China's historical civilisation dates to at least the 13th
century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 BC) and then
the Zhou (1046–221 B.C) dynasties. The imperial era
of China began in 221 BC under the Qin Dynasty and lasted
until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period,
China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under
a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the
Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from overextension by territorial
conquest, insolvency, civil war, imperialism, military defeats,
and foreign expropriation of ports and infrastructure. It
collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became
a republic under Dun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist)
Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism,
and continued foreign intervention. In the late 1920s, a civil
war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government led
by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s,
and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in
1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the
country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time
of Japan’s defeat in 1945. The Nationalist-Communist
civil war continued with renewed intensity following the end
of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949,
under the leadership of Mao Zedong. imposing an autocratic
socialist system. Beginning in 1978, subsequent leaders Deng
Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao focused on market-oriented
economic development and opening up the country to foreign
trade, while maintaining the rule of the CCP. Since the change,
China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies.
Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea
Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea
and Vietnam.
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