Peoples Republic of China, P.R.C. or China for short (Mandarin:  ???????, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhonghu? R?nm?nG?ngh?gu?), is a country in the far east of Asia. People Republic of China is the most populated country in the world. To its north is Mongolia, Northwest; Russia and North Korea, to the eastis the Yellow Sea and East Chinese Sea, on the southeast is the South Chinese Sea, to the south is Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal and the southwest looks over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.. Its capital is Beijing. Its capital is Beijing. It is still not recognized by 24 countries and Taiwan. China has a written history that reaches 5000 years back. There have been findings of artifacts that date back 6000 years and this rich history is the reason why many key ingredients to the development of the world come from China; like the compass, paper and gunpowder. Recently with its strategic maneuvers in commerce it is on the path to be the economic hub of the world. Itis estimated that in the 2020’s it will be the world’s wealthiest country. By landmass, it is the fourth largest country in the world and with its close to 1.5billion population it is the most populated. 

An estimated 6^th of the world’s population lives in the Peoples Republic of China.

 History and the Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution had a massive impact on China from 1965 to 1968. The Cultural Revolution is the name given to Mao’s attempt to reassert his beliefs in China. Mao had been less thana dynamic leader from the late 1950’s on, and feared others in the party might be taking on a leading role that weakened his power within the party and the country. This probably explains the Cultural Revolution – it was an attempt by Mao to re-impose his authority on the party and therefore the country. The movement began in September 1965 with a speech by Lin Piao who urged pupils in schools and colleges to return to the basic principles of the revolutionary movement. Chinese youths were also encouraged to openly criticize the liberals in the Chinese Communist Party and those apparently influenced by Nikita Khruschev of the USSR. Educational establishments were considered to be too academic and, therefore, too elitist. Mao believed that the progress China had made since 1949 had lead to a privileged class developing – engineers, scientists, factory managers etc. Mao also believed that these people were acquiring too much power at his expense. Mao was concerned that a new class of mandarins was emerging in China who had no idea about the lifestyle of the normal person in China. Red Guards (groups of youths who banded themselves together) encouraged all the youth in China to criticize those who Mao deemed untrustworthy with regards to the direction he wanted China to take. No-one was safe from criticism: writers, economists and anyone associated with the man Mao considered his main rival – Liu Shao-chi. Anyone who was deemed to have developed a superior attitude was considered an enemy of the party and people. Mao deliberately set out to create a cult for himself and to purge the Chinese Communist Party of anyone who did not fully support Mao. His main selling pointwas a desire to create a China which had peasants, workers and educated people working together – no-one was better than anyone else and all working for the good of China – a classless society. However, the enthusiasm of the Red Guards nearly pushed China into social turmoil.

Schools and colleges were closed and the economy started to suffer. Groups of Red Guards fought Red Guards as each separate unit believed that it knew best how China should proceed. In someareas the activities of the Red Guard got out of hand. They turned their angeron foreigners and foreign embassies got attacked. The British Embassy wasburned down completely. The looming chaos was only checked when Zhou Enlaiurged for a return to normality. He had been one of the leading members of the Chinese Communist Party to encourage all party members to submit themselves tocriticism but he quickly realized that the experiment that was the Cultural Revolution had got out of hand and was spiraling out of control. In October1968, Liu Shao-chi was expelled from the party and this is generally seen by historians as the end of the Cultural Revolution. Mao had witnessed the removalof a potential rival in the party and therefore saw no need for the Cultural Revolution to continue.

In October1968 Liu Shao-chi was expelled from the party and this is generally seen by historians as the end of the Cultural Revolution. Mao had witnessed the removal of a potential rival in the party and therefore saw no need for the Cultural Revolution to continue.

Government

With the constitution of 20 September 1954, a socialist regime was established.
But theycould never become a completely socialist state. After the Mao era, with the changes made, they imported foreign goods, which means they cannot be deemed afully socialist country:  the power is held by the Communist Party Legislation and governmental procedures are all dealt with by the National People's Congress.The voting age is 18. The National People’s Congress meet once a year with their executive congress called the Permanent Commission and a president, 13 representatives, a general secretary and 65 senators. Executive decisions aremade by the president, 12 representatives, 32 ministers or commissioners on thesame level as ministers and the general secretary. The executive position ofthe president is elected once every four years by the congress.Administratively it is split into 28 states, 5 of which are autonomous, 21 states and 2 city states.

Economy

The People's Republic of China (PRC) ranks since 2010 as the world's second largest economy after the United States. It has been the world's fastest-growing major economy, with consistent grow thrates of around 10% over the past 30 years. China is also the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods in the world. The country's percapita GDP (PPP) was $7,544 (International Monetary Fund, 94th in the world) in 2010. The provinces in the coastal regions of China tend to be more industrialized, while regions in the hinterland are less developed. As China's economic importance has grown, so has attention to the structure and health of that economy
The modern era, China's influence in the world economy was minimal until the late 1980s. Atthat time, economic reforms initiated after 1978 began to generate significant and steady growth in investment, consumption and standards of living. China now participate sextensively in the world market and mostly state owned but also some privatesector companies play a major role in the economy. Since 1978 hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty - yet hundreds of millions of rural population as wellas millions of migrant workers remain unattended: According to China's official statistics, the poverty rate fell from 53% in 1981 to 2.5% in 2005. However, in 2009, as many as 150million Chinese were living on less than $1.25 a day
In the 1949 revolution, China's economic system was officially made into a communist system. Since the wide-ranging reforms of the 1980sand afterwards, many scholars assert that China can be defined as one of the leading examples of state capitalism today.

Foreign Trade

The main countries that goods are exported to are as follows: USA (%21.1), Hong Kong(%17.4), Japan (%13.6), South  Korea (%4.6), Germany (% 4), Holland (%2.7), Singapore (%2.2), Turkey (%2.1). Thecountry, in the same way makes many imports from countries such as Japan (%18),Taiwan (%11.9), South Korea (%10.4), USA (%8.2), Germany (%5.9), Hong Kong(%3.9), Russian Federations (%3.3) and Malaysia (%2.5).
Chinaexports goods from an almost unlimited variety; fuel, chemical, alcoholic andnon-alcoholic beverages, food goods, machines, textiles and technological goods.

Army

The greeting ceremony held for US Marine Corps Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Pace in front of the Chinese Defense Ministry displayed the vastness of the army and the Chinese army has the most soldiers of any. The reason for this being the high population and the factthat army service is a good occupation. The Pentagon classifies the Chinese army as the biggest threat of the 21st century. 137 billion dollars were spentin 2007 to modernize the army. And the famously communist PRC provides for its own needs. They have manufactured a jet called the J-10 and many tanks underthe Type series.