China

What is China? China is the world's most populous country on the eastern side of Asia.

Tourists walking along the Great Wall of China.

CHINA TODAY

China (the People's Republic of China) is the country with the world's largest population, somewhere around 1.35 billion. The PRC is governed by the Communist Party. The capital city is Beijing.

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A HUGE AND VARIED COUNTRY

China is the world's second largest country by area, being nearly 10 million sq km, but much of that is mountain and desert. The country is so large that the climate varies from one with tropical rainforests in the south, to one of snowy winters in the north.

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MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS

The largest mountain range is the Himalayas and the mountains that go east from them. They effectively act as a wall of mountains, separating China from many other countries of southern Asia.

The two largest rivers are the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world. Both begin on the Tibetan Plateau and flow to the Pacific Ocean.

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AN ANCIENT CIVILISATION

China has one of the world's five earliest civilisations. It began in the area of the Yellow River and was run as a kingdom for thousands of years. These kingdoms were named after their rulers and called dynasties. The first was called the Xia, and started about 4000 years ago. Later it expanded to an empire and the ruler was an emperor. The last dynasty ended in 1949 when it was replaced by Communist Party rule.

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THINKERS AND INVENTORS

China was home to thinkers, poets, writers and inventors. Many of the world's early inventions were made in China. Gunpowder is one of the best known. But then it became inward-looking and its fortunes changed.

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