China
![''China'' (today's [[Guangdong](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/CEM-09-Asiae-Nova-Descriptio-China-2510.jpg)
Both sources exclude both Taiwan and coastal and territorial waters from the area of China. However, the CIA ''World Factbook'' includes the United States coastal and territorial waters, while Encyclopædia Britannica excludes them.
Notably, the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' specifies the United States' area (excluding coastal and territorial waters) as 9,525,067 km2, which is less than either source's figure given for China's area. Therefore, it is unclear which country has a larger area including coastal and territorial waters.
The United Nations Statistics Division's figure for the United States is and China is . These closely match the CIA ''World Factbook'' figures and similarly ''include'' coastal and territorial waters for the United States, but ''exclude'' coastal and territorial waters for China.}} The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces,.}} five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the country's capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center.
China is considered one of the cradles of civilization: the first human inhabitants in the region arrived during the Paleolithic; by the late second millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The eighth to third centuries BCE saw a breakdown in the authority of the Zhou dynasty, accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature, philosophy, and historiography. In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor for the first time. Appointed non-hereditary officials began ruling counties instead of the aristocracy, ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the Qin, Han, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. With the invention of gunpowder and paper, the establishment of the Silk Road, and the building of the Great Wall, Chinese culture—including languages, traditions, architecture, philosophy and technology—flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties.
After decades of struggle, the 1911 Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era, which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of the rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against the KMT-led Nationalist government. Following the country's invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the KMT and CCP temporarily agreed to a truce in favor of a united front against the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre had a lasting impact on the country. The end of war with Japan in 1945 was quickly followed by a resumption of hostilities between the KMT and CCP. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming the People's Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan. The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China. Following the implementation of land reforms, further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split, the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States. Economic reforms that began in 1978 led by reformists within the CCP moved the country away from a socialist planned economy towards an increasingly capitalist market economy, spurring significant economic growth. The corresponding movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989.
China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council; the UN representative for China was changed from the ROC to the PRC in 1971. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, and the RCEP. It is a member of the BRICS, the G20, APEC, the SCO, and the East Asia Summit. Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the second-wealthiest country, albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy, human rights and religious freedom. The country has been one of the fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter, as well as the second-largest importer. China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget. It is a great power and a regional power, and has been described as an emerging superpower. China is known for its cuisine and culture, and has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the second-highest number of any country.
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201by Xing, Wei, Huang, Wen-min, Liu, Gui-hua, Liu, Yong-ding, Liu, YD, Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hydrobiol, State Key Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published 2008
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202by Li Baohui, Li Hai, Liu Yu, Wang Anliang, Ji Shunying, Ji, SY (reprint author), Dalian Univ Technol, State Key Lab Struct Anal Ind Equipment, Dalian 116023, Peoples R China.Get access
Published in Acta Oceanologica Sinica (2014)
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203by Zhang, Shu-ren, Zhang, Lu, Sun, Li, Sun, L (reprint author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Oceanol, Key Lab Expt Marine Biol, 7 Nanhai Rd, Qingdao 266071, Peoples R China.Get access
Published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (2014)
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204by Chen, Zhong-Yuan, Liu, Hong, Li, Zheng-Qiu, Zhang, Qi-Ya, Zhang, QY, Wuhan Univ, State Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol, Inst Hydrobiol, Grad Sch, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published in Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology (2008)
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205by Lue, A-J, Li, Z-Q, Zhang, Q-Y, Zhang, QY, Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hydrobiol, Grad Univ, State Key Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published in Journal of Fish Diseases (2008)
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206by Irish, Victoria, Hanna, Sarah, Willis, Megan, China, Swarup, Thomas, Jennie, Wentzell, Jeremy, Cirisan, Ana, Si, Meng, Leaitch, W. Richard, Murphy, Jennifer, Abbatt, Jonathan, Laskin, Alexander, Girard, Eric, Bertram, AllanGet access
Published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2019)
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209by Cheng, Zezhen, Morgenstern, Megan E., Zhang, Bo, Fraund, Matthew, Lata, Nurun Nahar, Brimberry, Rhenton, Marcus, Matthew A., Mazzoleni, Lynn, Fialho, Paulo, Henning, Silvia, Wehner, Birgit, Mazzoleni, Claudio, China, SwarupGet access
Published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023)
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210by Royer, H., Pöhlker, M., Krüger, O., Blades, E., Sealy, P., Lata, N., Cheng, Z., China, S., Ault, A., Quinn, P., Zuidema, P., Pöhlker, C., Pöschl, U., Andreae, M., Gaston, C.Get access
Published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023)
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211by Sun, Ying, Zho, Zhi, Wang, Lingling, Yang, Chuanyan, Jianga, Shuai, Song, Linsheng, Wang, LL (reprint author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Oceanol, 7 Nanhai Rd, Qingdao 266071, Peoples R China.Get access
Published in Developmental & Comparative Immunology (2014)
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212by Chen Yaning, Xu Changchun, Chen Yapeng, Li Zhongqin, Pang Zhonghe, Chen Yapeng Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, Ke Lab Oasis Ecol & Desert Environm, Urumqi 830011, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published 2008
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213by China, Swarup, Scarnato, Barbara, Owen, Robert C., Zhang, Bo, Ampadu, Marian T., Kumar, Sumit, Dzepina, Katja, Dziobak, Michael P., Fialho, Paulo, Perlinger, Judith, Hueber, Jacques, Helmig, Detlev, Mazzoleni, Lynn, Mazzoleni, ClaudioGet access
Published in Geophysical Research Letters (2015)
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216by Dang, H., Zhang, X., Song, L., Chang, Y., Yang, G., Dang, H, Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Oceanol, Key Lab Marine Geol & Environm, 7 Nanhai Rd, Qingdao 266071, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published in Journal of Applied Microbiology (2007)
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218by Su, Jianguo, Yang, Chunrong, Zhu, Zuoyan, Wang, Yaping, Jang, Songhun, Liao, Lanjie, Wang, YP, Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hydrobiol, State Key Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published in Fish & Shellfish Immunology (2009)
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219by D. A. Knopf, P. Wang, B. Wong, J. M. Tomlin, D. P. Veghte, N. N. Lata, S. China, A. Laskin, R. C. Moffet, J. Y. Aller, M. A. Marcus, J. WangGet access
Published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2023)
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220by Yang, Fangxing, Zhang, Qinghua, Xu, Ying, Jiang, Guibin, Wang, Yawei, Wang, Ding, Xu, Y, Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Hydrobiol, State Key Lab Freshwater Ecol & Biotechnol, Wuhan 430072, Peoples R ChinaGet access
Published 2008
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