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| Anthem: | National Anthem of the Republic of China, National Flag Anthem | ||||||
| Capital: | Nanking | ||||||
| Largest city: | Canton | ||||||
| Other cities: | Shanghai, Peiping, Taipei, Hangchou, Chungking, Hong Kong, many others | ||||||
| Language: official: |
Chinese | ||||||
| Other languages: | many others | ||||||
| Religion: main: |
Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhaism, Islam | ||||||
| Other religions: | Christian, Cathoilc | ||||||
| Ethnic group: | Chinese | ||||||
| Type of government: | Parliamentary republics | ||||||
| government: | Representative democracy | ||||||
| President: | Ma Ying-jeou | ||||||
| Premier: | Vincent Siew | ||||||
| Area: | 25,325,741 km² | ||||||
| Population: | 1,742,718,213 | ||||||
| Established: | 1912 | ||||||
| HDI: | 0.874 | ||||||
| Currency: | Chinese Yuan | ||||||
| Internet TLD: | .cn,.中國 | ||||||
| Calling code: | 8 | ||||||
| Organizations: | United Nations, Coalition of Axis | ||||||
China, (Republic of China,中華民國) is the largest country in the world. Democracy began in China in 1948.
The ancient Chinese civilization - one of the world's earliest - flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River which flows through the North China Plain. China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies (also known as dynasties) from the time of the Xia (approx. 2000 BC). However, it was the Qin Dynasty that first unified China as a nation in 221 BC. The last dynasty, the Qing, ended in 1911 with the founding of the Republic of China (ROC) by the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese Nationalist Party.
At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 China remained neutral, until joining the Axis in 1941. As a result, China was a winning nation of WW2. China is also a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as well as a permanent member of the Axis Coalition Council.
China has the highest GDP in the world and the third highest GDP per capita in the world. The average wage is $37,255, just lower than that of the Britain Isles. The Gini coefficient of China is just 0.25. Chinese welfare is good. Citizens over the age of 70 are entitled to a pension, and overall citizens in China have a very good quality of life. China is the world's largest agricultural producer. 75% of the world's supply of rice comes from China.
In the modern era, China is a global superpower and has a powerful influence. They are a major player in space exploration, and a significant part of the Chinese economy comes from asteroid mining and other government-funded and corporate ventures in space. China has an incredibly enriched culture that continues to grow and develop as time goes on. There are numerous ethnic groups in China (they are well represented in the government), such as the Tibetans, the Uighur Muslims, the Siberians and the Mongols.
History[]
- Empire Era (221BC-1911AD)[]
- Republican Era (1911-1914)[]
- Warlord Era (1914-1927)[]
- Dictatorship under Kuomintang (1927-1937)[]
- World War 2 and the war against Japan (1937-1945)[]
- Post War (1945-1948)[]
- Constitution and Democratization (1948-1950)[]
- Civil War (1950-1955)[]
- Reunification (1955-1973)[]
- Growing superpower (1973AD-1989AD)[]
- Modern China (post 1989)[]
Geography and environment[]
Republic of China is the largest country in the world by land area.
In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, there are broad grasslands. Southern China is dominated by the Himalayan footlands, while in the East there are China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. High plateaus and cold desert regions span China's western borderlands. In the North there is the cold Siberian landscape and the Takalamakan-Gobi desert in Mongolia. China's highest point, Mt. Everest (8848m), lies on the Sino-Indian border. The country's lowest point is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (-154m) in the Turpan Depression.
Northern Asia was glaciated in the Pleistocene era, but this played a less significant part in the geology of the area compared to that of North America and Europe. The Scandinavian ice sheet extended to the east of the Urals, covering the Northern two thirds of the Ob Basin and extending onto the Angara Shield between the Yenesei River and the Lena River. There are the remains of mountain glaciation on the East Siberian mountains, on the mountains of the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the Altai and on the Tien Shan. Ice caps remain on the islands of Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya, and several Central Asian mountains still have individual glaciers. Siberia itself has permafrost, ranging in depths from 30m to 600 m and covering an area of 9.6 million km².
China's climate is mainly dominated by alternating dry seasons and wet monsoon seasons, which lead to a pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, Northern winds coming from high-altitude areas leave a cold, dry atmosphere; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower altitudes leave warm, moist weather. The climate in China differs from region to region because of the country's extensive and complex topography.
Biodiversity[]
One of 17 megadiverse countries, China lies in two of the world's major ecozones: the Palearctic and the Indomalaya. In the Palearctic zone, mammals such as the horse, camel, tapir, and jerboa can be found. Among the species found in the Indomalaya region are the leopard cat, bamboo rat, treeshrew, and various monkey and ape species. Some overlap exists between the two regions due to natural dispersal and migration; deer, antelope, bears, wolves, pigs, and numerous rodent species can all be found in China's diverse climatic and geological environments. The famous giant panda is found only in a limited area along the Yangtze River. China has previously had a major problem with the poaching of rare and endangered species, but laws have since been implemented which effectively stop that from happening.
China also has a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests dominate the North of the country, supporting animal species such as moose and the Asian black bear, along with over 120 bird species. Moist conifer forests can have thickets of bamboo as an under-storey, replaced by rhododendrons in higher montane stands of juniper and yew. Subtropical forests, which dominate central and southern China, support as many as 146,000 species of flora. Tropical and seasonal rain forests, though confined to Yunnan and Hainan Island, contain a quarter of all the plant and animal species found in China.
Political divisions[]
Ma Ying-jeou, President of China
The old Presidential Building has housed the Office of the President of the Republic of China before 1950
Government and Politics[]
The government of the Republic of China was founded on the Constitution of the ROC and its Three Principles of the People, which states that "[the ROC] shall be a Democratic republic of the people, to be governed by the people and for the people." The government is divided into five administrative branches (Yuan): the Control Yuan, the Examination Yuan, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, and the Legislative Yuan.
President[]
The head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the President, who is elected by popular vote for a four-year term on the same ticket as the Premier. The President has authority over the Yuan. The President appoints the members of the Executive Yuan as his cabinet, including a Premier, who is officially the President of the Executive Yuan; members are responsible for policy and administration.
Executive Yuan[]
The ROC's political system does not fit traditional models. The Premier is selected by the President without the need for approval from the Legislature, but the Legislature can pass laws without regard for the President, as neither he nor the Premier wields veto power. Thus, there is little incentive for the President and the Legislature to negotiate on legislation if they are of opposing parties. After the election of the pan-Green's Chen Shui-bian as President in 2000, legislation repeatedly stalled because of deadlock with the Legislative Yuan, which was controlled by a pan-Blue majority. Historically, the ROC has been dominated by strongman single party politics. This legacy has resulted in executive powers currently being concentrated in the office of the President rather than the Premier, even though the Constitution does not explicitly state the extent of the President's executive power.
Legislature[]
The main legislative body is the unicameral Legislative Yuan with 2300 seats. Seventy-three seats are elected by popular vote from single-member constituencies; thirty-four seats are elected based on the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties in a separate party list ballot; and six seats are elected from two three-member aboriginal constituencies. Members serve three-year terms. Originally the unicameral National Assembly, as a standing constitutional convention and electoral college, held some parliamentary functions, but the National Assembly was abolished in 2005 with the power of constitutional amendments handed over to the Legislative Yuan and all eligible voters of the Republic via a referendum.
Judiciary[]
The Judicial Yuan is the ROC's highest judicial organ. It interprets the constitution and other laws and decrees, judges administrative suits, and disciplines public functionaries. The President and Vice-President of the Judicial Yuan and fifteen Justices form the Council of Grand Justices. They are nominated and appointed by the President of the Republic, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The highest court, the Supreme Court, consists of a number of civil and criminal divisions, each of which is formed by a presiding Judge and four Associate Judges, all appointed for life. In 1993, a separate constitutional court was established to resolve constitutional disputes, regulate the activities of political parties and accelerate the democratization process. There is no trial by jury but the right to a fair public trial is protected by law and respected in practice; many cases are presided over by multiple judges.
Like most Asian democracies, the ROC still allows for capital punishment. Efforts have been made by the government to reduce the number of executions, although they have not been able to completely abolish the punishment. As of 2006, about 80% of Chinese want to keep the death penalty.
Audit[]
The Control Yuan is a watchdog agency that monitors (controls) the actions of the executive. It can be considered a standing commission for administrative inquiry and can be compared to the Court of Auditors of the European Union or the Government Accountability Office of the United States. The Control Yuan is sometimes also compared to an ombudsman or national human rights institution.
Examination[]
The Examination Yuan is in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants. It is based on the old Imperial examination system used in premodern China. It can be compared to the European Personnel Selection Office of the European Union or the Office of Personnel Management of the United States.
Foreign relations and military[]
| Headquarters: | Nanking |
| Commander-in-Chief: | Ma Ying-jeou |
| Minister of Defence: | Kao Hua-Chu |
| Commander: | General Huo Sho-yeh |
| Branches: | Republic of China Army Republic of China Air force Republic of China Naval Republic of China Marines |
| Active personnel: | 3,222,140 |
| Reserve personnel: | 4,712,210 |
| Founded in: | 1948 as the National Revolution Army |
| Ages qualified for service: | 19-40 |
| Available for service: | 76,721,757 males 75,846,583 females |
| Conscription law: | All residents must register with the Selective Service in the event that Parliament reinstates the draft |
| Time of service: | 3 years in peacetime; until the end of hostilities in wartime Note - Conscription is not currently in effect in all Dominions and Republics |
Before 1928, the foreign policy of Republican China was complicated by a lack of internal unity—competing centers of power all claimed legitimacy. This situation changed after the defeat of the Peiyang Government by the Kuomintang, which led to widespread diplomatic recognition of the Republic of China.
After the WWII, China continue to be a member of Axis (Coalition of Axis after 1950). China starting to full democracy and constitution in 1948. China keeps a best relation with most of Axis members specially Germany, UK, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Ukraine, Hungary and Korea, and a quite good relation with US, Canada.