China, officially the People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo), is a country in East Asia, the world’s largest country by population and one of the largest by area, measuring about the same size as the United States.

The Chinese call their country Zhongguo, which means Central Country or "Middle Kingdom". The name China was given to it by foreigners and is probably based on a corruption of Qin (pronounced chin), a Chinese dynasty that ruled during the 3rd century BC.

China proper centers on the agricultural regions drained by three major rivers — the Huang He (Yellow River) in the north, the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) in central China, and the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) in the south.

The country’s varied terrain includes vast deserts, towering mountains, high plateaus, and broad plains. Beijing, located in the north, is China’s capital and its cultural, economic, and communications center. Shanghai, located near the Yangtze, is the most populous urban center, the largest industrial and commercial city, and mainland China’s leading port.

For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation.

After World War II, the Communists under Mao Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China’s sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people.

After 1978, his successor Deng Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled.

For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.