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Xi'an

Xi'an

Xi'an (; literal meaning: "Western Peace"), is the capital of Shaanxi province in China and a sub-provincial city. One of the most important cities in Chinese history, Xi'an was one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China because it has been the capital of 13 dynasties such as Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang. Xi'an is the eastern end of the Silk Road. The city has more than 3,100 years of history. It was called Chang'an (长安, 長安 pinyin: Cháng'ān), meaning "Perpetual Peace", in ancient times. Xi'an is the largest and most developed city in the central to the northwestern part of China and is ranked among the 10 largest cities in the nation.

History


- Zhou Dynasty established its capital in Feng (沣) and Hao (镐) between the late 11th century BC and 770 BC, both located west of contemporary Xi'an.
- Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC) constructed its capital in the north shore of Wei River, which was burned by Xiang Yu at the end of the dynasty.
- 202 BC: Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, established Chang'an County as his capital; his first palace Changle Palace (长乐宫) was built across the river from the ruin of the Qin capital. This is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Chang'an and Xi'an.
- 200 BC: Emperor Liu Bang built Weiyang Palace (未央宫) in Chang'an.
- 194 BC: Construction of the first city wall of Chang'an began, which did not finished until 190 BC. The wall measured 25.7 km in length, 12-16 m in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was ca. 36 km².
- AD 582: Emperor of Sui Dynasty ordered a new capital to be built southeast of the Han capital, called Daxing (大興, great excitement). It consisted of three sections: the Palace, the Imperial City, and the civilian section. The total area within the wall was 84 km², The main street Zhuque Avenue measured 155 m in width. It was the largest city in the world. The city was renamed Chang'an (長安, everlasting peace) in Tang Dynasty.
- 7th century: Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, well-known as Tang Sanzang in China, established a sizeable translation centre after returning from India with Sanskrit scriptures.
- AD 701: Construction of Da Yan Pagoda (大雁塔, Great Wild Goose Pagoda) began. It measured 64 m in height. This pagoda was constructed for the storage of the translation of the Buddha Sutra obtained from India by the monk Xuan Zang. Xuan Zang
- AD 707: Construction of Xiao Yan Pagoda (小雁塔, Little Wild Goose Pagoda) began. It measured 45 m in height. After the earthquake of 1556 AD, its height was reduced to 43.4 m.
- AD 904: The end of Tang Dynasty brought destruction to Chang'an. Residences were forced to move to Luoyang, the new capital. Only a small area continued to be occupied after the destruction.
- AD 1370: Ming Dynasty built a new wall to protect a much smaller city of 12 km². The wall measures 11.9 km in circumference, 12 m in height, and 15-18 m in thickness at the base.
- This city was the site of the Xian Incident in 1936 during World War II. The Xi'an Incident brought the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang to a truce so the two forces could concentrate on fighting against Japan.

Geography

The city is nested between a flood plain created by 8 surrounding rivers and streams, most of which have been too polluted to be used as sources of fresh water. Xi'an borders the northern foot of the Qinling Mountain Ranges to the south, and the banks of Wei River to the north. The city covers approximately 16,808 km² of urban area.

Demographics

Its population is around 7.5 million. About 4 million people live in the city area. Xi'an has a large Muslim quarter which is home to the beautiful 1250 year old Great Mosque of Xi'an. Great Mosque of Xi'an

Culture

Historically, Xi'an has been one of the most important cities in the world. The culture of Xi'an is inherited from the traditions of one of the world's earliest civilizations. The Guanzhong Ren (關中人) were the cultural antecedent of Xi'anese, their cultural features are drawn from the Ten Specialities of Guanzhong Ren (關中十大怪). Another major part of this culture is Eight Great Sights of Chang'an (長安八景); storied scenic areas in the region. The drama of the original Xi'anese culture, Qinqiang (秦腔, Voice of Qin) is the oldest and most extensive Chinese Opera of the four major types of Chinese opera. The dialect of Xi'anese is Shaanxi Hua, which is being assimilated by Standard Mandarin, but still retains much grammar and pronunciation from the Classical Chinese. Because of its long development as a culture, the cuisine of Xi'an is extensive as well. It is the representative of food of Northwestern China. The most well known local food is the Xi'anese snack, a traditional food of the Hui people. Hui-style snacks feature beef and mutton because the Hui people do not eat pork. Baked beef and mutton, buns with beef, mutton pancake and mutton soup are some of the tasty Hui dishes you can enjoy in Xi'an.

Sights


- The city is surrounded by a well-preserved defensive wall which was re-constructed in Ming Dynasty.
- The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) and his Terracotta Army are located 40 km to the east of the city's suburbs.
- The city's Muslim quarter is home to the Great Mosque of Xi'an.
- The Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Small Wild Goose Pagoda are both spectacular towers and both are well over 1000 years old and have mostly survived great earthquakes. Small Wild Goose Pagoda
- The Bell Tower and Drum Tower, located at the city center.
- The Stele Forest is famous for its numerous historic inscriptions and stoneworks.
- The Shaanxi History Museum has a large collection of artifacts both modern and ancient.
- The Banpo Neolithic village is located outside the city.

Economy

Xi'an's GDP per capita was ¥27893 (ca. US$3397) in 2003, ranked no. 39 among 659 Chinese cities. Xi'an is the most industrialized and developed city in the Northwest of China.

Public Transportation

Banpo A subway construction project was planned in 2002 to be completed by 2006. The projected Xi'an subway (No. 1 line) would start from the northwest area of Xi'an city and stop at the Xi'an Textile City with a total length of 19.74 km. The previous feasibility study didn't get the approval from the Beijing Central Government. In 2004 a new Feasibility study was carried out by the Spanish consortium SUE (Spanish United Engineering) integrated by INOCSA, EUROESTUDIOS and PROINTEC, with a total length of 26.22 km, including 15 stations, a train depot and a multifunction base. According to this Study, the Line 1 will be completed in 2009.

Miscellaneous

Xi'an is the sister city with Kyoto (Japan), Pau (France), Québec (Canada), Lahore (Pakistan), and Dortmund (Germany)

Colleges and universities

Germany Germany Xi'an is known as one of the academic centers in China. The number of institutions is the third only after Beijing and Shanghai. The private institutions are famous in the country. Public
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (西安交通大學)
- Chang'an University (長安大學)
- Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry (西北農林科技大學)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (西北工業大學)
- Shaanxi Normal University (陝西師範大學)
- Xidian University (西安電子科技大學)
- The Fourth Military Medical University(第四軍醫大學)
- Northwest University (西北大學)
- Northwest University of Political Science and Law (西北政法大學)
- Shaanxi Institute of Education
- Shaanxi University of Technology Xi'an Institute of Finance and Economics
- Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
- Xi'an Conservatory of Music
- Xi'an Institute of Post & Telecoms (西安邮电学院)
- Xi'an Institute of Technology (西安理工大学)
- Xi'an International Studies University (西安外国语学院)
- Xi'an Physical Culture Institute
- Xi'an Petroleum University (西安石油大学)
- Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology (西安建筑科技大学)
- Xi'an University of Engineering Science and Technology
- Xi'an University of Technology Private
- Xi'an Eurasia University
- Xi'an Fanyi University
- Xi'an Peihua University (西安培华学院)
- Xi'an Siyuan University Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed. For details, see List of universities in mainland China

Additional Images

Bell and Drum Towers

Image:Torre del tambor.jpg|Drum Tower Image:Xi'an Gulou.jpg|The Xi'an Drum Tower Image:XiAn_ZhongLou.jpg|Bell Tower at Xian Zhonglou Image:XianBellTower.jpg|On top of the city wall looking down the main street towards the Bell Tower

Great Goose Pagoda

Image:Great Goose Pagoda Day 2005.jpg|Great Goose Pagoda, South Side

External links


- [http://www.xa.gov.cn/ Municipal government website] (Chinese)
- [http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/maps/xian_map.htm Xian City Map (260kb, English)]
- [http://www.ioe.ac.cn/aomatt2005/english/images/xian.jpg Map of Xi'an (Chinese)]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Xian+China&ll=34.265445,108.944550&spn=0.125879,0.202217&t=k&hl=en Satellite images of Xi'an] (Google Maps) Category:Cities along the Silk Road Category:Cities in Shaanxi Category:Subprovincial cities
- ko:시안 ja:西安 th:ซีอาน

Capital

:This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see capital (disambiguation) In politics, a capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has an alternative meaning based on an alternative meaning of "capital") is the principal city or town associated with its government. It is almost always the city which physically encompasses the offices and meeting places of the seat of government and fixed by law. The word capital is derived from the Latin caput meaning "head," and the related term capitol refers to the building where government-business is chiefly conducted. Seats of government in major substate jurisdictions are usually called "capitals", but at lower administrative subdivisions, terms such as county town, county seat, or borough seat are also used. As the focal point of power for the country or region, the capital naturally attracts the politically motivated and those whose skills are needed for efficient administration of government such as lawyers, journalists, and public policy researchers. Older capitals have often developed into prime economic, cultural, or intellectual centers as well. Such is certainly the case with Paris and Buenos Aires among national capitals, and Irkutsk or Salt Lake City in their respective state or province. Such concentration may be controversial. The siting of Brasília in Brazil's heartland was done in order to bring progress to the interior of the country, since the old capital, Rio de Janeiro, along with entire Southeastern Brazil was already crowded. The government of South Korea announced in 2004 it would move its capital from Seoul to Yeongi-Gongju — even though the word Seoul itself means "capital" in the Korean language. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal. Traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, as occurred with Thebes by Alexandria, Nanjing by Shanghai, or Edinburgh by Glasgow. The decline of a dynasty or culture could mean the extinction of its capital city as well, as occurred with Babylon and Cahokia. And many modern capital cities, such as Abuja and Ottawa, were deliberately fixed outside existing economic areas, and may not have established themselves as new commercial or industrial hubs since.

Multiple capitals

:See also: List of multiple capitals A number of cases exist where states or other entities have multiple capitals. In South Africa, for example, the administrative capital is Pretoria, the legislative capital is Cape Town, and the judicial capital is Bloemfontein, the outcome of the compromise that created the Union of South Africa in 1910. In others, the "effective" and "official" capital may differ for pragmatic reasons, resulting in a situation where a city known as "the capital" is not, in fact, host to the seat of government:
- Yamoussoukro was designated the national capital of Côte d'Ivoire in 1983, but as of 2004 most government offices and embassies were still located in Abidjan
- Sucre is still the constitutional capital of Bolivia, but most of the national government long abandoned that region for La Paz
- Amsterdam is the nominal national capital of the Netherlands even though the Dutch government and supreme court are both located in The Hague. In such cases, the city housing the administrative capital is usually understood to be the "national capital" among outsiders. For instance, Santiago is understood to be the capital of Chile even though its Congress is in Valparaiso.

Capital as symbol

With the rise of modern empires and the nation-state, the capital city has become a symbol for the state and its government, and imbued with political meaning. Unlike medieval capitals, which were declared wherever a monarch held his or her court, the selection, relocation, founding, or capture of a modern capital city is an emotional affair. For example:
- Ruined and almost uninhabited Athens was made capital of newly independent Greece with the romantic notion of reviving the glory of the ancients;
- Peter I of Russia moved his government to Saint Petersburg to give the Russian Empire a western orientation, while Kemal Atatürk did the same by ironically moving east to Ankara, away from Ottoman Istanbul;
- The selection or founding of a "neutral" city, one unencumbered by regional or political identity, represented the unity of a new state with Madrid in Spain, Washington, D.C. in the United States, and Canberra in Australia among others;
- During the American Civil War, tremendous resources were expended to defend Washington, D.C. from Confederate attack even though the small federal government could have been moved relatively easily in the era of railroads and telegraph.
- Berlin has risen from the ashes of World War II (Stunde Null) to become the new/old capital city of the third most prosperous nation in the World, Germany.

The effects of the capital

The capital city is almost always the main target in a war, as capturing it usually guarantees capture of much of the enemy government, and victory for the attacking forces. In the tradition of drama, capital cities are usually associated with high stake final battles, such as in the Lord of the Rings series where the forces of Mordor besiege the Gondorian capital of Minas Tirith; it is assumed if the city falls, Gondor falls with it. In old China, the relatively fragile dynasties could easily be toppled with the fall of their capital. In the Three Kingdoms period, both Shu and Wu fell when their respective capitals of Cheng Du and Jian Ye fell. The Ming were destroyed when the Manchus took their seat of power, and this pattern endlessly repeats itself in Chinese history. In the West, things were vastly different. The Byzantine Empire lasted for nearly 60 years after Crusaders took their capital city of Constantinople. The American revolutionaries lost their capital of Philadelphia, but survived the blow.

Largest national capital cities

Some of the largest cities in the world are not national capitals. The largest national capitals on each continent, by urban/metropolitan area population, are:
- Africa: Cairo (11,146,000)
- Asia: Tokyo (35,237,000)
- Europe: Moscow (13,600,000)
- North America: Mexico City (17,809,471)
- Oceania: Wellington (367,600)
- South America: Buenos Aires (13,349,000)

Lists of capitals


- Lists of national capitals
  - by name
  - by country (with also the largest city)
  - by continent and country
- List of historical national capitals
- List of capitals of subnational entities
- List of multiple capitals
- List of countries that have the name of their capital included in their name
- List of countries whose capital is not their largest city Category:Capitals Category:Political geography als:Hauptstadt ko:수도 ja:首都 ms:Ibu negara simple:Capital (city) th:เมืองหลวง zh-min-nan:Siú-to·

Shaanxi

:Not to be confused with the neighboring province of Shanxi Shaanxi (; Postal System Pinyin: Shensi, pronounced like "Shahn-shee") is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province. By regular Hanyu Pinyin rules, both Shaanxi and the neighbouring province of Shanxi should be spelled as "Shanxi", and the difference is in tone: Shānxī and Shǎnxī. To make the difference clear even without tonal marks, the spelling "Shaanxi" was contrived for the province of Shǎnxī, while "Shanxi" is used for the province of Shānxī.

History

:See also: Chang'an, Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. Shaanxi (and the city of Xi'an therein) are considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. 13 feudal dynasties have established their capitals in this province during a span of more than 1100 years, from the Zhou dynasty to the Tang dynasty. It is also the starting point of the Silk Road which leads to Europe, Arabia and Africa. During the Mongol rule in the 13th century, Shaanxi became a provincial unit. In the ensuing years, wars and famine had decimated and depopulated the province. As a result, large populations of Muslims, or Hui people, emerged, as evident today. Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was incorporated into Gansu but was again separated in the Qing dynasty. One of the most devastating earthquakes in history occurred near Hua Shan, in south-eastern part of Shaanxi Province on January 24, 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people. (See 1556 Shaanxi earthquake) The short-lived Jiangxi Soviet can be seen to have ended in Shaanxi, signaling the beginning of the Long March by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists.

Geography

Desert in the north along the border with Inner Mongolia, the Loess Plateau in the central part of the province, the Qinling mountains running east to west in the south central part, and subtropical climate south of the Qinling mountains. The northern part of Shaanxi is cold in the winter and very hot in summer with dry winter and spring. Its southern portion generally receives more rain. Annual mean temperature is roughly between 9°c and 16°c with January temperature ranging from -11°c to 3.5°c and July temperature ranging from 21°c to 28°c. Other cities include: Baoji, Hanzhong, Lintong, Tongchuan, Xianyang, Yan'an, Ankang.

Economy

Shaanxi's nominal GDP for 2003 was 239.9 RMB (28.9 billion USD) and GDP Per Capita was 6536 RMB (789 USD).

Demographics

Nearly all the people in Shaanxi are comprised of ethnic Han Chinese, with pockets of Hui population in the north western region (adjacent to Ningxia). The southern part of Shaanxi -- where its provincial capital of Xi'an is located -- is more populated compared to the northern part.

Culture


- Qinqiang, the representative folk opera of Shaanxi

Tourism


- Banpo Neolithic village, near Xi'an
- Daqin Pagoda
- Imperial mausoleums
  - Zhao Mausoleum
- Mount Huashan, one of the five most famous mountains in China.
- Mount Taibaishan, the highest peak of the Qinling Range.
- Mausoleum and Terracotta Army Museum of the First Qin Emperor in Xi'an (World Heritage Site)
- The city of Xi'an: City Walls, Great Mosque, Bell Tower and Drum Tower, Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Shaanxi History Museum, Wild Goose Pagoda
- Yan'an, the destination of the Long March and the center of Chinese Communist revolution from 1935 to 1948

Miscellaneous topics

Professional sports teams based in Shaanxi include:
- Chinese Basketball Association
  - Shaanxi Kylins
- Chinese Football Association Jia League
  - Xi'an Anxinyuan

External links


- [http://www.shaanxi.gov.cn/ The official website of Shaanxi]
- [http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shaanxi/ Travel guide to Shaanxi]
- [http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-shaanxi-large.jpg Large map of Shaanxi] Category:Provinces of the People's Republic of China ko:산시 성 (섬서성) ja:陝西省 simple:Shaanxi

Provinces of China

A province, in the context of China, is a translation of sheng (省 shěng), which is an administrative division of China. Together with municipalities and autonomous regions, provinces make up the first level (known as the province level) of administrative division in Mainland China. The Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are officially considered to be province-level as well, though in reality they have much more autonomy than regular provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities. Theoretically, provinces are also the first level division of the Republic of China on Taiwan, though this role has been greatly diminished. The People's Republic of China currently administers 22 provinces, out of a total of 33 province level divisions, and claims a 23rd province, Taiwan Province. The Republic of China administers the entirety of Taiwan Province, as well as some offshore islands of Fujian province, and two municipalities (Taipei and Kaohsiung). In the PRC, every province has a Communist Party of China provincial committee, headed by a secretary. The committee secretary is first-in-charge of the province, rather than the governor of the provincial government.

Alternative meanings

"Province" is also a translation of zhou, a division of the Han Dynasty, as well as circuits, a division of the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. See History of the political divisions of China.

List and map

History of the political divisions of China]

History

The provinces of China were first set up during the Yuan Dynasty. There were initially 10 provinces. By the time of the Qing Dynasty there were 18, all of which were in China proper. These were: For every province, there was a xunfu (governor, 巡撫), a political overseer on behalf of the emperor behalf and a tidu (提督), a military governor. In addition, there was a zongdu (viceroy, 總督), a general military inspector or "governor general", for every two to three provinces. Outer regions of China (those beyond "China proper") were not divided into provinces. Manchuria (consisting of Fengtian (now Liaoning), Jilin, Heilongjiang), Xinjiang, and Mongolia were overseen by military leaders or generals (將軍) and vice-tudong (副都統), and civilian leaders were heads of the leagues (盟長), a subdivision of Mongolia. In 1878, Xinjiang became a province, in 1909, Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were made provinces as well. Taiwan was made a province in 1887, but it was ceded to Japan in 1895. As a result, there were 22 provinces in China (Outer China and China proper) near the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Republic of China, established in 1912, set up 4 more provinces in Inner Mongolia and 2 provinces in historic Tibet, bringing the total to 28. 4 provinces were however lost with the establishment of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria. After the defeat of Japan in World War II, Manchuria was reincorporated as 10 provinces, and Taiwan was also returned to China. As a result, the Republic of China had 35 provinces. Although the Republic of China now only controls one province (Taiwan Province) and some islands of a second province (Fujian), it continues to claim (in theory at least) 35 provinces. The People's Republic of China abolished many of the provinces in the 1950s and converted a number of them into autonomous regions. Hainan was set up as a separate province in 1988, bringing the total number of provinces to 22.

Various facts about the provinces


- The largest province is Qinghai but also has the smallest population of just over 5.3 million.
- Eight of the provinces (excluding Taiwan) have a sea coast. The remaining 14 are land-locked.
- Guangdong, Shandong and Liaoning all have a major peninsula.
- Guangdong is the only province bordering the only two Special Administrative Region of China.
- Separated from Guangdong and established in 1988, Hainan is the youngest province of China.
- Aside from Hainan (which is not physical attached to any provinces), all provinces shares borders with at least two or more provinces except for Heilongjiang.

See also


- Chinese federalism
- tiao-kuai category:Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China

China

to protect the north from nomadic invaders and has been rebuilt several times since.]] China () refers to a number of states and cultures that have existed and are viewed as having succeeded one another in continental East Asia, dating back at least 3,500 years. China as it exists today has been variously described in different points of view as a single civilization or multiple civilizations, as a single state or multiple states, and as a single nation or multiple nations. With one of the world's longest periods of mostly uninterrupted civilization and the world's longest continuously used written language system, China's history has been largely characterized by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods of peace and war, and violent imperial dynastic change. The country's territorial extent expanded outwards from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its moving fortunes to include multiple regions of East, Northeast, and Central Asia. For centuries, Imperial China was also one of the world's most technologically advanced civilizations, and East Asia's dominant cultural influence, with an impact lasting to the present day throughout the region. By the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, China's political, economic, and military influence declined relative to growing regional power Japan and the influence of Western powers. Semi-colonialism developed by the late nineteenth century in parts of China, and the country was invaded by the Empire of Japan during World War II. The imperial system in China ended with the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) under Sun Yat-sen in 1912; however, the next four decades of ROC rule were marred by warlord control, the Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII), and the Chinese Civil War which pitted Chinese Nationalists against the Communist forces. After its victory in the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China under Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, forcing the Republic of China (ROC) to retreat to the island of Taiwan, which it had governed since the end of World War II. Since then, the ROC has maintained administrative control over Taiwan, the Pescadores, several islands off the coast of Fujian province, and some islands in the South China Sea.

Terminology

"Zhongguo"

South China Sea China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese (Simplified: 中国, Traditional: 中國; also romanized as Jhongguo or Chung-kuo), which is usually translated as "Middle Kingdom", but could also be translated as "Central State" or "Central Country". Zhong (中) means "middle" or "center" while guo (国 or 國) means "country," "kingdom," "state," or "land", referring to the claim that China stood at the centre of that society's "known world", surrounded by lesser tributary states. The term has not been used consistently throughout Chinese history, however, and carries certain cultural and political connotations both positive and negative, some ideological, and early states considered part of Chinese history are not called "Zhongguo". During the Spring and Autumn Period, it was used only to describe the states politically descended from the Western Zhou Dynasty, in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley, to the exclusion of states such as Chu and Qin. The "Chinese" thus defined their nation as culturally and politically distinct from - and as the axis mundi of surrounding nations; a concept that continued well into the Qing Dynasty, although being continually redefined while the central political influence expanded territorially, and its culture assimilated alien influences. Thus Zhongguo quickly came to include areas farther south, as the cultural and political unit (not yet a "nation" or "country" in the modern sense) spread in a southerly direction, including the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems, and by the Tang Dynasty it even included "barbarian" regimes such as the Xianbei and Xiongnu. Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and the island of Taiwan, over time, came to be dominated (to a greater or lesser extent) by, or officially ruled by, imperial China, and are often included as a part of Zhongguo, though acceptance or denial of such claims remains politically controversial, especially where Zhongguo means PRC. During the Han Dynasty and before, Zhongguo had three distinctive meanings: # The area around the capital or imperial domain. The Book of Poetry explicitly gives this definition. # Territories under the direct authority of the "central" authorities. The Historical Records states: "Eight mountains are famed in the empire. Three are with the Man and Yi barbarians. Five are in Zhongguo." # The area now called the North China Plain. The Sanguo Zhi records the following monologue: "If we can lead the host of Wu and Yue (the area of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang) to oppose Zhongguo, then we should break off relations with them soon." In this sense, the term is synonymous with Hua (華) and Xia (夏). During the period of division after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the term Zhongguo was subjected to transformation as a result of the surge of nomadic peoples from the northern frontier. This was doubly so after the loss of the Yellow River valley, the cradle of Chinese civilization, to these peoples. For example, the Xianbei called their Northern Wei regime Zhongguo, contrasting it with the Southern Dynasties, which they called the Yi (夷), meaning "barbarian". The southern dynasties, for their part, recently exiled from the north, called the Northern Wei Lu (虏), meaning "criminal" or "prisoner". In this way Zhongguo came to represent political legitimacy. It was used in this manner from the tenth century onwards by the competing dynasties of Liao, Jin and Song. The term Zhongguo came to be related to geographic, cultural and political identity and less to ethnic origin. The Republic of China, as it controlled mainland China, and later, the People's Republic of China, have used Zhongguo as an entity existing theoretically to mean all the territories and peoples within their political control as well as those outside of it (people in the Republic of China on Taiwan now usually use Zhongguo to refer to the PRC and use Taiwan to refer to itself). Thus it is asserted that all 56 officially recognized ethnic groups are Zhongguo ren (中國人), or Zhongguo people. Their disparate histories are collectively the history of Zhongguo.

"China"

Song in ancient times, was the imperial capital of 13 different historical dynasties (including the Han and Tang dynasties) in China.]] English and many other languages use forms of the name China (and the prefix Sino-), which is believed to have derived from the name of the Qin dynasty that first unified the country, even though it is not completely resolved and the origins are still controversial to an extent [http://www.bartleby.com/61/80/C0298000.html]. Despite the fact that the Qin dynasty was short-lived and was often regarded as overly tyrannical it unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor", hence, the subsequent Silk Road traders would identify themselves by that name. Alternate theories on the origin of the word "China" exist. In any circumstance, the word China passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe and England. The Western "China", transliterated to Shina (支那) has also been used by Japanese since the nineteenth century, and has since evolved into a derogatory term in that language. The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, often, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, a combination essentially coterminous with the 20th and 21st century political entity China; the boundaries between these regions do not necessarily follow provincial boundaries. In many contexts, "China" is commonly used to refer to the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. Informally, in economic or business contexts, "the Greater China region" (大中華地區) refers to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Sinologists usually use "Chinese" in a more restricted sense, more akin to the classical usage of Zhongguo, or to the meaning of the "Han ethnic group", who make up the bulk of Mainland China. In many contexts it may be more appropriate to speak of "mainland China" (中國大陸,zhōngguó dàlù in Mandarin), especially when contrasting it with other, politically different regions like Hong Kong, Macau, and territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

History

:Main articles: History of China, History of the Republic of China (1912–1949; 1949–Present on Taiwan), History of People's Republic of China (1949–Present) History of People's Republic of China China was one of the earliest centers of human civilization. Chinese civilization was also one of the few to invent writing independently, the others being ancient Mesopotamia (Sumerians), India (Indus Valley Civilization), the Mayans, and, some hold, Ancient Egypt—though it may have been learned from the Sumerians. The first dynasty according to Chinese historical sources was the Xia Dynasty. Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province, it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the existence of the Xia Dynasty. But since then, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. However, the first confirmed dynasty is the Shang, who settled along the Huang He river, dating from the 18th to the 12th centuries BC. The Shang were in turn invaded by the Zhou (12th to 5th centuries BC), whose centralized authority was slowly eroded by the ceding of state-like authority to warlords ruling small states; eventually, in the Spring and Autumn period, many strong independent states, in continuous war, paid but nominal deference to the Zhou state as the Imperial centre. They were all unified under one emperor in 221 BC by Qin Shi Huang, ushering in the Qin Dynasty, the first unified centralized Chinese state. This state, however, did not last for long, as it was way too authoritarian, destroying many sources of competition for power that were also sources of good governance and development, such as scholars and intellectuals. After the fall of authoritarian Qin Dynasty in 207 BC came the Han Dynasty which lasted until 220 AD. A period of disunion followed again. In 580, China was reunited under the Sui. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, China reached its golden age. For a long period of time, especially between the 7th and 14th centuries, China was one of the most advanced civilizations in the world in technology, literature, and art. The Song Dynasty fell to the invading Mongols in 1279. The Mongols, under Kublai Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongols in 1368 and founded the Ming Dynasty, which lasted until 1644. After the Ming dynasty, came the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, which lasted until the overthrow of Puyi in 1911. Oftentimes regime change was violent and strongly opposed and the ruler class needed to take special measures to ensure their rule and the loyalty of the overthrown dynasty. For example, after the foreign Qing (Manchus) conquered China, because they were ever suspicious of the Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect measures aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the dominant Han Chinese population. However, these restrictions proved ineffective against the assimilation of Manchus into the Chinese identity and culture. In the 18th century, China achieved a decisive technological advantage over the peoples of Central Asia, which it had been at war with for several centuries, while simultaneously falling behind Europe in that respect. This set the stage for the 19th century, in which China adopted a defensive posture against European imperialism while itself engaging in imperialistic expansion into Central Asia. See Imperialism in Asia. However the primary cause of the decline of the Chinese empire was not European and American interference, as the ethnocentric Western historians would lead many to believe. On the contrary it was a series of internal upheavals. Most prominent of these was the Taiping Civil War which lasted from 1851 to 1862. The civil war was started by an extremist believer in a school of thought partly influenced by Christianity who believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the imperial forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history - costing at least twenty million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in the First World War). Prior to this conflict a number of Islamic Rebellions, especially in Central Asia, had occurred. Later, a second major rebellion took place, although this latter uprising was considerably smaller than the cataclysmic Taiping Civil War. This second conflict was the Boxer Rebellion which aimed to repel Westerners. Although secretly supporting the rebels, the Empress, Ci Xi, aided foreign forces in suppressing the uprising. Ci Xi, 1949.]] In 1912, after a prolonged period of decline, the institution of the Emperor of China disappeared and the Republic of China was established. The following three decades were a period of disunion — the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The latter ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of mainland China. The CPC established a communist state—the People's Republic of China—that laid claim to be the successor state of the Republic of China. Meanwhile, the disorganized and potentially corrupt ROC government of the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, where it continued to be recognized as the legitimate government of all China by the Western bloc and the United Nations until the 1970s, when most nations and the UN switched recognition to the PRC. The United Kingdom and Portugal transferred their colonies of Hong Kong and Macau on the southern Chinese coast to the PRC in 1997 and 1999, respectively. China used in a modern context often refers to just the territory of the PRC, or to "Mainland China" (the territory of the PRC excluding Hong Kong and Macau). The PRC does not recognize the ROC, as it claims to have succeeded the ROC as the legitimate governing authority of all of China including Taiwan. On the other hand, the ROC—while never formally renouncing its earlier claims or changing official maps that show its territory as including both the modern-day PRC, Mongolia and Tibet—has moved away from this former identity representing its rule over all of China, and increasingly identifies itself as Taiwan. The PRC has historically resisted the ROC's identification of itself as Taiwan, especially in light of the movement supported by residents of Taiwan and others who advocate Taiwan's identity as an independent political entity. Significant disputes persist as to the nature and extent of China, possible Chinese reunification and the political status of Taiwan.

Chinese Pre-history

Archeological evidence suggests that the earliest occupants in China date as long as 2.24 million to 250,000 years ago by an ancient human relative (hominin) known as Homo erectus. One particular cave in Zhoukoudian (now known as Peking) has fossilised evidence dating to 300,000 and 550,000 years old. Evidence of primitive stone tool technology and animal bones in association to H. erectus have been studied since the late 18th century to 19th century in various areas of Eastern Asia including Indonesia (in particular the Island of Java) and Malaysia. Originally it is thought that these early hominis first evolved in Africa during the Pleistocene. It is thought that human evolution first took place in Africa expanding 7 million years. By 2 million years ago the first wave of migration from the species in association with H. erectus settled into various areas in the Old World. Fully modern humans (homo sapiens) are believed to originally have evolved roughly 200,000 and 168,000 years ago in Ethiopia or Southern Africa (ei. Homo sapiens idaltu). By 100,000 to 50,000 years ago modern human beings settled in all parts of the Old world (including the New World, Americas 25,000 to 11,000 BCE). By less than 100,000 years ago all proto-human populations disappeared as modern humans took over or drove other human species into extinction. It remains a controversial subject to whether fully modern humans evolved from separate H. erectus populations (known as "multiregional") as some evidence in ancient bones show a transitional change from H. erectus to H. sapiens having archaic features. However it is now more widely accepted that all modern humans genetically share a direct ancestor, a female nicknamed "Mitochondrial Eve" from Eastern Africa 150,000 years BCE. This model is known as Mitochondrial Eve Hypothesis. The earliest evidence examples of fully modern humans in China come from Liujiang, China where a cranium dates 67,000 years BCE. Another is a partial skeleton from Minatogawa being just 18,000 years old.

Political history

Before unification by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, "China" did not exist as a coherent entity. The Chinese civilization consisted of a patchwork of several states, each ruled by a king (王), duke (公), marquess (侯), or earl (伯). Although there was a central king who held nominal power, and powerful hegemons sometimes held considerable influence, each state was ruled as an independent political entity. This is also the time of the beginnings of Confucian philosophy and that of many other philosophies that greatly influenced Chinese philosophy-political thought. This ended with the Qin Dynasty unification, during which the office of the emperor was set up, and a system of bureaucratic administration established. After the Qin, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which continued the extensive system of kingdoms, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. The territory varied with several expansions and contractions depending on the strength of each emperor and dynasty. However the emperor had ultimate, supreme, and unquestionable authority as the political and religious leader of China. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Political power sometimes fell into the hands of powerful officials, eunuchs, or imperial relatives, often at the expense of a child heriditary emperor. This happened especially since the emperor often was many layers of power removed from the outside world, making him susceptible to manipulation because his sources for information could manipulate that information causing him to make incorrect decisions, especially when their age at becoming emperor often had no bottom limit, with rule passing heriditarily but also given "in trust" to another relative. Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, treaties, and gifts. (see section "Geography, Political" below for examples), Luoyang, Chang'an (today's Xi'an), Nanjing, and Beijing are the four cities most commonly designated as capitals of China over the course of history. Chinese was the official language, though periods of Mongol and Manchu conquest saw the arrival of Mongol and Manchu as alternate official languages. On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, signaling the end of the Manchu-dominated Qing Empire. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who had defected to the revolutionary cause, soon forced Sun to step aside and took the presidency for himself (formally it was a negotiation where Sun agreed to step aside for what was then perceived as a strong reformer, Yuan). Before long, Yuan attempted to have himself proclaimed emperor of a new dynasty; however, he died soon of natural causes before fully taking power over all of the Chinese empire. After Yuan's downfall, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally-recognized, but virtually powerless, national government seated in Beijing (thus failing to fit the definition of a state). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. state In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control, moving the nation's capital to Nanjing and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang with heavy Leninist influences. Ironically, both the Kuomintang and the CCP have heavy Leninist influences. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China (CPC), many provisions of the 1947 ROC constitution were never put into actual practice on the mainland. By early 1950, the CPC had defeated the Kuomintang on the mainland, and the ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan. Beginning in the late 1970s, Taiwan began the implementation of full, multi-party, representative democracy in the territories still under ROC control (i.e., Taiwan Province, Taipei, Kaohsiung and some offshore islands of Fujian province). Today, the political scene in the ROC is vibrant, with active participation by all sectors of society. But rather than the usual conservative-liberal policy distinctions that are the hallmarks of most democracies around the world, the main cleavage in ROC politics is the unification with China in the long-run vs. formal independence issue. However, Greens are generally more liberal (i.e. more environmentally friendly) and Blues are generally regarded as more conservative. environmentally friendly Meanwhile, Mao Zedong, the leader of the communists, proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949 in Beijing, saying China had stood up. From the beginning, the PRC has been a dictatorial one-party state under the Communist Party. However, post-1978 reforms have led to the relaxation, in varying degrees, of party control over many areas of society. Nonetheless, the Communist Party still has absolute control over political aspects of society, and it continuously seeks to eradicate threats to its rule. Examples of this include the jailing of political opponents and journalists, general control of the press, regulation of religions and other non-party organizations, censorship of the press, literature and film, and suppression of independence/secessionist movements. In 1989, a popular demonstration held in Beijing at Tiananmen Square was violently put to an end by the Chinese government. Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989 The attempted eradication of the Falun Gong movement is also held by its supporters to be motivated by fear of Falun Gong's growing influence. Today, however, there is much more freedom in intellectual thought in non-political areas and propaganda, while still continuing, has lessened.

Territory

Historical overview

propaganda The Zhou Dynasty, which preceded the unification of China by Shi Huangdi, was originally the region around the Yellow River. Since then, the territory has expanded outward in all directions, and was largest during the Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. The Qing Dynasty included parts of modern Russian Far East and Central Asia (west of Xinjiang). Xinjiang Along with provincial administrators, some foreign monarchs sent envoys to offer gifts to the Emperor of China and the Emperor returned compliments to them. The Chinese thought that the barbarians attached themselves to the virtue of the Emperor, while the foreign governments sometimes disagreed. Since the end of the 19th century, China has tried to reinterpret this relationship as suzerainty or suzerainty-dependency, but this no longer has any real conception in modern international political theories. The Qing Empire reduced the territorial value of the Great Wall of China as a barrier of China proper after they merged their homeland (Manchuria) north of the wall with China proper south of it. In 1683 after the surrender of the Kingdom of Tungning established by Koxinga, Taiwan including the Pescadores became a part of the Qing Empire, originally as one prefecture, then two, and later a province. Taiwan was subsequently ceded to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895. At the end of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Japan relinquished the sovereignty of the island in the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and the Republic of China took over. Since then, the de jure sovereignty of Taiwan has been under dispute between the PRC, and the now democratic ROC and Taiwan independence supporters.

Historical political divisions

Historically, top-level political divisions of China have altered as the administration changed. Top levels included circuits and provinces. Below that, there have been prefectures, subprefectures, departments, commanderies, districts, and counties. Recent divisions also include prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, towns and townships (see below for examples). Historically, most Chinese dynasties were based in the historical heartlands of China, known by the politically-correct term of China proper (since it doesn't include places it doesn't control, such as Mongolia or Taiwan). Various dynasties also exhibited expansionism by engaging in incursions into more peripheral territories like Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The Manchu-established Qing Dynasty and its successors, the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China cemented the incorporation of these territories into China. These territories are separated by borders that are vague at best, and do not correspond well to contemporary political divisions. China proper is generally thought to be bounded by the Great Wall and the edge of the Tibetan plateau; Manchuria and Inner Mongolia are found to the north of the Great Wall of China, and the boundary between them can either be taken as the present border between Inner Mongolia and the northeast Chinese provinces, or the more historic border of the World War II-era puppet state of Manchukuo; Xinjiang's borders correspond to today's administrative Xinjiang; and historic Tibet is conceived as occupying all of the Tibetan Plateau. China is also traditionally thought of as comprising North China (北方) and South China (南方), the geographic boundary between which north and south is largely generalized as Huai River (淮河) and Qinling Mountains (秦岭).

Geography and climate

Qinling Mountains
China within East Asia. ([http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/pdf/asia.pdf PDF])
China is composed of a vast variety of highly different landscapes, with mostly plateaus and mountains in the west, and lower lands on the east. As a result, principal rivers flow from west to east, including the Yangtze (central), the Huang He (central-east), and the Amur (northeast), and sometimes toward the south (including the Pearl River, Mekong River, and Brahmaputra), with most Chinese rivers emptying into the Pacific. Most of China's arable lands lie along the two major rivers, the Yangtze and the Huang He, and each are the centers around which are founded China's major ancient civilizations. 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. To the west, the north has a great alluvial plain, and the south has a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation, with the Himalayas, containing the highest point Mount Everest. The northwest also has high plateaus among more arid desert landscapes such as the Takla-Makan and the Gobi Desert, which has been expanding. Due to a prolonged drought and perhaps poor agricultural practices, dust storms have become usual in the spring in China. Dust blows all the way to southern China, Taiwan, and has even been measured on the West Coast of the United States. United States native to the bamboo forests of central and southern China.]] During many dynasties, the southwestern border of China has been the high mountains and deep valleys of Yunnan, which separate modern China from Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The climate of China varies greatly. The northern zone (within which lies Beijing) has a climate with winters of Arctic severity. The central zone (within which Shanghai is situated) has a generally temperate climate. The southern zone (within which lies Guangzhou and other southern provinces) has a generally subtropical climate. The Palaeozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are estuarine and freshwater or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas, there are basaltic plateaux.

Demographics

Shandong.]] Over a hundred ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group in China is the Han, which is a group so diverse in its culture and language that some conceive of it as a larger overarching group bringing together many smaller, distinct ethnic groups sharing common traits in language and culture. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have been Sinicized into the Han, causing its population to increase dramatically; at the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and cultural traditions, though still identifying as Han. Many times in the past millenia many foreign groups have, in turn, shaped Han language and culture, for example the queue is a pig tail hairstyle strictly enforced by the Manchurians on the Han populace. The term Zhonghua Minzu is sometimes used to describe a notion of a "Chinese nationality" transcending ethnic divisions. The government of the People's Republic of China now officially recognizes a total of 56 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Han Chinese. China's overall population is 1.3 billion. With the global human population currently estimated at about 6.4 billion, China is home to approximately 20%, or one-fifth of the human species, homo sapiens. The lack of birth control and promotion of population growth during the rule of Mao Zedong resulted in a demographic explosion, culminating in over 1.3 billion people today. As a response to the problems this is causing, the government of the PRC has enacted a birth control policy, commonly known as the One-child policy. The Han speak several mutually unintelligible tongues, classified by modern linguists as being separate languages, but regarded within the Chinese languages as "dialects" or "local languages" (topolects) within a single Chinese language (the word for "area languages" has an implication of dialect rather than a separate language, although on the basis of use, these topolects can be found to be separate and mutually unintelligible, and are so classified by many linguists). The various spoken varieties of Chinese share a common written standard, "Vernacular Chinese" or "baihua", which has been used since the early 20th Century and is based on Standard Mandarin, the standard spoken language, in grammar and vocabulary. In addition, another, more ancient written standard, Classical Chinese, was used for writing Chinese by the literati for thousands of years before the 20th Century. Classical Chinese is no longer the predominant form of written Chinese, though it continues to be a part of high school curricula and is hence intelligible to some degree to many Chinese people. Other than Standard Mandarin, spoken variants are usually not written; the exception is Standard Cantonese, which is sometimes written as Written Cantonese in informal contexts. Written Cantonese.]]

Culture

Religion

The major religions of China are:
- Taoism - exact numbers unknown
- Buddhism - exact numbers unknown [about 8%]
- Christianity - 2 to 4% (this is a Western number, the Chinese official number is much smaller than 1%)
- Islam - 1% to 2%
- Falun Gong - exact numbers unknown (claim not to be a "religion", though from a scholarly perspective is a spiritual practice, claimed numbers of followers of the Falun Dafa are also regarded as unreliable) While the People's Republic of China is officially atheist it does allow religion under strict supervision. Historically, Taoism and Buddhism has been the dominant religion of Chinese societies, and continues to be so in Chinese societies outside of direct PRC control. In recent years, Falun Gong, a spiritual practice drawing upon Buddhism and Taoism, has attracted great controversy after the government of the People's Republic of China labeled it an evil cult and began an attempt to eradicate it. The Falun Gong itself denies that it is a cult or a religion, even though there is solid evidence that determines Falun Gong as a rather" abormal" cult, several members have been seen to burn themselves alive even before the Chinese government has reacted to Falun Gong, unfortuantely, most people are oblivious of this fact and even a majority of members are oblivious to this. The Falun Gong says that it has approximately 70-100 million followers, which is a bit higher than estimates by outside groups, though exact numbers are unknown. They regularly protest against their suppression, both domestically and internationally.

Arts, scholarship, and literature

Falun Gong.]] Chinese literature has a long and prolific continuous history, in part because of the development of printmaking during the Song Dynasty. Before that, manuscripts of the Classics and religious texts (mainly Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist) were manually written by ink brush (previously scratching shells) and distributed. Academies of scholars sponsored by the empire were formed to comment on these works in both printed and written form. Members of royalty frequently participated in these discussions. Tens of thousands of ancient written documents are still extant and more, from oracle bones to Qing edicts, are discovered each day, which had been formally ground up for use in Chinese medicine. oracle bones For centuries, opportunity for economic and social advancement in China could be provided by high performance on the imperial examinations. This led to a meritocracy, though in practice this was possible only among those who were not female or too poor to afford test preparation, as doing well still required tutorship. Nevertheless it was a system distinct from the European system of blood nobility. Imperial examinations required applicants to write essays and demonstrate mastery of the Confucian classics. Those who passed the highest level of the exam became elite scholar-officials known as jinshi, a highly esteemed socio-economic position. Chinese philosophers, writers, and poets have been, for the most part, highly respected, and played a key role in preserving and promoting the culture of the empire. Some classical scholars, however, were noted for their daring depictions of lives of the common people, often to the displeasure of authorities. (See List of Chinese authors, and List of Chinese language poets). The Chinese have created numerous musical instruments, such as the zheng, xiao, and erhu, that have spread throughout East and Southeast Asia, and especially areas under its influence. The sheng is the basis for several Western free-reed instruments. Chinese characters have had many variants and styles throughout the Chinese history, and were "simplified" in the mid-20th century on mainland China. Calligraphy is a major art-form in China, above that of painting and music. Because of its association with elite scholar-official bosses, it later on became commercialized, where works by famous artists became prized possessions. The great variation and beauty in the Chinese landscape is often the inspiration for great works of Chinese art. See Chinese painting for more details. Calligraphy, sushi, and bonsai are all millennia-old art that later spread to Japan and Korea.

Science and technology

Korea In addition to the cultural innovations mentioned above, technological inventions from China include:
- Compass
- Block Printmaking / Printing Technology
- Paper
- Asian abacus
- Gunpowder
- Crossbow
- Stirrup
- Lacquer
- Rudder
- Seismograph
- Silk
- Porcelain
- Paper money
- The Glider
- The Hot air balloon
- Fireworks
- Parachute Other areas of technological study:
- The main applications of mathematics in traditional China were architecture and geography. Pi (π) was calculated by 5th century mathematician Zu Chongzhi to the seventh digit. The decimal system was used in China as early as 14 Century BC. "Pascal's" Triangle was discovered by mathematician Liu Ju-Hsieh, long before Pascal was born.
- Studies in biology have been extensive, and historic records are consulted even today, such as pharmacopoeias of medicinal plant<

Capital of China

The Chinese phrase Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (Traditional Chinese: 中國四大古都; Simplified Chinese: 中国四大古都; pinyin Zhōngguó Sì Dà Gǔdū) traditionally refers to Nanjing, Beijing, Luoyang, and Xi'an. After the 1920s as more discoveries were made, other historical capitals were added to the list. The phrase Seven Ancient Capitals of China introduced later on, also include Kaifeng (added in the 1920s as the fifth ancient capital), Hangzhou (became the sixth ancient capital in the 1930s), and Anyang (after archaeologists' proposal in 1988, it became the seventh ancient capital); in 2004 the China Ancient Capital Society officially added Zhengzhou as an eighth thanks to archaeological finds there.

List of historical capitals of China

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou Numerous cities have been the capital of China during the course of history.
- Anyang was the capital during the Yin period of the Shang Dynasty: called Yin (殷 Yīn).
- Beijing (formerly Romanized as Peking, from Postal System Pinyin (PSP); briefly known as Peiping in Wade-Giles (WG) or Beiping in pinyin (py)) was and has been the capital of various Chinese governments including (sorted chronologically): ::State of Yan (Yen in WG) in Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BC): called Ji (薊 Jì). ::Liao Dynasty (907-1125), as a secondary capital: called Yanjing (燕京 Yānjīng "capital of Yan"). ::Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) from Jin Shi Zong until 1220s (1217?): called Zhongdu (中都 Zhōngdū "central capital"). ::Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368): Khanbaliq (Mongolian: the Khan's city); translated to Chinese as Dàdū (大都 "great capital"). This was reported as Cambuluc by Marco Polo. ::Ming Dynasty since Yongle Emperor of China (1402/1424-1644): called Jīngshī (京師 "capital"). ::Qing Dynasty since the fall of Ming in 1644 to the end of the Empire in 1912. ::The Beiyang Government of the Republic of China. ::The current capital of the People's Republic of China.
- Changchun, formerly Xinjing (新京; pinyin: Xīnjīng, literally, "new capital"; Tsinking in PSP) was the capital of Manchukuo, a nominally independent puppet state established and sustained by Imperial Japan in Manchuria from 1931 to 1945.
- Chengdu (WG: Ch'eng-tu) was the capital of the Shu Kingdom during the period of the Three Kingdoms. It was briefly the seat of Chiang's ROC government during the Chinese civil war with the Communist Party of China.
- Chongqing (PSP: Chungking) was the provisonal capital of the government of Chiang Kai-shek during World War II (Second Chinese-Japanese War), and was briefly the seat of Chiang's ROC government during the Chinese civil war with the Communist Party of China.
- Datong (WG: Ta-t'ong) was the capital during Northern Wei Dynasty before moving to Luoyang in 493.
- Guangzhou (formerly Romanized Canton from PSP) was the seat of the National Government before the Northern Expedition, and was briefly the seat of Chiang's ROC government during the Chinese civil war with the Communist Party of China.
- Hangzhou (also Hangchou or Hangchow) was the capital of: ::The Wu Yue Kingdom (904-978), during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. ::China during the Southern Song Dynasty: called Lin'an (临安 Lín'ān).
- Hao was the capital during Western Zhou Dynasty, located near present day Xi'an.
- Kaifeng was the capital of various Chinese governments including (sorted chronologically): ::Later Liang Dynasty during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. ::Later Jin Dynasty during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. ::Later Han Dynasty during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. ::Later Zhou Dynasty during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. ::Northern Song Dynasty: called Dongjing (东京 Dōngjīng).
- Luoyang was the capital of various Chinese governments including (sorted chronologically): ::Eastern Zhou Dynasty ::Eastern Han Dynasty from 25 to 220 ::Kingdom of Wei during the Three Kingdoms. ::Western Jin Dynasty ::Northern Wei Dynasty since 493, moved its capital from Datong. ::Later Tang Dynasty during the Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
- Nanjing (formerly Romanized Nanking (PSP) or Nanching in WG) was the capital of various Chinese governments including (sorted chronologically): ::all of the Six Dynasties: called Jianye (建业 Jiànyè) or Jiankang (建康 Jiànkāng). The Six Dynasties are: :::Kingdom of Wu during the Three Kingdoms. :::Eastern Jin Dynasty :::Song Dynasty :::Qi Dynasty :::Liang Dynasty :::Chen Dynasty ::Ming Dynasty before Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing. ::Republic of China after the Northern Expedition until the Japanese invasion in 1937 of WWII, and after the war until Chiang Kai-Shek retreated to Taiwan in 1949. ::Wang Jingwei's pro-Japanese collaborationist government.
- Taipei has been the capital of the Republic of China (on Taiwan) since 1949.
- Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kaishek during the 1920s.
- Xanadu (Shangdu) (上都) was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire.
- Xi'an (WG: Hsi'an; called Chang'an in ancient times) was the capital of various Chinese governments including (sorted chronologically): ::Western Zhou Dynasty, also see Hao. ::State of Qin in Spring and Autumn Period and Qin Dynasty 778 BC-207 BC: Xi'an is located near the Qin capital which is called Xianyang (咸阳 Xiányáng). ::Western Ha