China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is located in East Asia. It holds the world's second-largest population exceeding 1.4 billion people and is the third-largest country by land area. China borders fourteen countries and is divided into 33 province-level divisions, including provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, and special administrative regions. Beijing serves as its capital, while Shanghai is the most populous city and a major financial center.
Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports are projected to cost Big Tech billions. Temu halted China shipments to the US to avoid tariffs, however, products are still not being made in the USA. This shift impacts trade and consumer costs.
In 1901, the anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion further weakened the Qing dynasty.
In 1905, the first Chinese film, Dingjun Mountain, was released.
In 1911, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy.
In January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president.
In March 1912, the presidency of the Republic of China was given to Yuan Shikai.
In 1912, Puyi, the last Emperor of the Qing dynasty, abdicated.
In 1912, the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China, came to an end.
In 1915, Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself Emperor of China.
In 1916, Yuan Shikai was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic after facing condemnation and opposition.
In 1927, the Chinese Civil War began when KMT forces purged members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In 1927, the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) alliance broke down after Chiang Kai-shek suppressed the CCP in Shanghai.
In November 1931, the CCP declared areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) in Ruijin, Jiangxi.
In 1932, China first participated in the Olympic Games.
In 1934, the Jiangxi Soviet was defeated by KMT armies, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi.
In 1937, Japan invaded other parts of China, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
In 1947, constitutional rule was established in China, but many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China due to the ongoing unrest.
On October 1, 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
According to China's government, the forest coverage of the country grew from 10% of the overall territory in 1949 to 25% in 2024.
In 1949, China's literacy rate was only 20%.
In 1949, the Communists established control over most of China, proclaiming the People's Republic of China, and the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan.
In 1949, the major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended.
In 1950, the Chinese population was 550 million.
In 1950, the PRC captured Hainan from the ROC and annexed Tibet.
Since 1952, China has participated as the PRC in the Olympic Games.
In 1953, males accounted for 51.8% of the population in China.
In 1958, archaeologists discovered sites belonging to the Erlitou culture that existed during the early Bronze Age.
From 1959 to 1961, the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths, mostly from starvation.
From 1959 to 1961, the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths, mostly from starvation.
In 2023, National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the population fell 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, the first decline since 1961.
In 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb.
In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution.
In October 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the United Nations and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council.
In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China (ROC) as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
In 1971, the UN representative for China was changed from the ROC to the PRC.
In 1972, the Shanghai Communiqué precipitated the normalization of relations between China and the United States.
In 1974, the Chinese population was 900 million.
In 1976, Mao Zedong died, ending the Cultural Revolution.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms.
In 1978, Deng Xiaoping took power and instituted large-scale political and economic reforms.
In 1978, economic reforms began, shifting China away from a socialist planned economy towards a capitalist market economy.
In 1979, China began to advocate for an even stricter limit of one child per family.
In 1979, China's literacy rate grew to 65.5%.
Regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development.
In 1980, 20% of China's population lived in urban areas.
On December 4, 1982, China adopted its current constitution.
In 1989, the movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.
In 1990, China hosted the Asian Games in Beijing.
In 1990, rates of stunting in China, a condition caused by malnutrition, were at 33.1%.
In 1990, the number of air passengers in China was 16.6 million.
In 1997, British Hong Kong returned to China as a special administrative region.
In 1999, Portuguese Macau returned to China as a special administrative region.
Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated.
In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization.
In 2002, at the 16th CCP National Congress, Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang as the general secretary.
In 2003, China experienced a serious outbreak of SARS.
In China, annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003.
As of 2005, China has over 2,349 nature reserves, covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area.
The Baiji, a species of freshwater dolphin native to China, was confirmed extinct on December 12, 2006.
In 2006, China's railways were among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks.
The Laogai Research Foundation estimated in June 2008 that there were nearly 1,422 labor prison facilities.
In 2008, China hosted the Summer Olympics in Beijing, with its athletes receiving 48 gold medals.
In 2009, the Chinese government started a three-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative valued at US$124 billion.
Between 2010 and 2020, the average population growth rate in China was 0.53%.
China's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010.
Compared with the 2010 population census, the Han population increased by 60,378,693 persons, or 4.93%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined increased by 11,675,179 persons, or 10.26%.
In 2010, China hosted the Asian Games in Guangzhou.
In 2010, air pollution caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China, and the stunting rate was at 9.9%.
In 2010, there was an inequality in education spending in China. The annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces, it only totalled ¥3,204.
By 2011, 95% of China's population had basic health insurance coverage, resulting from the government's healthcare provision initiative.
In 2011, Shenzhen hosted the 2011 Summer Universiade.
Xi Jinping took office as the general secretary on November 15, 2012.
According to SIPRI, from 2012 to 2021, China's military spending averaged US$215 billion per year or 1.7 per cent of GDP.
As of 2012, China has an estimated 470 million bicycles.
In 2012, China won the most medals at the Summer Paralympics, with 231 overall, including 95 gold.
In 2012, China's BeiDou satellite navigation system began offering commercial navigation services across Asia.
In 2012, Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 2012, at the 18th CCP National Congress, Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader.
In December 2013, China enacted a loosening of the one-child policy, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child.
In 2013, China hosted the East Asian Games in Tianjin.
In 2013, China initiated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a large global infrastructure building initiative.
The state-imposed re-education through labor (laojiao) system was formally abolished in 2013.
In 2014, China hosted the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing.
According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, 77% of rural households in China had access to basic sanitation in 2015.
From the mid-1980s to 2015, China had what was actually a "1.5"-child policy.
China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years, with their share increasing from 26.3 percent in 2016 to 31.9 percent in 2022.
In 2016, the one-child policy in China was replaced in favor of a two-child policy.
Since 2016, China has had the largest number of movie screens in the world.
The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people were living in "conditions of modern slavery".
In 2017 and 2020, the Pew Research Center ranked the severity of Chinese government restrictions on religion as being among the world's highest, despite ranking religious-related social hostilities in China as low in severity.
In 2017, China produced around 40 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
In 2017, the number of air passengers in China increased to 551.2 million.
Since 2017, the Chinese government has been engaged in a harsh crackdown in Xinjiang, with around one million Uyghurs and other ethnic and religion minorities being detained in internment camps.
By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total, and had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials.
By the end of 2018, China's BeiDou satellite navigation system began offering global services.
In 2018, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom were the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile had 925 million users. Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China.
In 2018, the top three airlines in China, Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines, collectively made up 71% of the market.
In December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan, China.
In 2019, China's high-speed rail had an annual ridership of over 2.3 billion passengers, making it the world's busiest.
As of April 2020, the Belt and Road Initiative included 138 countries and 30 international organizations.
As of 2020, China boasts the five longest metro systems in the world with the networks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen being the largest.
Ethnic minorities in China accounted for less than 10% of the population, according to the 2020 census. The 2020 census recorded a total of 845,697 foreign nationals living in mainland China.
In 2017 and 2020, the Pew Research Center ranked the severity of Chinese government restrictions on religion as being among the world's highest, despite ranking religious-related social hostilities in China as low in severity.
In 2020, China became the largest cinema market.
In 2020, Chinese authorities cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong after the passage of a national security law. Also in 2020, a Foreign Policy report suggested that China's treatment of Uyghurs meets the UN definition of genocide.
In 2020, annual education investment in China totalled more than US$817 billion and the literacy rate was 97% of the population over age 15.
In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement.
The 2020 Chinese census recorded the population as approximately 1,411,778,724, with about 17.95% were 14 years old or younger, 63.35% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 18.7% were over 60 years old.
The 2020 census found that males accounted for 51.2% of the total population in China.
The figures in the table are from the 2020 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits.
A three-child policy was announced in China on 31 May 2021, due to population aging.
In July 2021, all family size limits as well as penalties for exceeding them were removed in China.
According to SIPRI, from 2012 to 2021, China's military spending averaged US$215 billion per year or 1.7 per cent of GDP.
As of 2021, the infant mortality rate in China is 5 per thousand.
In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland.
In 2021, The Battle at Lake Changjin was released.
In December 2022, the Chinese government abandoned its strict public health measures intended to completely eradicate COVID-19, following protests.
According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation, 93% of rural households in China had access to basic sanitation in 2022.
By 2022, China had become a key producer and exporter of pharmaceuticals.
By 2022, during Xi Jinping's tenure, a vast anti-corruption crackdown had prosecuted more than 2 million officials.
By 2030, China's GHG emissions are projected to return to 2022 levels, although this trajectory still leads to a three-degree temperature rise.
China invested $546 billion in renewable energy in 2022, and its share of renewable energy increased from 26.3 percent in 2016 to 31.9 percent in 2022. China has also been the largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022.
In 2022, Beijing and Zhangjiakou collaboratively hosted the Winter Olympics, making Beijing the first dual Olympic city.
In 2022, China's highways had reached a total length of 177,000 km, making it the longest highway system in the world.
In 2023, National Bureau of Statistics estimated that the population fell 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, the first decline since 1961.
As of February 2023, China had the largest number of active cellphones of any country, with over 1.7 billion subscribers.
As of December 2023, China had over 810 million 5G users and 3.38 million base stations installed.
By the end of 2023, high speed rail in China had reached 45,000 kilometers of dedicated lines alone, making it the longest HSR network in the world. Also as of December 2023, 55 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation.
According to studies published in 2023, compiling demographic analyses conducted throughout the 2010s and the early 2020s, 70% of the Chinese population believed in or practiced Chinese folk religion—among them, with an approach of non-exclusivity, 33.4% may be identified as Buddhists, 19.6% as Taoists, and 17.7% as adherents of other types of folk religion. Of the remaining population, 25.2% are fully non-believers or atheists, 2.5% are adherents of Christianity, and 1.6% are adherents of Islam.
As of 2023, China has over 3,074 universities, with over 47.6 million students enrolled in mainland China, giving China the largest higher education system in the world. As of 2023, China had the world's highest number of top universities.
As of 2023, China is the world's largest exporter of cars by number. Also, in urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, with approximately 200 million bicycles in China.
As of 2023, the life expectancy at birth in China exceeds 78 years.
In 2023, 60.5% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in the world), 13.2% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.4% from wind (largest), 6.2% from solar energy (largest), 4.6% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3.3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.2% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 31% of China's energy came from renewable energy sources.
In 2023, China hosted the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
In 2023, about 91.8 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school, while 60.2 percent of secondary school graduates were enrolled in higher education in China.
In 2023, data from World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook was used.
In 2023, only 89.4% of China's national surface water was graded suitable for human consumption by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
In 2023, the total fertility rate in China was reported to be 1.09, ranking among the lowest in the world.
As of December 2024, China had the largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 1.1 billion Internet users, equivalent to around 78.6% of its population.
According to China's government, the forest coverage of the country grew from 10% of the overall territory in 1949 to 25% in 2024.
As of 2024, China has one of the largest diplomatic networks of any country in the world.
By 2024, over 67% of China's population lived in urban areas and the country had over 160 cities with a population of over one million, including 18 megacities.
China had approximately 259 airports in 2024.
In 2024, China was ranked 145th out of 167 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, indicating it as an "authoritarian regime".
Since 2024, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) consists of four services and four independent arms. China's official military budget for 2024 totalled US$229 billion.
As of 2025, Ne Zha 2 (2025) became the highest-grossing film in China.
With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025.
By 2030, China's GHG emissions are projected to return to 2022 levels, although this trajectory still leads to a three-degree temperature rise.
Academics suggest that to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045.
In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement.
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