China

China (Chinese 中國 / 中国, Pinyin Zhōngguó, Jyutping Zung1gwok3; Federal German and Swiss High German: [ˈçiːna]; Austrian High German: [ˈkiːna]; North and West German usage standard: [ˈʃiːna], Swiss usage standard: [ˈxiːna]) is a cultural area in East Asia that originated over 3500 years ago and existed politically-geographically as the Empire of China from 221 BC. Chr. until the year 1912 existed. In 1912, the Republic of China was founded, which was largely ousted by Maoists after World War II in the Chinese Civil War. In 1949, the latter established the People's Republic of China in mainland China. The government of the Republic of China withdrew to the island of Taiwan and continued the Republic of China there - but in the meantime without general recognition under international law. This Republic of China on Taiwan is often referred to simply as "Taiwan" in today's usage, while "China" is not infrequently used to mean only the People's Republic or even only mainland China.

Etymology

The word China derives from the Sanskrit word cīna चीन, which in turn derives from the Chinese name for the state of Qin (778-207 BC) or the state of Jin (11th century-349 BC). In the Middle Ages (at the time of Marco Polo, for example), China was not known in the West as a unified cultural area. A distinction was made between northern China, which was called Cathaia, Kitaia, Khitai, Catai or Kitai. This term derives from the proper name of the Khitan, who had established the Liao dynasty in northern China in the 10th to 12th centuries. Southern China was then known by the term Mánzǐ rarely Mangi (蠻子 / 蛮子), which derives from the pejorative Chinese term for the southern Chinese peoples - roughly comparable to the term "barbarian" in Graeco-Roman culture.

The proper name Zhōngguó (中國 / 中国 - "literally Middle Kingdom") has been in use since the 1st millennium BC. It refers to the original royal domain in the North ChinaCentral Plain (中原, Zhōngyuán), which geographically represents the core area of China and the cradle of Chinese culture.

Geographical description

Mainland China is 9.5 million square kilometers, about the size of the United States or all of Europe up to the Urals. The north-south extension of China is 4500 kilometers; the east-west extension 4200 kilometers. The longest river in China is the Yangtze River, at about 6400 kilometers. The People's Republic of China has the longest land border of any country in the world, with a total length of 22,133 kilometers. The mountains cover two thirds of the country in China, the highest mountain is Mount Everest and also the highest peak on earth.

The Han Chinese are by far the largest ethnic group among the peoples of China. The largest ethnic minorities in China are the Zhuang, Hui, Manju, Uyghur and Miao.

The climate in China is more or less influenced by the monsoon (summer rains), but the northwestern half of the region is already quite strictly continental, extending from the highly nival summit region of the Himalayas through desert climates to the tropical and subtropical coasts.