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Traditional Chinese:
中國
Simplified Chinese:
中国 |
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Transliterations |
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Kejia (Hakka) |
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Romanization: |
Chûng-koet |
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Mandarin |
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Hanyu Pinyin: |
Zhōngguó |
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Tongyong Pinyin: |
Jhongguó |
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Wade-Giles: |
Chung¹-kuo²
Listen (help·info) |
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Min |
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Min-nan POJ: |
Tiong-kok |
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Yue
(Cantonese) |
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Jyutping: |
zung¹ gwok³ |
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China
(traditional Chinese: 中國;
simplified Chinese: 中国;
Hanyu Pinyin: Zhōngguó (help·info);
Tongyong Pinyin: Jhongguó;
Wade-Giles (Mandarin):
Chung¹kuo²) is a cultural
region, an ancient
civilization, and, depending
on perspective, a national
or multinational entity
occupying a large portion of
land in East Asia.
China has one of the world's
oldest people and continuous
civilizations, consisting of
states and cultures dating
back more than six
millennia. It has the
world's longest continuously
used written language
system, and is the source of
such major inventions as
what the British scholar and
biochemist Joseph Needham
called the "four great
inventions of Ancient
China": paper, the compass,
gunpowder, and printing.
Historically China's
cultural sphere has been
very influential in East
Asia as a whole, with
Chinese religion, customs,
and writing system being
adopted, to varying degrees,
by its neighbors Japan,
Korea, and Vietnam.
The stalemate of the last
Chinese Civil War has
resulted in two political
entities using the name
China: the People's Republic
of China (PRC), commonly
known as China, which
controls mainland China,
Hong Kong, and Macau; and
the Republic of China (ROC),
commonly known as Taiwan,
which controls the island of
Taiwan and some nearby
islands.
