China Quiz

China: A Brief History

China is the world's second most populous country, with over 1.4 billion people, spanning the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world.
The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two special administrative regions.
China's political system dates back to the Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a political system to serve hereditary monarchies.
The Mongol established the Yuan dynasty in 1279 before the Ming dynasty re-established Han Chinese control. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty nearly doubled the empire's territory.
The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of China replaced the imperial ruling of Qing.
From 1959 to 1961, the Great Leap Forward resulted in a sharp economic decline and massive famine. From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution led to greater political instability, economic and educational decline.
A series of political and economic reforms began in 1978 that greatly improved the economy and standards of living.
China is a unitary socialist republic led by the CCP and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
China ranks poorly in measures of democracy, transparency, press freedom, religious freedom, and ethnic equality.
China is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the second-wealthiest country.
China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget.
The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not a word used by the Chinese themselves during this period.
Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited the country 2.25 million years ago. According to Chinese tradition, the first dynasty was the Xia, which emerged around 2100 BCE. The Xia dynasty marked the beginning of China's political system based on hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, which lasted for a millennium.A Brief History and Geography of China
China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing during the Ming dynasty, and capitalism led to the expansion of Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality.
The Manchu Qing dynasty overthrew Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty and seized control of Beijing, the last imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 1644 to 1912.
The Qing dynasty experienced Western imperialism in the Opium Wars with Britain and France, resulting in the cession of Hong Kong and Taiwan to Japan.
China experienced internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion, the failed Taiping Rebellion, and the Dungan Revolt.
The Republic of China was established in 1912, and the Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing, instituting "political tutelage" for establishing a modern democratic state.
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a theater of World War II, forced an uneasy alliance between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
The CCP took control of most of mainland China in 1949, and the government consolidated its popularity among the peasants through land reform, which included the execution of between 1 and 2 million landlords.
China developed an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons, and the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961.
Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976.
Deng Xiaoping instituted significant economic reforms, leading to China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open-market environment.
The CCP has pursued large-scale efforts to reform China's economy, reformed the one-child policy and penal system, and instituted a vast anti-corruption crackdown under Xi Jinping's rule.
China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to the subtropical forests in the wetter south.
China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, resulting in pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer, and a major environmental issue is the expansion of its deserts.China: Biodiversity, Environment, Political Geography, and Foreign Relations

Biodiversity:

China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, with over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia.
China is home to at least 551 species of mammals, 1,221 species of birds, 424 species of reptiles, and 333 species of amphibians.
Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, the world's largest population of humans.
At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable, or in danger of local extinction in China.
China has over 2,349 nature reserves, covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares.

Environment:

In the early 2000s, China suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization.
China is the country with the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India.
China had significant water pollution problems, with 8.2% of its rivers polluted by industrial and agricultural waste in 2019.
China has clamped down on pollution, with a new environmental law approved in April 2014 that empowers environmental enforcement agencies with great punitive power and large fines for offenders.
In 2020, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced that China aims to peak emissions before 2030 and go carbon-neutral by 2060 in accordance with the Paris climate accord.

Political Geography:

The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia.
China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km, and its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km.
China borders 14 nations and covers the bulk of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar in Southeast Asia.
China is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party surveillance state and a dictatorship, with amongst the heaviest restrictions worldwide in many areas.

Foreign Relations:

The PRC has diplomatic relations with 179 United Nation member states and maintains embassies in 173.
China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries.
The PRC officially maintains the one-China principle, which holds the view that there is only one sovereign state in the name of China, represented by the PRC, and that Taiwan is part of that China.China: A Summary of Key Facts and Figures
China has a unique "one-China policy" that is recognized differently by various countries, with some explicitly recognizing the PRC's claim over Taiwan.
China's foreign policy is based on peaceful coexistence and the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations despite ideological differences.
China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013 and is the largest trading partner for many countries, including the ASEAN nations, the European Union, and major South American economies.
China's Belt and Road Initiative has expanded significantly over the last six years, with investments in infrastructure projects in numerous countries.
China has territorial disputes with India, Bhutan, and multiple countries over ownership of small islands in the East and South China Seas.
China uses a massive espionage network for social control, and political freedom is tightly restricted despite constitutional provisions.
China's human rights record has been criticized by foreign governments and non-governmental organizations for widespread civil rights violations, including religious and ethnic suppression.
The People's Liberation Army is one of the world's most powerful militaries, with a nearly 2.2 million active duty personnel and a disputed stockpile of nuclear weapons.
China has the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and the largest by purchasing power parity, with highly diversified sectors of competitive strength.
China's economic development is highly uneven, with major cities and coastal areas far more prosperous compared to rural and interior regions.
China has brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history, with significant reductions in the poverty rate over the last few decades.
China has a high level of economic inequality, with significant disparities between urban and rural areas and income groups.