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Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country.
The name "Jiangsu" comes from Jiang, short for the city of Jiangning (now Nanjing), and Su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is 苏 (Hanyu Pinyin: Sū), the second character of its name.
Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over 1,000 km along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze River passes through its southern parts.
History
The province of Jiangsu was formed in the 17th century. Before then, the northern and southern parts of Jiangsu had little to do with each other. South Jiangsu is currently the dominant part, being much wealthier and more influential than the north, and has been so for centuries; it is also firmly a part of southern Chinese culture. North Jiangsu, on the other hand, is at the juncture between North China and South China. Culturally it is of North China, but it has influences from South China, and is indeed still a part of a province that is based in the south.
During the earliest of the Chinese dynasties, Jiangsu was far removed from the center of Chinese civilization, which were to the northwest in Henan; it was home to the Huai Yi (淮夷), an ancient ethnic group. During the Zhou Dynasty more contact was made, and eventually a state of Wu (centered at Gusu, now Suzhou) appeared as a vassal to the Zhou Dynasty in south Jiangsu, one of the many hundreds of states that existed across north and central China at the time. Near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu became a great power under King Helu of Wu, and was able to defeat in 484 BC the state of Qi, a major power to the north in modern-day Shandong province, and contest for the position of overlord over all the states of China. The state of Wu was subjugated in 473 BC by the state of Yue, another state that had emerged to the south in modern-day Zhejiang province. Yue was in turn subjugated by the powerful state of Chu from the west in 333 BC. Eventually the state of Qin swept away all the other states of China, and established China as a unified nation in 221 BC.
Under the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), which brought China to its first golden age, Jiangsu was a relative backwater, far removed from the centers of civilization in the North China Plain. Jiangsu was at the time administered under two zhou (provinces): Xuzhou Province in the north, and Yangzhou Province in the south. Although south Jiangsu was eventually the base for the kingdom of Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms from 222 to 280), it did not become significant until the invasion of northern nomads during the Western Jin Dynasty, starting from the 4th century. As northern nomadic groups established kingdoms across the north, ethnic Han Chinese aristocracy fled southwards and set up a refugee Eastern Jin Dynasty in 317, in Jiankang (modern day Nanjing). From then until 581 (a period known as the Southern and Northern Dynasties), Nanjing in south Jiangsu was to be the base of four more ethnic Han Chinese dynasties facing off with northern barbarian (but increasingly sinicized) dynasties. In the meantime, north Jiangsu was a buffer of sorts between north and south; it initially started as a part of southern dynasties, but as northern dynasties gained more ground, it became part of northern dynasties.
In 581 unity was reestablished again, and under the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) China once more went through a golden age, though Jiangsu at this point was still rather unremarkable among the different parts of China. It was during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), which saw the development of a wealthy mercantile class and emergent market economy in China, that south Jiangsu emerged as a center of trade. From then onwards, south Jiangsu, especially major cities like Suzhou or Yangzhou, would be synonymous with opulence and luxury in China. Today south Jiangsu remains one of the richest parts of China, and Shanghai, arguably the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan of mainland China cities, is a direct extension of south Jiangsu culture.
The Jurchen Jin Dynasty gained control of North China in 1127, and the river Huai He, which used to cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea, was the border between the north, under the Jin, and the south, under the Southern Song Dynasty. The Mongols took control of China in the 13th century. The Ming Dynasty, which was established in 1368 after driving out the Mongols who had occupied China, initially put its capital in Nanjing. Following a coup by Zhu Di (later Yongle Emperor), however, the capital was moved to Beijing, far to the north. (The naming of the two cities continue to reflect this: "Nanjing" literally means "southern capital", "Beijing" literally means "northern capital.) The entirety of modern day Jiangsu as well as neighbouring Anhui province kept their special status, however, as territory-governed directly by the central government, and were called Nanzhili (南直隸 "Southern directly-governed"). Meanwhile, South Jiangsu continued to be an important center of trade in China; some historians see in the flourishing textiles industry at the time incipient industrialization and capitalism, a trend that was however aborted, several centuries before similar trends took hold in the West.
The Qing Dynasty changed this situation by establishing Nanzhili as Jiangnan province; in 1666 Jiangsu and Anhui were split apart as separate provinces, and Jiangsu was given borders approximately the same as today. With the start of the Western incursion into China in the 1840s, the rich and mercantile south Jiangsu was increasingly exposed to Western influence; Shanghai, originally an unremarkable little town of Jiangsu, quickly developed into a metropolis of trade, banking, and cosmopolitanism, and was split out later as an independent municipality. South Jiangsu also figures strongly in the Taiping Rebellion (1851 – 1864), a massive and deadly rebellion that attempted to set up a Christian theocracy in China; it started far to the south in Guangdong province, swept through much of South China, and by 1853 had established Nanjing as its capital, renamed as Tianjing (天京 "Heavenly Capital").
The Republic of China was established in 1912, and China was soon torn apart by warlords. Jiangsu changed hands several times, but in April 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek established a government at Nanjing; he was soon able to bring most of China under his control. This was however interrupted by the second Sino-Japanese War, which began full-scale in 1937; on December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell, and the combined atrocities of the occupying Japanese for the next 3 months would come to be known as the Nanjing Massacre. Nanjing was the seat of the collaborationist government of East China under Wang Jingwei, and Jiangsu remained under occupation until the end of the war in 1945.
After the war, Nanjing was once again the capital of the Republic of China, though now the Chinese Civil War had broken out between the Kuomintang government and Communist forces, based further north, mostly in Manchuria. The decisive Huaihai Campaign was fought in northern Jiangsu; it resulted in Kuomintang defeat, and the communists were soon able to cross the Yangtze River and take Nanjing. The Kuomintang fled southwards, and eventually ended up in Taipei, from which the Republic of China government continues to administer Taiwan and its neighbouring islands, though it also continues to claim (technically, at least) Nanjing as its rightful capital.
After communist takeover, Beijing was made capital of China and Nanjing was demoted to be the provincial capital of Jiangsu. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping initially focused on the south coast of China, in Guangdong province, which soon left Jiangsu behind; starting from the 1990s they were applied more evenly to the rest of China. Suzhou and Wuxi, two southern cities of Jiangsu in close proximity to neighbouring Shanghai Municipality, have since become particularly prosperous, being among the top 10 cities in China in gross domestic product and outstripping the provincial capital of Nanjing. The income disparity between north Jiangsu and south Jiangsu however remains large.
Geography
Nanjing
Jiangsu is very flat and low-lying, with plains covering 68 percent of its total area (water covers another 18 percent), and most of the province not more than 50 m above sea level. Jiangsu is also laced with a well-developed irrigation system, which earned it (especially the southern half) the moniker of 水乡 (shuǐxiāng "land of water"); the southern city of Suzhou is so crisscrossed with canals that it has been dubbed "Venice of the East". The Grand Canal of China cuts through Jiangsu from north to south, traversing all the east-west river systems. Jiangsu also borders the Yellow Sea. The Yangtze River, the longest river of China, cuts through the province in the south and reaches the East China Sea. Mount Yuntai near the city of Lianyungang is the highest point in this province, with an altitude of 625 m. Large lakes in Jiangsu include Lake Taihu (the largest), Lake Hongze, Lake Gaoyou, Lake Luoma, and Lake Yangcheng.
Historically, the river Huai He, a major river in central China and the traditional border between North China and South China, cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea. However, starting from 1194 AD, the Yellow River further to the north changed its course several times, running into the Huai He in north Jiangsu each time instead of its other usual path northwards into Bohai Bay. The silting caused by the Yellow River was so heavy that after its last episode of "hijacking" the Huai He ended in 1855, the Huai He was no longer able to go through its usual path into the sea. Instead it flooded, pooled up (thereby forming and enlarging Lake Hongze and Lake Gaoyou), and flowed southwards through the Grand Canal into the Yangtze. The old path of the Huai He is now marked by a series of irrigation channels, the most significant of which is the North Jiangsu Irrigation Main Channel (苏北灌溉总渠), which channels a small amount of the water of the Huai He along its old path into the sea.
Jiangsu Province spans the warm-temperate/humid and subtropical/humid climate zones, and has clear-cut seasonal changes, with temperatures at an average of -2 - 4 °C in January and 26 - 30 °C in July. There are frequently "plum rains" between spring and summer, typhoons with rainstorms in late summer and early autumn. The annual average rainfall is 800 - 1200 mm, concentrated mostly in summer when the southeast monsoon carries rainwater into the province.
Major cities:
Administrative divisions
monsoon
Jiangsu is divided into 13 prefecture-level divisions, all of them prefecture-level cities:
- Nanjing (Simplified Chinese: 南京市, Hanyu Pinyin: Nánjīng Shì)
- Xuzhou (徐州市 Xúzhōu Shì)
- Lianyungang (连云港市 Liányúngǎng Shì)
- Suqian (宿迁市 Sùqiān Shì)
- Huai'an (淮安市 Huái'ān Shì)
- Yancheng (盐城市 Yánchéng Shì)
- Yangzhou (扬州市 Yángzhōu Shì)
- Taizhou (泰州市 Tàizhōu Shì)
- Nantong (南通市 Nántōng Shì)
- Zhenjiang (镇江市 Zhènjiāng Shì)
- Changzhou (常州市 Chángzhōu Shì)
- Wuxi (无锡市 Wúxī Shì)
- Suzhou (苏州市 Sūzhōu Shì)
The 13 prefecture-level divisions of Jiangsu are subdivided into 106 county-level divisions (54 districts, 27 county-level cities, and 25 counties). Those are in turn divided into 1488 township-level divisions (1078 towns, 122 townships, 1 ethnic township, and 287 subdistricts).
See List of administrative divisions of Jiangsu for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Economy
county-level divisions
Jiangsu has an extensive irrigation system supporting its agriculture, which is based primarily on rice and wheat, followed by maize and sorghum. Main cash crops include cotton, soybeans, peanuts, rape, sesame, ambary hemp, and tea. Other products include peppermint, spearmint, bamboo, medicinal herbs, apples, pears, peaches, loquats, ginkgo. Silkworms also form an important part of Jiangsu's agriculture, with the Lake Taihu region to the south a major base of silk production in China. Jiangsu is also an important producer of freshwater fish and other aquatic products.
Jiangsu has coal, petroleum, and natural gas deposits, but its most significant mineral produces are non-metal minerals such as halite (rock salt), sulfur, phosphorus, as well as marble. The salt mines of Huaiyin have more than 0.4 trillion tonnes of deposits, one of the highest in China.
Jiangsu is historically oriented towards light industries such as textiles and food industry. Since 1949 Jiangsu has also developed heavy industries such as chemical industry and construction materials. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping has greatly benefited southern cities, especially Suzhou and Wuxi, which outstrip the provincial capital Nanjing in total output. In the eastern outskirts of Suzhou, Singapore has built the Suzhou Industrial Park, a flagship of China-Singapore cooperation and the only industrial park in China that is in its entirety the investment of one single foreign country.
Jiangsu is very wealthy among the provinces of China, with the second highest total gross domestic product (after Guangdong Province). Its GDP per capita was 14500 Renminbi in 2002, but geographical disparity is great, and southern cities like Suzhou and Wuxi have GDP per capita around twice of the provincial average, making south Jiangsu one of the most prosperous regions in China.
Economic indicators in 2003:
Gross domestic product: 1245.18 billion Renminbi
Gross domestic product per capita: 16796 Renminbi
Gross domestic product growth rate: 13.5%
Gross domestic product share by sector (primary/secondary/tertiary): 8.9% / 54.5% / 36.6%
Gross domestic product share by sector (public/private): 49.0% / 51.0%
Demographics
The majority of Jiangsu residents are ethnic Han Chinese. Other minorities include the Hui and the Manchus.
Demographic indicators in 2000:
Population: 74.058 million (urban: 34.637 million; rural: 39.421 million) (2003)
Birth rate: 9.04 per 1000 (2003)
Death rate: 7.03 per 1000 (2003)
Sex ratio: 102.55 males per 100 females
Average family size: 3.25
Han Chinese proportion: 99.64%
Illiteracy rate: 7.88%
Culture
There are wide disparities in culture in Jiangsu. North Jiangsu is closer to Shandong and Henan provinces in culture while south Jiangsu is more similar to Zhejiang and Shanghai.
Two main subdivisions of the Chinese language, Mandarin and Wu, are spoken in different parts of Jiangsu. Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over most of northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, as well as parts of southern Jiangsu, such as in the provincial capital, Nanjing; a more detailed classification would put dialects of northern Jiangsu (such as in Xuzhou) under "Zhongyuan dialects" and those of central and southern Jiangsu (such as in Yangzhou or Nanjing) under "Jianghuai dialects". Dialects of Wu are spoken in the southernmost parts of Jiangsu, such as in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou. Mandarin and Wu are not mutually intelligible and the dividing line is sharp and well-defined. (See also: Nanjing dialect, Xuzhou dialect, Yangzhou dialect, Suzhou dialect, Wuxi dialect, Changzhou dialect.)
Changzhou dialect]
Jiangsu is rich in cultural traditions. Kunqu, originating in Kunshan, is one of the most renowned and prestigious forms of Chinese opera. Pingtan, a form of storytelling accompanied by music, is also popular: it can be subdivided into types by origin: Suzhou Pingtan (of Suzhou), Yangzhou Pingtan (of Yangzhou), and Nanjing Pingtan (of Nanjing). Xiju, a form of traditional Chinese opera, is popular in Wuxi, while Huaiju is popular further north, around Yancheng. Jiangsu cuisine is one of the eight great traditions of the cuisine of China.
Suzhou is also famous for its silk, embroidery art, jasmine tea, stone bridges, pagodas, and its classical gardens. Nearby Yixing is famous for its teaware, and Yangzhou is famous for its lacquerware and jadeware. Nanjing's yunjin is a famous form of woven silk, while Wuxi is famous for its peaches.
Since ancient times, south Jiangsu has been famed for its prosperity and opulence, and simply inserting south Jiangsu place names (Suzhou, Yangzhou, etc.) into poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, as was indeed done by many famous poets. In particular, the fame of Suzhou (as well as Hangzhou in neighbouring Zhejiang province) has led to the popular saying: 上有天堂，下有蘇杭 (above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou), a saying that continues to be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities. Similarly, the prosperity of Yangzhou has led poets to dream of: 腰纏十萬貫，騎鶴下揚州 (with a hundred thousand strings of coins wrapped around the waist, riding a crane down to Yangzhou).
Famous people
This is a list of famous people from Jiangsu in chronological order. Note that modern-day Jiangsu province dates from the 17th century, so most of the people in this list would not know what "Jiangsu" is.
- King Helu of Wu (? - 496 BC), king of the state of Wu
- Gan Jiang
- Mo Xie
- Xiang Yu (232 BC - 202 BC), warlord at the end of Qin Dynasty
- Emperor Gao of Han (256 BC - 195 BC), first emperor of Han Dynasty
- Han Xin, Han Dynasty general
- Xiao He, Han Dynasty general
- Cao Shen, Han Dynasty general
- Zhang Zhao, Three Kingdoms era strategist
- Lu Xun, Three Kingdoms era strategist and general
- Ge Hong
- Tao Hongjing
- Gu Kaizhi (348 - 409), painter
- Lu Ji
- Lu Yun
- Emperor Wu of Song (363 - 422), first emperor of Song Dynasty (420-479)
- Zhang Xu (? - ?), Tang Dynasty calligrapher
- Li Houzhu (937 - 978), last emperor of Later Tang Dynasty, poet
- Fan Zhongyan (989 - 1052), Song Dynasty politician, poet
- Fan Chengda
- Gu Xiancheng
- Xu Xiake (1586 - 1641), travel writer
- Shen Zhou
- Wen Zhengming
- Dong Qichang
- Zhu Yunming
- Wu Cheng'en (? - 1582), author of Journey to the West
- Gui Youguang
- Feng Menglong
- Zheng Banqiao (1693 - 1765), poet, painter, scholar
- Jin Shengtan (1608 - 1661), writer, critic
- Gu Yanwu
- Zhao Yi
- Liu E
- Xu Beihong (1895 - 1953), painter
- Mei Lanfang (1894 - 1961), Beijing opera actor
- Jiang Zemin (1926 - ), President of the People's Republic of China
Tourism
Nanjing was the capital of several Chinese dynasties and contain a variety of historic sites, such as Purple Mountain, Purple Mountain Observatory, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty city wall and gates, Ming Xiao Ling, Lake Xuanwu, Jiming Temple, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and Nanjing Zoo, with circus. Suzhou is renowned for its classical gardens (designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site), as well as Hanshan Temple, and Huqiu Hill. Yangzhou is known for Thin West Lake.
- Chaotian Palace
- Gulin Park
- Jiangxin Island
- Night Markets
- Qixia Temple in Qixia Mountains
- Swallow Rock in Yanziji
- Tombs of Southern Tang Emperor
Miscellaneous topics
Sports
Professional sports teams in Jiangsu include:
- Chinese Football Association Jia League
- Jiangsu Shuntian
- Nanjing Youyou
- Chinese Basketball Association
- Jiangsu Nan'gang Dragons
Colleges and Universities
- Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing Agricultural University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing Normal University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing University of Science and Technology (Nanjing)
- Southeast University (Nanjing)
- Suzhou Medical College (Suzhou)
- Suzhou University (Suzhou)
External links
- [http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/ The Provincial Government of Jiangsu]
- [http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-jiangsu-large.jpg Large map of Jiangsu]
Category:Provinces of the People's Republic of China
ko:장쑤 성
ja:江蘇省
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
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.amnesty.org/report2004/chn-summary-eng Amnesty International Report 2004]
Directories
- [http://dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/China/ Open Directory Project - China] directory category
- [http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/China/ Yahoo! - China] directory category
- [http://www.findouter.com/China/ China Findouter] directory category
Tourism
-
- [http://www.mondophoto.net/asia/china/china.html Mondophoto.net] - 4200 Public Domain photos of China
- [http://www.ianandwendy.com/OtherTrips/ChinaVietnamCambodia/China/?nosplash=true China Pictures] - Photos from a backpacker's trip through China
Other
- [http://www.seoultrain.com "Seoul Train" documentary] A critically acclaimed PBS documentary on North Korean refugees (Incite Productions)
- [http://chinadigitaltimes.net/ China Digital Times]
- [http://china.notspecial.org/ The Opposite End of China (Xinjiang, China Blog)]
- [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/147/ Censorship in China]
- [http://www.globalpolitician.com/articles.asp?ID=225 Chinese Threat to American Leadership in Space]
- [http://www.arachina.com/ China International Travel Service OF Guilin - JP ]
- [http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/ China History Forum]
- [http://www.chinaorbit.com ChinaOrbit.com] general information
- [http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/12/international/asia/12CHIN.html?tntemail1 Chinese politics]: New York Times June 12, 2003 (login is required)
- [http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/ Go Taikonauts!] Chinese citizen's page devoted to China's space program
- [http://www.cinaoggi.com/china-map/ Interactive Map of China]
- [http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/shenzhou_china_archive.html Space.com] articles on China's space activities
- [http://www.globalpolitician.com/articles.asp?ID=341 The Dragon's Dawn: China as a Rising Imperial Power] February 11, 2005
- [http://www.freedo
Suzhou
Suzhou (; sometimes seen transliterated as Su-chow, Suchow, or Soochow) is one of the most famous cities in China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens; Suzhou has also been an important center for China's silk industry since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and continues to hold that prominent position today. It lies in the lower reaches of the Yangtze and on the shores of lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu. It is part of the Golden Triangle region. Suzhou enjoys advantageous geography and excellent land, water and air transportation. The GDP per capita was ¥57992 (ca. US$7249) in 2005, ranked no. 5 among 659 Chinese cities. The crater Suzhou on planet Mars was named after the city.
History
Suzhou, the cradle of Wu culture, is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze Basin. 2500 years ago, local tribes who named themselves "Gou Wu" in the late Shang Dynasty lived in the area which would become Suzhou.
In 514 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period, King Helu (阖闾) of Wu established "Great City of Helu", the ancient name for Suzhou, as his capital.
In 496 BC, Helu was buried in Huqiu (Tiger Hill).
In 473 BC, Wu was defeated by Yue, another kingdom to the east that was soon annexed by Chu in 306 BC. The golden era of Suzhou was over.
By the time of Qin Dynasty, the city was known as Wu County. Xiang Yu (项羽) staged his historical uprising here in 209 BC; Qin was overthrown.
During Sui Dynasty, the city was renamed Suzhou in 589 AD.
589
When the Grand Canal was completed, Suzhou found itself placed strategically on a major trading route. In the course of the history of China, it has been a metropolis of industry and commerce in the south-eastern coast of China.
During Tang Dynasty (825 AD), the great poet Bai Juyi (白居易) constructed the Shantang Canal to connect the city with Huqiu for the tourists.
In 1035 AD, the Confucius temple was founded.
In February 1130, the advancing Jin army from the north sacked the city and committed a holocaust, which was to be followed by Mongol invasion (1275) and destruction of the royal city (in the centre of the walled city) in the beginning of Ming Dynasty (1367).
1367]]
Afterwards, the city had a more prosperous time; many of the famous private gardens were constructed by the gentiles of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. However, the city was to see another disaster in 1860 when Taiping soldiers advanced on and captured the city. In November 1863 the Ever Victorious Army of Charles Gordon recaptured the city from the Taiping forces.
After this, the next crisis was the Japanese invasion (1937). Many gardens were devastated by the end of the war. In the early 1950’s, restoration was done on Zhuo-Zheng Yuan (Humble Administrator's Garden), Dong Yuan (East Garden), and others, to bring them back to life. Consequently, most of the existing gardens reflects the architecture style of Qing Dynasty (1616-1911 AD), albeit many of had a history dating back to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).
In 1981, this ancient city was listed by the State Council as one of the four cities (the other three being Beijing, Hangzhou and Guilin) where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a priority project.
Classical gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997 and 2000.
Districts and Satellite cities
- Area: 8,488 km² (city proper: 1,650 km²)
- Population: about 5.91 million (city proper: 2.17 million)
Suzhou has jurisdiction over (at county level):
- districts: Canglang (沧浪), Jinchang (金阊), Pingjiang (平江), Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou Hi & New Tech Development Zone, Xiangcheng (相城), Wuzhong (吴中)
- County-level cities: Changshu (常熟), Taicang (太仓), Kunshan (昆山), Wujiang (吴江), Wuxian and Zhangjiagang (张家港)
Tourism
Zhangjiagang
- Tiger Hill (Huqiu) [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/tiger_hill.htm]
- Xuanmiao Guan (originally built in 276 AD, rebuilt in 1584)
- Huqiu Temple (originally built in 327, rebuilt in 1871)
- Cold Mountain Temple (Hanshan Si) [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/hanshan_temple.htm] (built in 503, destroyed and rebuilt many times, last reconstruction in 1896)
- Baodai Bridge (built in 816, rebuilt in 1442)
- Shantang Canal (built in 825)
- Huqiu Pagoda (built in 961, destroyed & rebuilt several times, last reconstruction in 1773)
- Ruiguang Pagoda (built in 1009)
- Lingering Garden (Liu Yuan) [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/lingering.htm] (built in 1525, rebuilt in 1953)
- Master of the Nets Garden (Wang Shi Yuan) (built in the Song Dynasty)
- Blue Wave Pavilion (Canglang Ting) [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/canglang.htm] (built in 1696)
- Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty
- Lion Grove Garden (built in 1342)
- Garden of Cultivation
- The Retreat & Reflection Garden
- Humble Administrator's Garden (Zhuozheng Yuan) [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/suzhou/humble_garden.htm] (built in 1513, rebuilt in 1860)
Transportation
Humble Administrator's Garden
- Railroad: the Jiangsu-Shanghai Railway
- Highways: the jiangsu-Shanghai Expressway, the Yangtze Riverine Expressway, the Suzhou-Jiaxin-Hangzhou Expressway
- Water transportation: connected with Zhangjiagang, Luzhi, Liujia and Changshou
- Airway: Shuofang Airport and Guangfu United Airlines | | |
