Athletes, journalists, tourists and sports fans from all over the globe are heading to China this year as it hosts, for the first time ever, the world’s biggest sports extravaganza – the Olympic Games.

China, which is officially known as the People’s Republic of China, is the world’s most populous country. And these Games, which have been dubbed to be the biggest and most expensive in history, are a chance for the country to showcase itself in a worldwide spotlight.

China has changed a lot in the last 30 years and it now has the world's fastest growing economy, is one of world’s top exporters and is Australia’s largest trading partner.

Unfortunately, it’s also carries the title of the world’s leading jailer of journalists, the leading executioner and arguably has the most severe Internet filtering systems.

A few historical milestones

  • 1949 - Communist leader Mao Zedong founds the People’s Republic of China, after more than 20 years of civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists.

  • 1966 - The Cultural Revolution begins. The ten-year political and ideological campaign is Mao Zedong’s social experiment aimed at revitalizing revolutionary spirit. It causes social, economic and political chaos in China. So-called intellectuals and bourgeois influences are attacked, millions of people are forced into manual labour and tens of thousands are executed.

  • 1978 – China begins economic reforms, three years after the death of Mao Zedong. The country eventually opens the country up to foreign investment and encourages development of a market economy and private sector. Today China has one of the world's economic highest growth rates.

  • 1989 - Pro-democracy student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square end in bloodshed. On the night of 3 June and the following morning Government troops and tanks enter the square and open fire on the protestors. Death toll estimates vary from 23 recorded by the Communist Party to 2,600 reported by the Chinese Red Cross. International outrage leads to sanctions against China.

Economic expansion

China is a major player in global economics. It has the world's fastest-growing economy. It is one of the world's top exporters. It’s drawing in record amounts of foreign investment and is investing billions of dollars abroad.

In 1979 China began along a path of economic reform which later led to the opening up of the country to foreign investment and the development of a market economy and private sector. China now has the world's highest rate of economic growth.

Today its major exports include machinery and equipment; textiles and clothing; footwear; toys and sporting goods; and mineral fuels. China’s leading markets are the US, Hong Kong and Japan. It’s also Australia’s biggest trading partner

China belongs to, among other groups, the World Trade Organisation, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) and the United Nations, to which it has permanent membership on the Security Council.

China’s political heavyweights

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – the world's biggest political party – has ruled China since 1949. It has the monopoly on power and tight control over the population.

The party, along with the National People's Congress, the government and the military, make up China’s four main levels of power. The CCP’s Politburo and its nine-member standing committee is the country’s ultimate decision-making body.

China’s head of state and the Communist Party’s Secretary General is Hu Jintao; he was elected by the congress to the post in early 2003 and re-elected for another five-year term at the National People’s Congress in March this year.

President Hu Jintao, who studied hydroelectric engineering at a Beijing university, joined the CCP during the Cultural Revolution. He became the youngest-ever member of the party’s main decision-making body in 1992 – the year he turned 50.

China’s other key political figures include Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and National People's Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo. The Guardian UK has profiles of the Communist Party’s Politburo members, who are the most powerful politicians in China.

Most populous country

China is home to about 1.33 billion people – that’s nearly a quarter of the world’s entire population. Ancient China was one of the earliest centres of human civilisations.

Today most of its population, about 92 per cent, is Han Chinese and its main language is Mandarin Chinese. The main minority groups are the Zhuang, the Hui, the Uighurs, the Yi, the Tibetans, the Miao, the Mongols and the Koreans.

It continues to be a largely rural society, with only 39 per cent of its population living in urban areas. The economic disparity between people in urban China and those living in the rural hinterlands is among the largest in the world.

About 20 per cent of China’s population is aged 14 or younger and about 8 per cent are over 65. The median age of the population is about 33.

Despite its huge and varied population, respect for basic human rights of its people in is not on China’s agenda.

China executes more of its citizens each year than the rest of the world put together. Ethnic minorities like the Uighur people and the Tibetans are severely suppressed.

Migrants from rural areas are deprived of their basic rights. Lawyers working to defend human rights and people practising a faith outside the officially sanctioned religions are harassed, detained and imprisoned.

Deserts to mountains

China is the world’s fourth largest country – after Russia, Canada and the US. It covers some 9.6 million sq km, stretching over most of East Asia. It’s twice the size of Western Europe.

Geographically this vast country has everything – from plains and deltas to mountains, high plateau and deserts. Mt Everest, the world’s tallest peak, is on its border with Nepal. Its climate varies from tropical in the south to sub-arctic in the north.

Lonely Planet guidebooks say China isn’t a country, but a different world: “From shop-till-you-drop metropolises to the desert landscapes of Xinjiang, China is a land of cultural and geographic schisms.”

Tourists come here to check out sights like the Great Wall of China, the ancient Silk Road and the Yangzi River – the world’s third longest river after the Nile and the Amazon.

The country’s cultural and administrative capital is Beijing, but its largest city is actually Shanghai. According to the World Bank China is also home to 20 of the world’s 30 most-polluted cities.

China, which is made up of 22 provinces, has borders with Russia, North Korea, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

It has 6,400 km of coastline and fronts the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. In 1997 the British colony of Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control and then two years later the former Portuguese-ruled Macao became part of China.

Random facts

  • China’s currency is the Renminbi (RMB), which is also referred to as the Yuan; A$1 equals about RMB6.50.

  • Red is considered a lucky colour in China and traditionally wedding dresses are made in red fabric.

  • According to the UN, as at 2005, the average life expectancy for men in China was 70 years and six months and for women it was almost 74.

  • The kiwifruit is originally from China.

  • The Chinese year is based on the cycles of the moon and a full cycle of the calendar takes 60 years.

  • The toothbrush, papermaking, the compass, kites, the lottery and silk were all invented in China.

  • In 2003 China became only the third country – after Russia and the US – to launch a manned spaceflight. China plans to reach the moon by 2010.

Want to know more?

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