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China is a country with a 5,000-year-old civilization in Eastern Asia. The official name of the country is The People's Republic of China (or P.R.C). The Chinese Civil War between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang ended with a Communist victory in 1949. From that time, a government controlled by the Chinese Communist Party has ruled which while still nominally Communist has gradually moved toward both personal and economic freedom while maintaining elements of totalitarianism especially with regard to political affairs and Tibet.
Following the civil war the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan where with the support of the United States they ruled under the name Republic of China which was the name of China from 1911 when democratic Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the Qing government.
For millenia China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in many areas of the arts and sciences. But in the first half of the 20th century, the country was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists led by Mao Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, Mao's successor Deng Xiaoping committed China to a program of economic reform. Output quadrupled in the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP when measured at purchasing power parity. Political controls remain tight despite China's commitment to economic reform.
The capital is Beijing.
China is known by native people as Zhong1 Guo2 (中國 or 中国 in simplified Chinese) or Zhong1 Hua2 (中華), and in ancient Chinese literature Hua2 Xia4 (華夏) where Xia refers to the Xia Dynasty in 2205-1766 BC.
The origins of the English word "China" are unclear; according to Webster, the word is based on a Persian word chInI which refers to a type of fine porcelain from China. The porcelain is called ci2 (瓷 pronounced chee) in Chinese which might be the root of the Persian word. The word china (in lower case) refers to the porcelain. Apparently, the English named the countries after the porcelain.
According to American Heritage dictionary, the word is based on a Sanskrit word China which refers to Qin2 or Ch'in dynasty (秦 255-204 BC).
Some historians please explain the origin of the word. If two major English dictionaries have different views, no one really knows where this English word came from.
See also Chinese history, Republic of China (Taiwan ROC) Chinese Communist Party, Kuomintang, Chinese Civil War. communism, Chinese law.
External References
From the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the U.S. Department of State website. Partially Wikified.