, which is objectively considered the best aircraft-intercepting system in the world. The PRC is also rapidly upgrading its armoured and rapid-reaction forces by enhancing their electronics and targeting capabilities. In recent years, much attention has been focused on building a navy with blue-water capability.

Largest cities

Su-30]] Su-30] Su-30] The PRC has dozens of major cities, including 3 of the 55 global cities.

Economy

global cities Beginning in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been reforming the economy from a Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economy but still within a rigid political framework of Communist Party control. To this end the authorities have switched to a system of household responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprise in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. Prices controls were also relaxed. This has resulted in mainland China's shift from a command economy to a mixed economy with both communist and capitalist tendencies. The government has tended to not emphasize equality as when it first began and instead emphasized raising personal income and consumption and introducing new management systems to help increase productivity. The government also has focused on foreign trade as a major vehicle for economic growth, for which purpose it set up over 2000 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) where investment laws are relaxed in order to attract foreign capital. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 1999, with its 1.25 billion people and a GDP of just $3,800 per capita, the PRC became the sixth largest economy in the world by exchange rate and third largest in the world after the European Union and the U.S. by purchasing power. The average annual income of a Chinese worker is $1,300. Chinese economic development is believed to be among the fastest in the world, about 7-8% per year according to Chinese government statistics. China is now a member of the World Trade Organization. Mainland China has a reputation as being a low-cost manufacturer, particularly due to its abundant flexible non-unionised inexpensive labor. An unskilled worker at a Chinese factory in the rural area costs a company under $1/hour, however, the prices of goods and services in China are lower than in more developed countries. Furthermore, the Chinese worker preference not to join a trade union. This is a substantive benefit to employers as it adds a level of flexibility to labor relations not enjoyed in most other parts of the world. A possible reason for this could be work ethics, or it is also conceivable it is driven by a fear that unions will be abused by the Communist Party of China to identify dissidents. (See list of Chinese dissidents.) Another aspect of the Chinese economy that is often overlooked is the low cost of non labor inputs. This is due in part to an overly competitive environment with many producers and a general tendency towards an oversupply and low prices. There is also the continued existence of price controls and supply guarantees left over from the former Soviet style command economy. As State owned enterprises continue to be dismantled and workers shift to higher productivity sectors, this deflationary effect will continue to put pressure on prices in the economy. Preferential tax incentives are also given as a direct fiscal incentive to manufacture in China, whether for export or for the local market of 1.3 billion. China is attempting to harmonize the system of taxes and duties it imposes on enterprises, domestic and foreign alike. As a result, preferential tax and duty policies that benefit exporters in special economic zones and coastal cities have been targeted for revision. China's high growth in the global markets has caused notable disputes, especially the trade inbalance with the United States. The discrepancy is largely attributable to the fact that Chinese corporations can produce many products desired in the US far more cheaply than American factories can, and expensive products produced in America are in large part too expensive for Chinese consumers. Another factor cited by some people was the unfavorable exchange rate between the Chinese yuan and the United States dollar to which it used to be pegged. On July 21, 2005 the People's Bank of China announced that it would move to a floating peg, allowing its currency to move by 0.3% a day. With the elimination of clothing quotas, China stands to take over a large chunk of the worldwide textile industry. [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/26/business/worldbusiness/26CHIN.html?th], [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/business/02CHIN.html?th] In 2003, China's GDP in terms of purchasing power parity reached $6.4 trillion, becoming the [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html second-largest in the world]. Using conventional measurements it is ranked 6th. With its large population this still gives an average GNP per person of only an estimated $5,000, about 1/7th that of the United States. The officially reported growth rate for 2003 was 9.1%. Due to its size and ancient culture, China has a tradition of being a leading economy in the world. Trying to regain some of that glory is certainly a strong motivation for many Chinese." The economic regions of Mainland China covered under the strategies promulgated by the central government. The disparity in wealth between the coastal strip and the remainder of the country remains wide. To counter this potentially destabilizing problem, the government has initiated the China Western Development strategy (2000), the Revitalize Northeast China initiative (2003), and the Rise of Central China policy (2004), which are all aimed at helping the interior of China to catch up.

Transportation

Transportation in the mainland of the People's Republic of China has improved remarkably starting in the late 1990s as part of a government effort to link the entire nation through a series of expressways known as the National Trunk Highway System. Private car ownership is increasing but remains uncommon, in large part due to government policies designed to make car ownership expensive through the use of taxes and toll roads. Air travel has increased considerably, although remains out of reach for most ordinary mainland Chinese. Long distance transportation for most mainland Chinese is still dominated by the railways and bus systems. Cities are increasingly building underground or light rail systems, such as in Shanghai. Hong Kong has one of the most modern transport systems in the world.

Society

Demographics

Ethnicity and race

Officially the PRC views itself as a multi-ethnic nation with 56 recognized ethnicities. The majority Han Chinese ethnicity makes up about 93% of the population and is the majority over about half of the area of the PRC. The Han Chinese itself is relatively racially heterogeneous, and can also be conceived as a large category bringing together many diverse ethnic subgroups sharing common cultural and linguistic characteristics.

Language

The majority Han Chinese speak varieties of spoken Chinese, which can be regarded as either one language or a family of languages. The largest subdivision of spoken Chinese is Mandarin Chinese, with more speakers than any other language on Earth. A standardized version of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, known as Putonghua, is taught in schools and used as the official language of the entire country.

Issues

The People's Republic of China, in an attempt to limit its population growth, has adopted a policy which limits urban families (ethnic minorities such as Tibetans are an exception) to one child and rural families to two children when the first is female. Because males are considered to be more economically valuable in rural areas, there appears to be a high incidence of sex selective abortion and child abandonment in rural areas to ensure that the second child is male. (See National Geographic's China's Lost Children). This policy only applies to the Han majority. There are numerous orphanages for the children that are abandoned, but approximately 98% of these children are not adopted, and stay in the orphanage until they are an adult. China has instituted a regulated program to permit international adoption, although this only affects a small percentage of the children. By 2000 this has resulted in a sex ratio at birth of 117 boys being born for every 100 girls which is substantially higher than the natural rate (106 to 100) (but comparable to the ratios in places such as the Caucasus, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea). Although some of this problematic ratio is attributable to sexism, recently, it has been found that it correlates with hepatitis as well. The PRC government is attempting to mitigate this problem by emphasizing the worth of women and has gone so far as to criminalize medical providers from disclosing to parents the sex of an expected baby. The result of the sex ratio bias is that there are now 30–40 million Chinese males who cannot marry Chinese women. Apart from emigration, this may cause an increase in prostitution. In some cases, this has led to kidnappings, where women are abducted from their families, and forcibly sold as wives in distant villages.

Health

The PRC has several emerging public health problems: health problems related to air and water pollution, a progressing HIV-AIDS epidemic and hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers. The HIV epidemic, in addition to the usual routes of infection, was exacerbated in the past by unsanitary practices used in the collection of blood in rural areas. The problem with tobacco is complicated by the concentration of most cigarette sales in a government controlled monopoly. The government, dependent on tobacco revenue, seems hesitant in its response to the tobacco compared with other public health problems. Hepatitis B is endemic in mainland China, with a large percentage of the population contracting the disease; about 10% of these are seriously affected. A program initiated in 2002 will attempt over the next 5 years to vaccinate all newborns in mainland China. In November 2002, the pneumonia-like SARS surfaced in Guangdong province. The epidemic spread into neighboring Hong Kong, Vietnam, and other countries via international travelers. The strains of avian flu outbreaks in recent years among local poultry and birds, along with a number of its citizens. While the virus is currently mainly animal-human transmissible, experts expect an avian flu pandemic that would affect the region, should the virus morph to be human-human transmissible. The recent pig-to-human transmission of Streptococcus suis bacteria, which has led to an unsually high number of deaths in and around Sichuan province.

Education

To provide for its population in mainland China, the PRC has a vast and varied school system. There are preschools, kindergartens, schools for the deaf and blind, key schools (similar to college preparatory schools), primary schools, secondary schools (comprising junior and senior middle schools, secondary agricultural and vocational schools, regular secondary schools, secondary teachers' schools, secondary technical schools, and secondary professional schools), and various institutions of higher learning (consisting of regular colleges and universities, professional colleges, and short-term vocational universities).

Culture

Streptococcus suis, in Peking opera]] Peking opera China's traditional values were derived from the orthodox version of Confucianism/conservatism, which was taught in schools and was even part of imperial civil service examinations. However, the term Confucianism is somewhat problematic in that the system of thought which reached it high-water mark in Qing Dynasty imperial China was in fact composed of several strains of thought, including Legalism, which in many ways departed from the original spirit of Confucianism; indeed by the height of imperial China, the right of the individual ethical conscience and the right to criticise tyrannical governments and demand change had largely been prohibited by "orthodox" thinkers. Currently, there are neo-Confucians who believe that contrary to that line of thought, democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian "Asian values". See [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccba/cear/issues/fall97/graphics/special/debary/debary.htm] The leaders who directed the efforts to change Chinese society after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 were raised in the old society and had been marked with its values. PRC leaders sought to change some traditional aspects, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and Confucian education, while preserving others, such as the family structure. Some observers believe that the Communist period following 1949 is very much in continuity with traditional Chinese history, rather than revolutionary. On the other hand, some observers believe that the Communist period following 1949 has fundamentally altered or damaged the foundations of Chinese culture. At various times in the history of the PRC, many aspects of traditional Chinese culture were labeled 'regressive and harmful' or 'vestiges of feudalism' by the regime or by prominent movements (e.g. by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution), such as Confucianism, traditional art, literature, and performing arts; for example, Beijing opera was "reformed" to conform to communist propaganda. The brutality of the Cultural Revolution itself has also been described as destructive to China's traditional moral values. The institution of the Simplified Chinese orthography reform is controversial as well, with some considering it harmless, and others viewing it as an assault on Chinese culture. However, China has since moved away from attempting to reform all of its traditional art forms. As time has progressed, the PRC government has accepted much of traditional Chinese culture as an integral part of Chinese society; current Chinese national policy often lauds these as important achievements of the Chinese civilization and emphasizes them as being integral to the formation of Chinese national identity. The PRC has also promoted feelings of nationalism in recent years, regarded by some observers as an effort to provide legitimacy for its rule.

Science & Technology

Simplified Chinese] After the Sino-Soviet split, China started to develop its own indigenous nuclear deterrent and delivery systems. A natural outgrowth of this was a satellite launching program. This culminated in 1970 with the launching of Dong Fang Hong I, the first Chinese satellite. This made the PRC the fifth nation to independently launch a satellite. In 1992 the current "Project 921" manned spaceflight program was authorised. On 19 November 1999, the unmanned Shenzhou 1 was launched, the first test flight of the program. After three more tests, Shenzhou 5 was launched on October 15, 2003, using a Long March 2F rocket and carrying Yang Liwei, making the PRC the third country to put a human being into space through its own endeavors. The second mission, Shenzhou 6 launched 12 October 2005. Some see China's space program as a respond to the United States Air Force's efforts to militarize space. China is actively developing in fields such as biotechnology, biomedicine, information technology, urban infrastructure and electronics.

Miscellaneous topics


- China article on China's civilizations
- Chinese law and law of the People's Republic of China
- Communications in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau
- Education in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau
- National College Entrance Examination
- Environment of China
- Ethnic groups of China
- Police in the People's Republic of China
- Railways in China
- Science and technology in China
- Transportation in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau
- Military history of China
- China and weapons of mass destruction
- List of Chinese battles

References


- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html CIA World Factbook 2002/2004]
- [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm Background Note: China U.S. Department of State website]

Further reading


- Ross Terrill, The New Chinese Empire: And What It Means for the United States, Basic Books, hardcover, 400 pages, ISBN 0465084125
- Roads Murphey, East Asia: A New History, U. of Michigan Press: 1996.

External links

Government


- [http://www.china.org.cn/english/index.htm China.org.cn] China's Official Gateway
- [http://www.gov.cn www.gov.cn] China's Government Portal

News


- [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/home/index.html China Daily]
- [http://www.chinaonline.com/ China Online]
- [http://english.eastday.com/ Eastday] Shanghai-based
- [http://www.HavenWorks.com/world/china HavenWorks - China News] news headline links
- [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ People's Daily Online]
- [http://www.scmp.com/ South China Morning Post] Hong Kong-based
- [http://202.84.17.11/en/index.htm Xinhua] government news agency
- [http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/China Yahoo! News- Full Coverage: China] news headline links

Overviews


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1287798.stm BBC News - Country Profile: China]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2004/china/default.stm BBC News - In Depth: Changing China] ongoing coverage
- [http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/eyeonchina/ CNN.com Specials - Eye on China] ongoing coverage
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html CIA World Factbook - China]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/0,7368,467721,00.html Guardian Unlimited - Special Report: China] ongoing coverage
- [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cntoc.html Library of Congress - Country Study: China] data as of July 1987
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/red/ PBS Frontline - China in the Red] documentary covering 1998-2001
- [http://web.amnes