Language: Chinese Mandarin
Currency: Chinese Yuan (CNY)
Calling
Code: +86
China is located in Asia. It is the most populous
country in the world after India. Its bordering countries are
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and
Vietnam to the south, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to the
west, Russia to the northeast and northwest, Mongolia to the north
and North Korea to the northeast.
China is the second largest
economy in the world after the USA. Modern cities are characterized
by new wealth, combined with poverty, which is still visible even in
the most modern cityscape. Between the most modern skyscrapers there
are small, bizarre-looking residential buildings. Many Chinese can
afford a car, and the masses of bicycles that shaped the cliché of
China are gradually disappearing from the cities with millions of
inhabitants. It is important for Chinese people to show off their
new wealth, and wealth and happiness are often equated.
But
the new wealth is unevenly distributed. Migrant workers earn perhaps
1,500 yuan, spend only 200 yuan of it on living expenses, and send
the rest home. In return, you get noodles three times a day because
it's cheap, and eight people live in a one-room apartment. The
bizarre differences between rich and poor can also be seen in the
cityscape: old carts pulled by hand or by animals move between
expensive luxury cars.
Chinese youth are completely
apolitical, the party does its own thing, the youth and younger
adults do their own. Mass protests are also not a Chinese thing. If
the party decides that people have to relocate, then that's just how
it is. The only complaints are if the financial compensation is not
right. Reports in the Western media that suggest that all Chinese
are dissidents are nonsense. On the contrary, Chinese people can be
extremely nationalistic and very proud of their country.
The
population consists of 55 minorities, but together they only make up
about 8 percent of the population. The remaining 90 percent or more
are Han Chinese.
In the West, China was particularly known
for its one-child policy, with which the country attempted to slow
down its immense population growth. The policy, which was never
particularly popular among the population, caused such major
demographic problems (including a massive aging population and a
surplus of boys because girls were mostly aborted) that the country
had to abandon this policy in 2016.
India is the country with
the second highest population in the world. While the Indian
population is still growing, in China it is largely stagnating or
even shrinking - depending on the region. China is still considered
an emerging country because, in addition to the industrialized east,
there are also very rural areas in western China where modern
technology is not widespread.
China has a supply problem. The
country has numerous low mountain ranges, a very attractive
landscape that should encourage travelers to China not to just stay
in the cities. But you can't grow anything there. 22 percent of the
world's population live in a country where only 10 percent of the
land is arable. So it is no surprise that even the smallest corners
of just a few square meters are planted. As the economy recovers,
food quickly becomes more expensive, as more people can afford to
eat more. The government is trying to counteract this with strict
regulations, as there is always potential for unrest. But the
increased wages mean that it is no longer worth it for the many
migrant workers from the countryside to work their own farms, which
further exacerbates the supply situation.
The Chinese love
bright, glaring and flashing things, just like other East Asians. It
is not just the television that looks like this, but entire
cityscapes have been transformed into light orgies that even Las
Vegas would be jealous of. Numerous high-rise buildings, whether
offices or residential buildings, shine in the evening. The lights
are usually turned off at 10 p.m. by order of the local authorities.
Xi'an, for example, but especially Shanghai, are exceptional
attractions in the evenings thanks to the city lights. An evening
tour by bus or taxi is highly recommended there.
The waste of
energy has its price. In addition to the Three Gorges Dam, which
provides around 10 percent of China's electricity supply, China gets
85 percent from coal-fired power plants. The enormous environmental
pollution caused by this is clearly noticeable in Chinese cities.
China therefore wants to massively expand nuclear power. Whether
this is a wise decision in view of the considerable risk of
earthquakes in China is not being discussed there.
In addition to the regions and provinces or sub-regions,
there are two special administrative zones in which a different economic
system and, in some cases, different laws apply. The general statements
made about China in this travel guide therefore only apply in part:
Hong Kong (香港)
Macau (澳门)
The island of Taiwan is officially
regarded as a province of China by the government of the People's
Republic of China and by most other countries in the world as well as
the UN. In practice, however, it is a separate state with its own
administration and laws. For this travel guide, it is therefore more
appropriate to regard Taiwan as an independent state, which is not
intended to be a political statement.
The "Rust
Belt".
Heilongjiang (黑龙江) ·
Jilin (吉林) · Liaoning (辽宁)
The Yellow River Basin; the historical heartland of China.
Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古) · Hebei (河北) ·
Beijing (北京) ·
Shanxi (山西) · Tianjin (天津)
Grasslands and deserts,
nomads, Islam.
Ningxia Autonomous Region (宁夏) ·
Xinjiang Autonomous
Region (新疆) · Gansu (甘肃) ·
Qinghai (青海) · Shaanxi (陕西)
The new economic center of the country.
Anhui (安徽) · Fujian (福建) ·
Jiangsu (江苏) · Jiangxi (江西) · Shanghai (上海) · Shandong (山东) · Zhejiang
(浙江)
Agricultural areas.
Guangxi Autonomous Region
(广西) · Guangdong (广东) · Hainan (海南) · Henan (河南) · Hubei (湖北) · Hunan
(湖南)
Most minorities live in the exotic southwest;
spectacular landscapes.
Tibet Autonomous Region (西藏) · Chongqing (重庆)
· Guizhou (贵州) · Sichuan (四川) · Yunnan (云南)
Here is a selection of the most important and
well-known cities.
1 Chengdu – The capital of Sichuan is also
called the city without a sky because the sun is rarely seen there. The
climate is humid and warm. The city lures with its traditional
Sichuanese cuisine and its special charm - but you should bring some
knowledge of Mandarin with you, as only a few people speak English
there.
2 Chongqing - The largest city in the world - Chongqing
(pronounced "dschong-dschin", approx. 32 million inhabitants) - has the
flair of a French satellite town. If you arrive at night, it can happen
that you find the city bearable, blinded by the neon signs that are
everywhere. A stay in this city is only worthwhile by visiting the
nearby Three Gorges, which have now also fallen victim to a dam and are
more similar to the three great rivers. Even if the city's high-rise
backdrop is impressive, the title "biggest city in the world" is a bit
of misnomer. In fact, the 32 million inhabitants are spread over an area
the size of Belgium. The core city has about 6 million inhabitants. Due
to the river there is regularly a foggy haze over the city, in summer
with temperatures above 40 degrees the city is also called the fire pot.
3 Guangzhou – The former canton has developed into an important trading
metropolis as part of the boom in the Pearl River Delta. In terms of
tourism, it mainly offers a contrast to the nearby special
administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
4 Nanjing – Nanjing
(often Nanking in German) - which literally means "southern capital" -
was the country's capital during the times of the Chinese Republic and
is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in China. Beautiful
temples and parks attract visitors to the metropolis on the Yangtse.
However, you should refrain from visiting in the summer months - Nanjing
is one of the four hottest cities in China.
5
Beijing – The capital of the People's
Republic of China attracts with the Imperial Palace, also known as the
Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, countless street markets, an active
nightlife and a short distance from the Great Wall.
6 Qingdao – The
former German colony has blossomed into a popular tourist destination in
recent years. In addition to holidays on the sandy beach, mountain trips
to the adjacent Laoshan Mountains, where Taoism is at home, are also
possible. Here you can visit a 2400 year old Taoist temple.
7
Shanghai – Along with Beijing and Xi'an, Shanghai is the tourist
must-see in China. Compared to Beijing, there are no major tourist
attractions (important destinations include the river promenade "The
Bund", the Yu Garden and the Jin An Temple), but the city's high-rise
landscape is extremely impressive. The future being built in Shanghai 24
hours a day turns the megalopolis into a single attraction. In addition,
Shanghai is the shopping city par excellence in China. Xujiahui and
Nanjing Road are just a few of the shopping spots in this metropolis of
millions. If you want to holiday in Shanghai, you can also travel to
some interesting suburbs, out of the high-rise landscape and into the
idyll.
8 Shenzhen – Shenzhen was created as a special economic zone
around the former colony of Hong Kong and has experienced a huge
economic boom over the past 20 years, with no end in sight.
9 Suzhou
– A smaller metropolis about 100km west of Shanghai is Suzhou
(pronounced Su-dscho). The listing of the entire downtown of Suzhou as a
Unesco World Heritage Site should speak for itself. Suzhou was and is
the center of silk production in China. Located at the intersection
between the Imperial Canal and the Yangtze River, it owes its economic
upswing not only to its convenient location, but above all to the
Chinese government's silk monopoly up until the 19th century.
10
Wenzhou – Wenzhou is a small, sleepy metropolis in the south of
Zhejiang. Anyone who misses narrow shopping streets and Chinese smells
in Beijing and Shanghai will get their money's worth here. The parks of
the city are also very beautiful and invite the residents to make music
and the tourists to linger. Since Wenzhou has a subtropical climate, a
visit is advisable, especially in the winter months.
11 Wuhan – Wuhan
is the capital of Hubei Province. Wuhan is considered a smoldering oven,
and it gets quite hot in the summer months. On the other hand, in the
cloudy winter months, the temperatures only reach values around the
freezing point. A well-known attraction is the Yellow Crane Pagoda,
which should not be visited around the New Year festival.
12 Lhasa
– Lhasa is the capital of the autonomous province of Tibet. It is famous
for the Potala, the residence of the Dalai Lama. In addition to the
Potala, the Jokhang Monastery and the Norbulingka Palace (the
traditional summer residence of the Dalai Lama) are also UNESCO World
Heritage Sites.
13 Hong Kong
14 Macao
Summer Palace contains spacious park, residential buildings, temples and many pavilions that lie on the shores of the artificial lake.
Qin I mausoleum is famous for a huge Terracotta Army buried with the Emperor Quin I.
Ming Dynasty Tombs Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty are located 30 mi (45 km) Northwest of Bejing in China.
Huangshan Mountains are located in Anhui province these mountains started their unique formation 100 million years ago.
Wulingyuan Mountains are located in Hunan Province has some of the most amazing geological formations.
Guilin Hills are picturesque geological formations on a shores of beautiful rivers.
Picturesque Jiuzhaigou Valley lies in Sichuan Province of China.
Gyantse Castle is a medieval citadel situated in Gyantse, Xigazê Prefecture in China. It was constructed in 1390.
Germans, French, Dutch, Spanish and Italians are allowed to enter the
country for up to 15 days without a visa. From March 14, 2024, an
analogous regulation will also apply to citizens of Switzerland,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Hungary and Austria. This measure is
provisionally limited to December 31, 2025. Over the course of the year,
the list was expanded a few more times, and Liechtensteiners are now
also among the privileged.
Otherwise, citizens of Germany,
Austria and Switzerland are required to have a visa. In Germany, the
visa is not obtained from the embassy or consulate, but from the
specially set up Chinese Visa Application Service Center. It operates
offices in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich in Germany; in
Switzerland in Bern and Zurich. There are local differences in
administrative practice. In some cases, online appointment bookings will
be required in 2023. In Munich, for example, only EC cards are accepted,
in Frankfurt also cash, in Düsseldorf you have to wait at least 2 weeks.
The fees have been reduced by a quarter across the board for the
calendar year 2024.
China only issues entry permits outside the
country of residence in exceptional cases.
People who are over 14
and under 70 years old when applying must provide their fingerprints
when applying, in effect visiting the office. A passport photo must be
attached to the application. Special features: background as light as
possible, no jewelry (necklace or similar), no glasses. A tourist visa
for citizens of the Schengen states for one or two entries and a 30-day
stay costs over €125 including the unavoidable service fee (as of July
2023). In Austria, you should contact the consulate. No visas are issued
at the airports or borders. A tourist visa requires a passport with at
least six months validity and a child's passport for children. You must
also present flight tickets and confirmation of booked accommodation.
Anyone who has visited a number of African countries must also present a
health certificate from their doctor. It is advisable to apply for the
visa at least one month before departure. Most visas are only valid for
3 months, so do not apply too early. Fingerprints are taken from all
arriving foreigners. Self-service kiosks (“Foreigner Fingerprint Self
Collection Area”) have been set up at larger airports where this must be
done before queuing at the passport counter. An entry form must also be
filled out beforehand.
Anyone who intends to visit Hong Kong or
Macau on their travel route and then travel on to the People's Republic
of China requires a multiple-entry visa. A visa that only allows for a
single entry loses its validity when crossing the border into the
special administrative regions of Hong Kong or Macau. Alternatively, you
can apply for a new visa in Hong Kong or Macau. However, you must use an
approved agent for this.
Under no circumstances should you exceed
the length of stay permitted in the visa. This results in a heavy fine,
the amount of which is calculated according to the number of days
exceeded. You can only leave the country after paying and having a new
visa issued.
Entry into the Tibet Autonomous Region is only
possible with a special permit. Travel via the passes from Kyrgyzstan
also requires special (expensive) arrangements in advance. In Xinjiang
Province, the terrorism problem has been brought under control, but
restrictions for travelers still apply.
Foreigners are required
to report to the local police if they stay in one place for more than 24
hours. If you stay in a hotel, the hotel will automatically report this,
for which you must have your passport copied at the hotel. If you are
staying in private accommodation, the respective host must report it.
Foreign students must report to the police themselves. It is best to
take a Chinese friend with you. For foreign students who live on campus
but not in an official dormitory, the police may ask you to present a
Chinese rental agreement. The Chinese rental contract only needs to
include the rent, the names of the tenant and landlord, the duration,
the location of the apartment and a signature of the tenant and
landlord. The help of a Chinese friend or his Chinese buddy from the
university is worth its weight in gold here.
Visa-free short-term
stay in transit: Citizens of 54 nations, including 25 Schengen states
(but not Liechtenstein) and 15 other Europeans (including Britons), can
enter China visa-free for 240 hours upon entry via sixty entry points,
which vary locally, upon presentation of a confirmed onward flight, not
a return flight. The permit (“Arrival Card for Temporary Entry
Foreigners”) is available locally, but the corresponding transit should
be clarified with the airline beforehand. Exits via places other than
the place of entry are not permitted. The list of entry points also
shows which areas (normally the respective province) in the surrounding
area can be traveled to. (As of January 2025) The aforementioned
registration requirement also applies to these stays. Any overstays,
even short-term ones, must be agreed with the authorities. The clock
starts ticking at midnight on the calendar day following the day of
entry.
Most Europeans visiting China do so by air. There are direct flights
from Europe to many Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Qingdao, Shenyang, and Hong Kong.
All other major Chinese cities can be reached by transfer. If you plan
ahead and look for it, you can get a ticket for less than 600 euros (as
of November 2015). The difference in quality between European and
Chinese airlines is now negligible.
When departing from Europe
and transferring to a domestic flight at a Chinese airport, baggage must
either be checked in at the destination airport or checked through
customs at the connecting airport and checked in again. Until recently,
it was not possible to check through to the final airport. The cost of
an outbound flight by Eurowings from Germany to Bangkok, Thailand,
ranges from 200 to 300 euros, depending on how quickly you book. There
are often very inexpensive flights from Bangkok to East Asian countries
such as China and Southeast Asia such as Singapore (as of February
2017).
Safety regulations that apply internationally also apply
in China and to domestic flights.
Beijing is a terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. You can also enter the territory of the People's Republic of China by train from Hong Kong, Vietnam and North Korea. The border control takes place either at the destination station, or you have to leave the train for the formalities.
Several of China's neighbors, especially in Southeast Asia, offer
international bus service to Chinese cities. It is also possible to take
a bus directly from Hong Kong or Macau to certain cities on the Chinese
side. Due to border control, it is usually necessary to leave the
vehicle. Some connections are not available to foreigners.
Entering China with your own car or motorcycle can be difficult and
quite expensive. Chinese license plates and a driver's license are
required. In addition, you will need a guide (supervisor). For
motorcycles, a vehicle must be added. As a result, the cost of a stay
can quickly reach thousands of euros (e.g., 3,100 euros for a five-day
stay in Xinjiang with four motorcycles, entering the Torgat Pass via
Kashgar and leaving from Aksu to Kazakhstan via Cholga).
The
Beijing Traffic Management Bureau offers relatively good information.
Detailed information is available in English and Chinese.
Entering the country by bicycle is relatively easy. Although the car is
replacing the automobile as the primary mode of transportation in China
in the past, it is still widely used.
There are several ferry connections to coastal cities in the People's Republic of China from Hong Kong and Macau. Information and tickets are available at the respective ferry terminals. The exit formalities take place before boarding the ship, the entry formalities after leaving the ship on the Chinese side.
Flying has been booming in China for about a decade. Most major
cities in China have airports, often newly built and generously sized.
The number of connecting flights is also increasing rapidly. Numerous
Chinese airlines own aircraft, most of which have recently been procured
from Western countries. Therefore, flight safety in China is no less
than in Europe.
Tickets for domestic flights are the same
regardless of the airline. However, discounts are often available
depending on availability. For this reason, it is recommended that
tickets be booked locally or through a Chinese booking portal (ctrip.com
is the largest). Abroad, domestic flights in China are usually much more
expensive.
Airports in Chinese cities are often located in the
suburbs, and transportation is not always convenient. Delays and
cancellations are not uncommon. Therefore, when planning a trip, one
should always check whether the same route could be traveled more
comfortably by high-speed rail.
Those wishing to fly from China
to Hong Kong or Macau should be aware that these flights are
international. It is usually much cheaper to fly to Shenzhen or Zhuhai
and then cross the border overland from there. International flights
originating in China are usually considerably more expensive than
international flights.
China has been building a high-speed rail network since 2006, which
is already the longest line in the world. The rolling stock on the
high-speed lines is made in China but incorporates European and Japanese
technology. Along with the new lines, huge new stations have appeared,
making high-speed rail travel very relaxing. On many routes, trains have
become a cheaper and better alternative to flying.
Away from the
high-speed rail network, there is a network of conventional lines, with
trains of various categories and equipment. These either connect areas
where high-speed rail has not yet penetrated, or they serve a clientele
for whom high-speed rail is not readily available.
Train
categories are identified by number. The following categories are
available:
Bullet trains are numbered G (高速 gāosù) or C (城际chéngjì).
They run between major cities at speeds of up to 300 km/h and make only
a few or no stops, depending on the number.
D (动车 dòngchē) is a train
with a maximum speed of 200 km/h and is similar in comfort to G and C.
There are also night trains with sleeping cars.
Z (直达 zhídá) are
direct trains that connect major cities and have no intermediate stops.
These are often night trains with more comfortable and modern rolling
stock. They are very comfortable and usually a cheaper alternative to
long trips on high-speed trains.
Until a few years ago, express
trains were the best that China Railway could offer. Many of these
trains have been replaced by high-speed trains and are now seen as
inexpensive alternatives to high-speed trains and on secondary routes.
These trains are slower than Z trains, stop more frequently, and have
older rolling stock.
Trains beginning with K (快速 kuàisù) are slower
and older than trains beginning with T.
Trains without letters are
the slowest and oldest. They are preferred by migrant workers because
they are the cheapest way to travel. Many of these trains run off the
main transportation routes and are rarely seen by tourists.
Few
trains begin with other letters (regional or special trains).
High-speed trains have two or three compartment classes:
Hard seat
(2nd class) means 2:3 seating in non-adjustable seats. It is slightly
narrower than 2nd class in Europe.
Soft Seat (软座) or First Class is
2:2 seating with adjustable seating. It is almost the same as first
class in Europe. Recommended for fat foreigners. For more cultured
travelers. Some trains still offer business class (商务座).
Standing
tickets are not sold.
On conventional trains.
Soft lie (软卧) in
four-person compartments.
Hard seat (硬卧), a six-person compartment,
similar to European couchette cars, but without compartment doors.
Soft seat (软座), equivalent to European first class.
Hard seats (硬座),
comparable to European second class cars, but depending on the age of
the vehicle. However, on trains for migrant workers, 3:3 bench seats
with backrests built at a 90-degree angle and minimal seat size and
padding can also be found.
Free seating (无座) usually means standing
room. Such tickets are sold on an unlimited basis and may be long
distance. Prices are the same as for hard-seat cards. Before and after
national holidays, tourists must travel long distances without a seat,
which can be embarrassing.
Riding long distances in a hard seat
compartment is a good way to get in touch with the average Chinese
person. If you have time to spare, give it a try. Fellow travelers will
turn out to be loud, friendly, and outgoing, and you will soon be
sharing food, looking at pictures on your cell phone, and playing cards
- even if you speak little Chinese.
Tickets can be bought at
train stations or at ticket offices scattered throughout the town. All
tickets are for personal use, so you will need to show your passport
when buying a ticket. Ticket sales usually begin 20 days before the
train departs. When demand is low, one can go to the station and get a
ticket for the next train, but during summer vacation and around
national holidays, one risks long waits and standing room only travel
afterwards. All tickets are valid only for specific trains on specific
dates, so it is highly recommended that you find out the number of your
desired train and stick to that train when making your purchase.
Otherwise, you risk arriving at your destination at an impossible time.
Sales staff usually speak only Chinese, so those who do not speak
Chinese should either get help from a native speaker or write down the
necessary data. Do not expect advice at the counter. If you need help,
you should go to a travel agent or a friendly citizen.
China
Railway Internet Ticket Sales (12306.cn) is only available to those with
a Chinese ID card. However, even foreigners can check departure and
arrival times, train numbers, ticket prices, and seat availability. In
the future, China Railways plans to do away with printed tickets.
Most cities in China have multiple train stations. The correct
station is indicated on the ticket and under no circumstances should it
go to another station. You may only enter the main hall of a Chinese
train station with a valid ticket. Your luggage will be X-rayed at the
station entrance, and your ticket and corresponding identification card
will be checked. You wait for the train in your own waiting room and can
only enter the platform shortly before the train departs. Due to these
procedures and the size of the building, it is advisable to be at the
station at least 20 minutes before the train departs. Tickets can be
checked during the journey, but in any case one cannot leave the station
without a ticket at the destination station. During the trip, food and
drinks can be bought according to Chinese preferences. Train punctuality
is surprisingly high considering the long distances involved. Toilet
sanitation varies by train category and worsens during long journeys.
Bring your own paper and soap.
Example costs (as of January
2019): to travel from Beijing to Xi'an, 1212 km by high-speed train
(4.5-6 hours; hard seat ¥515, soft seat ¥825, business ¥1627; 12 trains
per day) or night train (11.5-14. (5 hours, ¥156 (hard seat), ¥268 (hard
lying), ¥422 (soft lying), 8 daily). If you simply ask for a
Beijing-Xi'an ticket at the counter, you risk being booked on Z151
(arriving at Xi'an at 03:23). So you should stick to Z19 (Beijing-Xi'an
nonstop, arriving at 08:00 am). Those who like long train rides can take
an overnight train from Beijing to Kunming (4 trains a day, 34-44 hours,
seat reservation ¥302, seat reservation ¥513, seat reservation ¥814).
From Shanghai to Beijing, it takes 4 hours and 24 minutes by China
National Railways' racecourse, G2 or G4 trains (¥554 for a hard seat,
average speed 290 km/h). If you want to interact with the common people
in a sustainable way, you can choose train 1462, which costs 156 yen and
travels in 22 hours at an average speed of 59 km/h.
Departure
times and delays: In contrast to delays that are common in Germany, they
are very rare in China. In China, trains even depart too early. In fact,
if you arrive at the platform three minutes before departure and it is
still three minutes before departure, it is possible that a train
official will not let you on the train to avoid a delay. In some cases,
however, you may be able to persuade the officials to let you board the
train.
Intercity buses are a popular mode of transportation in China,
replacing airplanes and railroads. They also provide almost all
connections between major cities. In some areas, buses are the only way
to get around. Bus travel is less expensive, especially in remote areas,
but the vehicles can have technical problems and the trip is
correspondingly less comfortable. Sleeper buses are also available on
long-distance routes. In most cases, tickets can be obtained directly
before departure as there are enough places available. Buses are an
alternative when trains are full. Every city has several bus terminals,
so you will need to ask for the correct one. English is not spoken at
the bus terminals, so you will need to be able to say your destination
in Chinese or write it down. Buses usually travel between two cities,
and the two cities are prominently displayed in the front window of the
bus.
For long distances, buses are the most unsafe mode of
transportation. Although armed robberies on intercity buses have become
very rare, horrific traffic accidents with fatalities are televised
daily on Chinese television. Accidents, traffic jams, and road closures
can cause travel times to exceed the allotted time. If in doubt, trains
or airplanes are preferable.
Several cities have opened subway systems in recent years, and the
subway systems in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are among the largest
in the world. The system works the same throughout China: a ticket
(plastic chip or card) is purchased from a machine. With this ticket,
you pass through a barrier gate to the platform. When exiting the subway
area, the same ticket is used to pass through the barrier. Subway
tickets are very inexpensive, starting at ¥2, and you can travel all
over Shanghai for ¥10. If you plan to stay in a city for a long time,
getting a value card will save you the trouble of buying tickets
frequently. In some cities, you can also use a cell phone app to cross
the barrier.
Be prepared for heavy crowding on platforms, cars,
and especially at transfer stations, especially during rush hour.
Passengers' luggage is scanned at all subway stations, so congestion and
delays are common here as well. It is important to plan enough time and
be careful with valuables.
Cabs are a very popular and widespread mode of transportation in
China. They are considerably cheaper than in Europe, usually costing
only a few euros for a long trip. Cabs in major cities are metered. Most
drivers are honest and will turn on the cab meter without special
request. Sometimes a penny or two is added as a fuel surcharge. As in
any travel country, it makes sense to check cab fares on the Internet
beforehand to avoid getting ripped off. In China, however, this is often
not a problem. As a rule, empty cabs should be stopped with a hand
signal. At certain times of the day, such as b. when the driver is
changing shifts, when it is raining suddenly, or during major events, it
can be difficult or impossible to get a cab. In this case, make a
reservation (negotiate!) in advance. or use the subway, bus, or private
car. It is also possible to charter a cab for the day, for example to
visit tourist attractions outside of the cities, but this requires
negotiating with the driver. In small towns in rural areas, expect to
pay 500-600 yen per day.
Cab drivers rarely speak English, and
international terms such as "airport" are often not understood. Drivers
may refuse to take a ride because of difficulty communicating with
foreigners, too short a distance, a shift change, or traffic congestion.
In any case, it is necessary to be able to say the destination in
Chinese or write it down in Chinese. Under certain circumstances (e.g.,
high prices or fuel shortages), all drivers consistently refuse to use
cab meters, forcing you to negotiate. Many cities also have unlicensed
drivers ("black cabs"). The only people who feel comfortable riding in a
black cab are those who are fluent in Chinese and know the way to their
destination. Otherwise, there is a risk of fraud and robbery, which as a
foreigner, I would avoid if possible. Cab drivers do not expect tips and
will usually round up or down to the nearest yuan and give you change
without hesitation.
The cab industry is also going digital in
China. The most popular cab app today is called DiDi, which acquired
Uber China in 2016. As a rule, after ordering cab service, the driver
will call you and agree on the exact point of departure. Nevertheless,
it is worth installing this app before traveling to China. Various cab
apps, such as Didi Dache (滴滴打车) and Kuaidi Dache (快的打车), also make it
easy to pay with payment apps such as Wechat. These cabs are even
cheaper than regular cabs and often have more comfortable and
significantly nicer cars. Often you can pay directly through the cab
app. Setting up and ordering a cab requires some knowledge of Chinese or
the help of a Chinese friend. But you should use these apps, especially
if you are staying for an extended period of time.
All Chinese cities have extensive urban bus systems. However, the
route maps, stops, and destination signs are usually only in Chinese,
making them of little use to tourists. City buses are also the slowest
mode of transportation in the city. Nevertheless, as a tourist, you may
still rely on buses, especially if there are no cabs available.
Fares are very inexpensive (between one and two yen to get around the
city), and fares are usually put into a designated box with the driver.
Discounts are available if you pay with a prepaid card.
The bicycle, which shaped China's urban image until the 1980s, has
all but disappeared and is gradually making its way onto the streets.
Any visitor to China will be struck by the large number of fellow
cyclists lined up on the side of the road. The Chinese use their bikes
as sports equipment in the park or as transportation to the nearest
subway station. Sometimes demonic air pollution, the recklessness of
other road users, and bike paths and side streets often blocked by cars
make cycling unattractive. This is also true for tourists, with only a
few exceptions.
Few places in China are suitable for exploring on
foot. Walking in Chinese cities means slaloming around cars parked on
sidewalks, streetlights, and broken manhole covers. Add to this the
noise, air pollution, long distances, and summer heat, and walking can
be very tiring.
Users of GPS devices should be aware that in
China, due to government manipulation, the numbers displayed generally
deviate from actual conditions. In sensitive border areas, errors can
range from 200 to 600 meters!
Mandarin is the standard Chinese language. Cantonese is spoken in
Hong Kong and the neighboring province of Guangdong. Macau also has its
own dialect, as do most provinces south of Shanghai. However, the
spelling is the same everywhere except in Taiwan and parts of Hong Kong.
In Taiwan and parts of Hong Kong, it is spelled "Traditional Chinese";
on the mainland, it is spelled "Simplified Chinese. Because of the
strong dialects, it has actually happened that Chinese people in the
north and south have to communicate in foreign languages.
Chinese
has many homonyms, i.e., words that have the same pronunciation but
several meanings. Chinese people can tell what a word means from its
context. Chinese characters consist of tens of thousands of pictographs,
many of which are names. Students leave school with a knowledge of about
3,500 Chinese characters, but eventually they will have about 5,000. To
be able to read some newspapers, 3,000 characters would be enough.
Grammar, however, is much simpler. There are no cases or articles. On
the contrary, Chinese people routinely despair over why they are called
girls, despite the fact that they are women. Translated into Chinese, it
means "I beat you" or "you beat me. After a few years in China, there
are many foreigners who cannot read characters, even though they can
speak quite well. Chinese, on the other hand, have considerable
difficulty pronouncing the letter R. The trick is to gargle for weeks
and learn the R on your own.
Those who do not speak Chinese will
face major problems in some areas of the country. English is usually
spoken in hotels and restaurants along the standard tourist routes, and
you can get help buying train tickets and excursions, but you will have
to be very patient in other areas. Chinese learn English in school, but
the exam is written. This causes the phenomenon that it is difficult to
find someone who speaks English, but even in places far from the main
tourist attractions, business is written above the entrance to almost
all stores in English as well as Chinese.
English is usually not
a problem at hotel receptions, but other hotel employees often only
understand important phrases, e.g., name price. Ticket vending
machines at public subway stations can be operated in English and are
easy to use. In tourist areas, ticket booths are almost everywhere, and
English is quite understandable here. Those who use buses need to know
how to get on the bus. This is also true for cab drivers; there is no
need to call out your name or globally known keywords such as "airport"
or "train station. Street vendors in tourist areas usually speak English
to the extent that they can negotiate prices. Most English is perfect
for traffickers trying to get tourists into overpriced bars (see
security).
It is definitely worth taking important words in
Chinese characters or having your hotel or tour guide write them down
for you, for example. However, there is no guarantee that if you show
them the sign at the bus terminal, they will also tell you how to get
there. Nevertheless, China is a country that is undergoing a great deal
of change, and it is possible that in a few years it will be much
easier. There is a clear westernization throughout China.
There
is one advantage for Western travelers. Arabic numerals are the only
numerals in use in China today. Chinese numerals have their own numbers,
but because of the complexity of the system, they are only used in
bookkeeping. Otherwise, all numbers such as B, for example, would be
displayed in the numbers we know, 0 through 9.
In China, the
standard greeting that can be used at any time of the day or night is ni
hao, which is the German equivalent of guten tark, literally meaning
"how are you?" However, since niau means urine, it should be pronounced
separately from ni hao. When ordering food at a restaurant, it is a good
idea to take note of the Chinese characters for various foods and
animals and their meanings. For example, meat, soup, water, cola, or
animals such as duck, pig, cow, etc. It is easy to make a letter that
means pork from the two letters pig and meat.
In modern times, it
is also recommended to use applications such as Pleco, a partly free
software program.
China's currency is the renminbi (RMB), usually abbreviated as
renminbi (RMB in meters) or colloquially as kuai. All three names mean
the same thing. The next smallest unit is the kuan (角); 10 kuan is
equivalent to 1 RMB. 1 jiao is worth 10 fen, the next smaller unit, but
there are no coins or bills.
Currently, 1 euro = approximately
7.34 yen. In Europe, the exchange rate for cash is very poor. You should
carry only the minimum amount of cash and only have it with you in case
of an absolute emergency. With a credit card, this emergency money is
almost never needed. Many hotels will exchange money at the official
rate without problems; withdrawals with EC cards will incur an
additional fee. Imports into China can be up to RMB 20,000, but given
the poor exchange rate, this would be pointless for the average
traveler.
Credit card exchange rates in Germany are sometimes
worse than those at exchange offices or hotels. This area varies greatly
from region to region and location to location in China, so information
should be obtained in advance.
If you are staying in China for a
long period of time, you may want to ask your Chinese friends to teach
you how to pay by scanning QR codes with a payment app like B.Wechat
(like Whatsapp, but with payment functions, etc.). This payment method
is very popular in China.
Groceries are considerably cheaper than
in Europe. A beverage bottle such as a cola (0.5 liter) costs about 3
yuan, and even large attractions cost less than 5 yen. A can of cola
(0.33L) is often available for 1 yen at restaurants in Xiamen. Water is
even cheaper. A pastry from a bakery costs a few yuan, and for a few
euros you can feed your whole family at a bakery. Small food markets are
everywhere, and prices are low here as well.
Basically, China is
a country where prices vary widely, sometimes unbelievably. Especially
in the big shopping streets of Beijing and Shanghai, the price level is
breathtaking. You can get just about anything here. The goods there are
likely to be authentic. As city dwellers become more affluent, it is
important for the Chinese to be seen to have authentic brand-name goods.
Buying fake goods is now considered embarrassing to many Chinese. One
should also be wary of insect markets and other places that sell exotic
foods. Prices are often displayed at the top of the stand, and they are
often disproportionately high. So you should either check the price or
ask before you buy.
In China, prices can be surprisingly high,
especially for electrical appliances. The following items should be
bought with caution, as they are rarely cheap or of poor quality:
Printer accessories, ink cartridges, etc.
Computer-related products
DVD players, televisions
Photographic equipment can be dramatically
more expensive (2-3 times more).
Some of the following items can
be purchased more cheaply
DVDs and VideoCDs can be purchased at
legitimate stores for as little as 7 yuan per disc. If you are buying in
large quantities, ask for a discount.
Books, here there are discounts
of up to 80% of the German price. English literature can be found in
larger bookstores.
Clothing (clothing, if branded, can be more
expensive than here, but still does not protect the buyer from fakes.
Also, the Chinese market still specializes in small sizes, and 3XL or
shoes size 47 are hard to find).
Caution There are numerous
illegal copies of all kinds of brand-name products in circulation. To
avoid prosecution in Germany, one should be especially careful with
electronic media. In a typical tourist market, nothing is guaranteed to
be authentic. The Chinese themselves do not shop there. However, they
can receive services there, such as calligraphy, or have personalized
souvenirs made.
Bars in hotels and on cruise ships can be as
expensive as in Europe or even more. A cup of coffee can be 5 euros.
European tourism companies often have local partners arrange trips.
It is common in China for package tourists to be forcibly dragged to
sales events. Tour guides must obtain proof that they took the group
there. One major package tour operator once clearly stated in its
catalog, "No more than one group per day. Sometimes you can definitely
learn something in a real company, and sometimes, for show, you are
introduced only to pseudo-workers who work for a few seconds out of
sight of the tourists. These stores are very expensive and one can spend
thousands of euros. The only reason to buy there is that if the goods
are counterfeit, the tour operator guarantees to refund the money.
Chinese sellers are very aggressive. Salespeople, even obvious
employees, will go after tourists and it is difficult to fend them off.
Chinese tea
Pasta
Calligraphy
Stamps written in Chinese or
Latin characters, e.g. B. with your name or the name of a loved one.
Best to buy at the Great Wall of China in Badaling.
Silk
Qingdao
Beer Named after the brewery once founded by German settlers as Germania
Brewery.
In China, it is important to negotiate prices before buying. Point to the item you want and take it. Then, either negotiate the price verbally if you speak Chinese or ask the seller to show you the selling price on his/her cell phone or seller's calculator and enter the price you are willing to pay in yuan on your cell phone. It is possible to get at least half of the original price. If you negotiate hard enough, you can get a discount of 90% or more. At ordinary food supermarkets, set restaurants, and public facilities such as train stations, it is not customary to negotiate.
Food is central to Chinese culture, and food is very important to the
Chinese. It is not for nothing that they prefer to say "Qi Fan Le Ma"
(Have you eaten yet?) instead of "Ni Hao" as a greeting. In recent
years, however, the Chinese have moved considerably away from the topic
of their favorite food. The numerous food scandals that have claimed
lives have left too deep a scar. The government's greed for profit has
also made many food producers lose their inhibitions and prudence.
The food served in China is very different from the Chinese food
served in street corner Chinese restaurants in Germany. In China, the
food is also much hotter. The Chinese eat hot food three times a day. So
a Chinese hotel breakfast means fried noodles, egg rice, soup, etc. At
breakfast in Chinese hotels, you can also have warm or hot orange juice.
Warm or hot water is also very common. Chinese people also prefer to
drink beer that is not chilled, because they believe it is good for the
stomach and therefore good for one's health.
Basically everything
in a Chinese kitchen is recycled. They eat pig snouts, chicken feet, and
even scorpions. However, they do not have pets. Cats are not allowed at
all, and only specially bred meat dogs are allowed. Many Chinese,
however, will not eat dogs, scorpions, or other exotic foods for the
rest of their lives. Package travelers need not fear that such strange
foods will be pushed under the crumbs. The food served as the average
tourist basically corresponds to what is known in Chinese restaurants.
For image reasons, the Chinese government wants to drastically limit the
consumption of animals that are considered pets in other countries. The
majority of Chinese eat pork, beef, poultry, and seafood. Seafood is
especially common in coastal towns. The region has a special local
cuisine, with a wide variety of very tasty dishes. Still, if you want to
eat exotic dishes such as dog or snake, you have to look for something
special. Of course, my Chinese friends are very helpful in finding such
restaurants, and they often consider what Westerners might want to eat.
The prices of these exotic dishes are often particularly high.
Contrary to popular belief in the West, rice is rarely used in many
dishes. It is served only if you are not full. It is often ordered
separately. Rice is completely unnecessary because of the wide
assortment of dishes that are often eaten at the same time as others at
round turntables. These round revolving tables are usually found in
upscale restaurants and are usually only used to seat large groups of
diners.
There are many food stalls in China. What I often hear
from people who have lived in China for a long time is that if you know
the right food stalls, they can be a good source of supply. The turnover
rate is very high, so nothing goes out of date there. They are not
suitable for short-term travelers, because they quickly get diarrhea
from the unfamiliar food. As anywhere in the world, it is important to
make sure that the food here is fresh and well prepared. Food stalls
often sell vegetables and especially tasty fruits at reasonable prices.
Here you need to make sure they are fresh, peeled and cut right in front
of you. In Xiamen, a whole mango, freshly peeled and cut, costs about
12-15 yen (depending on the size of the mango) (as of January 2017)
Unpeeled and uncut mangoes are of course cheaper. Of course, mangoes,
dragon fruit, and other region-generated fruits taste much better
because they are not harvested unripe and transported for long periods
of time.
Chinese food is much fresher, especially compared to
Germany. This is true, for example, in restaurants with aquariums, where
you can still choose live fish or lobster. These ingredients are killed
in the kitchen, cooked, and served completely fresh. Flavor enhancers
and other additives are often used, depending on the restaurant's price
point. People with allergies should check to see if there are any items
to which they are allergic. For example, nuts.
For the intrepid
tourist, I recommend going to a restaurant and ordering whatever is on
the menu. Most of the time, you will find that you will eat some great
tasting food that you never thought you would eat. Of course, you can
also use your vocabulary to limit the dishes to, for example, B. soup
with pork or soup with noodles.
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants
are quite rare. But even here the demand from locals as well as tourists
is increasing, and the dishes offered are constantly expanding.
Especially in the larger cities.
Peking duck (Chinese: 北京烤鴨/北京烤鸭,
běijīng kǎoyā) is one of the most famous dishes in Chinese cuisine and
is served mainly in specialty restaurants. The duck is presented to the
customer, the skin is cut into diamond-shaped pieces, the fat is trimmed
off, and the rolled pancake is served with sauce and green onions as an
appetizer. The meat is then cut into bite-sized slices and served as a
main dish with various side dishes.
Dim sum (Chinese: 點心 / 点心) are
small filling dumplings usually served steamed or fried in a bamboo
basket. We also call this dough Dampfnudel. There are countless
variations, especially in southern and eastern China. One thing to keep
in mind when eating them is that the filling is very hot. This filling,
if any, can be hearty or sweet, such as b. minced meat or date palm
sauce. Beans and fibrous dried pork (which looks like cotton wool) are
also popular. In fact, one should be surprised.
Bibliography
Françoise Hauser: China en Wok. in: In Asia, Vol. 6 (November/December)
(2007). - Culinary trips to China.
In this section you will find special restaurants, bakeries and other
grocery stores.
Xiamen, Fujian Province
Kempinski Hotel Xiamen
Paulaner Brauhaus, No. 98 Hubinzhong Road, Siming District, Xiamen,
Fujian.Tel: +86 (0) 592 235-1613, Fax: +86 (0) 592 235-1999, Email:
paulaner.xiamen@kempinski.com. Xiamen. Large German restaurant on the
ground floor of the Kempinski Hotel Siamen. It has German beer, German
sausages and other German specialties.In 2016/2017 there was a German
chef. The restaurant was also known as a monthly gathering place for
Germans, Austrians, and Swiss (as of February 2017). I do not personally
know if this is still the case today or if there is a German chef. The
music is quite good. Prices are quite high compared to Chinese
restaurants, in the mid to high price range. You have to be prepared to
pay around 230-250 yen, not 15-25 yen like in cheaper and tasty Chinese
restaurants. Unfortunately, like many Western restaurants, this
restaurant has a bad habit of adding a flat 10-20% tip to the bill (as
of February 2017). The quality of the food is very close to German
sausages, and the dishes (made according to German recipes) ranged from
good to very good. Open Sun-Sat 5:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m.; payment methods
UnionPay, VISA, Master, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, cash, WeChat
pay, Ali pay.
Changsha, Hunan Province
Bach's Bakery, Xiang
Chun Xiang #8, Kai Fu Qu, Changsha, Hunan, China (address is in an
alley, not a street, so hard to find) Phone: +86 731 8862 6264; the
German bakery (the Chinese name for "Bach" is "Ba He") is especially
looking for hearing impaired people. Based in Changsha, Hunan Province,
the bakery has been run by German Uwe Blützer (Chinese name: Wu
Zhenrong) and his wife Dorothee Blützer (Chinese name: Du Xuehui) since
2011. Hours of operation: Monday-Saturday 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m., closed
Sundays.
West Lake Chamber, Jin Ma Food City, Hongshan Tourism
District, Changsha City (Chinese: 长沙市开福区马栏山西湖楼酒家). Located in Changsha,
the capital of central China's Hunan Province, the 4,000-seat restaurant
is one of the world's largest restaurants, and after being listed in the
Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest Chinese restaurant, it
is now considered the largest restaurant in Asia. The 4,000-seat
restaurant is regarded as the largest restaurant in Asia. In early 2003,
construction began on a catering facility of unprecedented scale in the
Kaifu district of Changsha City. The restaurant complex covers an area
of 88 mu (about 5.8 hectares) in the developing Jinma Restaurant City, a
20-minute drive from Huanghe International Airport. Across the street is
Changsha's largest park, Yuehu Park. Numerous buildings and parks are
constructed in a traditional architectural style. There are four
distinct areas throughout the complex. Area A contains 70 large and
small rooms, including a performance hall where daily performances are
held. Area B has 10 luxurious private rooms in the style of the Imperial
Palace. Area C has nine luxurious Cantonese-style booths, and Area D is
a snack street. Traditional Chinese cuisine, both Hunan and Cantonese,
takes precedence and is prepared in five large kitchens; 1,000 people,
including 300 chefs, work here. Approximately 700 chickens and 2,600
pounds of pork are processed each week. There is a large parking lot in
front of the restaurant for buses and cars. In October 2004, the
Guinness World Records Center Shanghai declared Xihu Lou the largest
restaurant in China. In May 2006, the restaurant received the "First
Five-Star Tourism Restaurant" award from the Changsha Tourism Bureau.
Features Hunan cuisine.
In fact, even the biggest nightlife areas in Shanghai and other major
cities are almost always "dead" by around 11 pm. In most major cities
such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Qingdao, the nightlife takes place only
in a small part of the city. It is mostly in the "entertainment
districts" that bars stay open after midnight. Chinese are not familiar
with nightlife, and in some cities there is no public transportation at
night, so they have to rely on cabs. Bar prices range from 1 euro for a
beer to over 10 euros, with all sorts of variations. Don't be afraid to
go to bars with locals. An interesting discussion may ensue.
China is probably one of the few countries where you can get into the
city's top clubs for free. Tables at such clubs usually cost 1,000 to
2,000 euros a night. They also often offer free drinks (whiskey, beer,
vodka, rum, cola, etc.) and snacks (nuts, watermelon, etc.) Just contact
the club manager or customer advisor on Wechat to let them know when and
how many people are coming. You can get contact information from Germans
and other international students in China. There is no such thing as
dead nightlife at all. It is common among international students to
party until 5 am. In the past (before 2012), international students were
paid for their parties (about 80 euros per night). This was and still
is, of course, illegal, as student visas do not allow work and risk
deportation. Behind this perhaps unique rule is the fact that
international students are attracted to the predominantly "white"
Chinese tourists in their respective nightclubs. The Chinese often
invite them to come to their tables, even inviting them for drinks and
food. The "whites" are considered a status symbol. This rarely happens,
however, and one should be careful not to be responsible for some of the
costs later on. For travelers who like to party and stay in China for
long periods of time, we recommend visiting local universities and
asking international students for the Wechat contact information for the
managers of their respective clubs. Especially at the end of the
semester, international students will often tell you which clubs are the
best and what music is playing. Note that there are no such liberal
regulations in place regarding bars.
Note to those who are not
fond of alcohol: Chinese people like to drink to get "yuan" and such
"competition" does not harm the average European male. Their favorite
beer is usually Qingdao (Tsingtao). This "yuan" drinking is introduced
by the German word gānbēi, meaning "toast"; gānbēi does not necessarily
mean to drink "yuan," but to drink "yuan" (yuan).
Peking Opera is
a representation of famous Chinese fairy tales and myths. Peking Opera
performances are highly stylized and require specialized knowledge to
understand them all. Peking Opera has suffered from a decline in Chinese
youth audiences over the past few years.
Accommodations are offered in every possible category and price
range. Price level is also a good indicator of quality level, since the
Chinese prefer to make reservations through Internet portals, where they
also rate hotels. Hotel prices are higher in large cities than in small
towns. In low season, hotel prices are much lower than in high season.
As a general rule, a license is required for hotels to accommodate
foreigners. This rule is not always strictly observed. Those who have
the opportunity to visit non-tourist countries will stay in hostels that
do not have such a license. In places where the situation is tense (e.g.
Xinjiang), this is not possible.
Four- and five-star hotels in
China, especially in large cities, have performance and price levels
that can be compared to European luxury hotels. If you don't need
luxury, you can find a number of chain hotels in China that offer
cleanliness and moderate comfort for around 300 yuan (about 39 euros -
as of March 31, 2020) or less on booking sites such as Booking.com . You
can find a good room with breakfast included. If breakfast is sparsely
laid out and you don't like it, I suggest booking a room without
breakfast and going to a nearby restaurant. That is, of course, if they
are available.
Chinese cities are large, so it makes sense to
choose accommodations that are convenient to tourist attractions and
transportation. For example, 5-star hotels in industrial parks often
have very low weekend rates, but are far from tourist attractions and
difficult to reach without a cab. With cab fares so low, it is no
problem to find a restaurant located a short distance away. The only
important thing to remember is to take down the names and addresses in
Chinese characters to and from hotels and hostels (if you do not speak
Chinese), and always use a legitimate cab (their cabs also have a cab
meter). As a general rule, it is advisable to make reservations through
a reliable reservation portal. If you go to a hotel without a
reservation, ignore the posted room rates and ask for a discounted price
in Chinese.
Generally, hotel room charges are paid at check-in.
Most hotels also require a deposit, which is paid by credit card or
cash. Check-in is usually a lengthy process, as police registration must
also be done at the same time. Rooms have complimentary bottled drinking
water and items that are charged for when used. Sometimes these items
have upscale prices. Disposable toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other
hygiene items of questionable quality are usually provided in the
bathroom, and there are breathing masks in the closet in case of fire.
Mattresses in China are usually much firmer than in Central Europe.
Chinese hotels usually do not have non-smoking rooms, so the rooms smell
more or less like cigarettes. If the smell is too strong or there are
other problems, it is common practice to walk at the front desk and ask
for another room.
When checking out, the front desk staff usually
calls a maid, who checks the room for consumption of paid items or
theft. Only then is the deposit returned. This extra time should
definitely be planned for. If you are lucky, you may get the items left
in your room returned immediately.
China is safe. There is crime, and as a tourist, it is a favorite
place to go, as it is in almost any other country in the world.
Therefore, wallets and valuables should be protected at all times and
hotel safes should be used. Crime rates are generally low, but in some
cities it is not advisable to visit at night.
Cash is preferred,
but avoid carrying large amounts of cash: RMB 1,000-1,500 is the
maximum, unless you are paying at a hotel, etc. ECards and credit cards
work fine at most automated teller machines (ATMs). DANGER Some credit
cards require activation to be used abroad.
Police are
omnipresent in urban areas, but as anywhere else in the world, crime
there is high, so it is best not to enter excessively dark alleys and
entertainment districts. By the way, not everyone who looks like that is
a cop. Most of the men in uniform belong to private security services,
even public ones. That does not stop these private security services
from doing a military-style goose chase that most armies in the world
cannot do.
Above all, the trick with the knockout drop is
repeatedly reported in the press. The supposedly nice companion you meet
at a disco or hotel bar will mix a knockout drop in your drink when you
go to the bathroom. This can still happen at the disco or hotel bar, but
usually only in the hotel room. If you return to your hotel after 1-2
days you will find that you have been robbed and your credit cards
stolen. I recommend never going on a "tour" here alone.
The same
goes for nighttime walks in the pub district. Usually, there are still a
few empty corners between the pub tour bases. Usually two people will
approach you, one with a knife or pistol out, the other will take your
wallet and leave. At this point, it is very helpful to have another
person with you. If you find yourself in this situation, you should not
play the hero; you should give them money. There is only a slight
difference between armed robbery and murder under China's criminal law.
However, the following smuggler's modus operandi is much more common
than the knockout-drop scam: You are approached by a young man or woman
who speaks English, or even German, fluently and engage in lively
conversation for a few minutes. They then suggest a change of location
to a nearby bar or tea room. The bill can reach four figures in euros.
Chatting is safe, but never make a phone call. As a tourist, it is
almost impossible to escape this scam, especially in Beijing.
Be
wary of street vendors as well. First, talk of bargaining and brief
rejection is often used by pickpockets. Second, merchants, especially in
Beijing, know that they are mostly dealing with newcomers to China. The
vendors assume that tourists are unfamiliar with money, so they often
give them counterfeit bills as change.
Criticism of the
government can also be a problem. In particular, the Tiananmen Square
incident is considered taboo in the local community. The Chinese
leadership is not stupid and knows that the Chinese are talking about
it. But they would not want to hear about it, at least not in the square
itself. In one case, a tour guide in Tiananmen Square spoke to a group
of visitors about the student uprising in a foreign language, and the
plainclothes secret police understood the language. The tour guide was
immediately arrested and the tour group was left without a guide.
Road traffic is a very serious source of danger. Traffic rules are
almost completely ignored. Here one can see the sudden affluence of
China. As yet, riding bicycles and mopeds like pigs in a china shop had
no significant impact, but as cars became more popular, they led to a
dramatic number of accidents that killed many within a few years. Even
though only one in ten Chinese owns a car, official figures show that
about 100,000 people have lost their lives on the roads. But if you have
ever experienced Chinese traffic jams, you will be more surprised. The
Chinese take grotesque risks, but they are not aggressive. The Chinese
take grotesque risks, but they are not aggressive. Other road users are
not insulting enemies and think it will be okay. It is almost
"harmonious chaos." On the Autobahn, cars are repeatedly passed and
overtaken at speeds of 80 to 100 kilometers per hour, one meter apart on
either side. On country roads, they share lanes with everything with
wheels and feet. Horns are sounded regularly, preventing many accidents.
The horn should make the other party aware that you are behind them. The
law of the strong and the great applies, which dictates who should
retreat and give way. Roughly speaking, the order is trucks, buses, cars
(sometimes cabs have priority), motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, and
pedestrians.
As in Vietnam, when crossing the road, cross at
traffic signals or zebra-zone crosswalks whenever possible. Do not rely
on zebra zone crosswalks under any circumstances. Few people stop at
crosswalks because of pedestrians. Cabs also often ignore red lights,
and always do so when making a right turn. No driver obeys traffic rules
just because there are pedestrians. If you think nothing of it, you will
have your first accident at the arrival airport. Before crossing the
crosswalk, make sure your car is still far enough away from the zebra
zone crosswalk to avoid hitting a car directly. After that, walk at a
fast but steady pace so as to be predictable to drivers. Avoid fast
walking unless necessary. Observe the speed and distance of the car from
the edge of your line of sight. Avoid looking directly at the driver.
This is usually interpreted as the pedestrian paying attention and the
driver not needing to pay attention. On the other hand, if the driver
does not look directly at the pedestrian, the driver is usually careful
not to hit the pedestrian.
Traveling to China can be stressful for one's health. The long
journey, the time change, the sudden change in rhythm of life, the air
pollution, and last but not least, the Chinese food, cause many
travelers to become ill along the way. Diarrhea, vomiting, and coughing
are especially common. For this reason, we recommend that you consult
your physician before traveling and have a small first aid kit ready.
Medicines are available in China, but not in the brands and compositions
known in Europe. Those who need to take medicines on a regular basis
should bring sufficient quantities with them. They should also consult
their physician regarding vaccinations. Most doctors recommend getting
at least a hepatitis vaccination. Also inquire about vaccinations
required by the Chinese government.
While there, you must follow
certain rules to maintain your health. These include not drinking tap
water, not eating dodgy street food, eating lots of rice, and avoiding
oily or spicy food at the beginning of your trip. As for tap water, do
not rely on boiling it in the kettle provided by the hotel. Although it
kills bacteria, some water is contaminated with oil and other substances
that cannot be removed by this method. So, these substances are not
always visible. However, water bottles are very inexpensive and are a
good choice for making tea. As for water bottles, one should make sure
that they are sealed in their original state. Bottled water is also
recommended for brushing teeth. Food should be well cooked and hot, and
fruits should be peeled. Meat should be avoided on the street and in
small, unrefrigerated snacks. Fish should absolutely be eaten only
fresh. Special attention should be paid to hygiene. Of course,
unprotected sexual contact should be avoided.
If you become ill
in China and need medical care, it is best to be referred to an English
(or German) speaking doctor. There are international hospitals in large
cities that cater to foreign patients. The Chinese health care system is
efficient outside the big cities, but you will probably need to take an
interpreter with you. Few doctors in China have private practices like
those in Central Europe, so you will have to go to a hospital or clinic
even for outpatient care. In any case, a fee must be paid at
registration, and the cost of treatment and medication is also paid on
the spot. There is little consideration for privacy, and several
patients may be in the examination room at the same time. Those treated
as inpatients usually come to a room with multiple beds where other
patients and their relatives are located. As a foreigner, you will feel
some stares. In China, intravenous infusions are common, oral
medications are rarely prescribed, and a combination of herbal and
Western medicines are used. Large halls are set up for IVs, nurses tend
to patients, and TVs blare everywhere.
Many Chinese have a
certain distrust of the health care system. They suspect that doctors
prescribe treatments and drugs that are more expensive than necessary,
prescribe hospital stays that are too long, and generally only care
about making money for themselves. There is also a fear of counterfeit
medicines. For more information, see "Practical Information" in the
chapter on Tropical Diseases and Health Travel.
Toilets in China
are unfamiliar to many Western visitors. For more information and tips,
see Toilets in China.
According to the World Bank, 16 of the 20
most polluted cities in the world are in China. Smog is also expected to
occur. Especially in susceptible cities like Beijing, and even more so
in winter. The English Wikipedia article on smog in China gives a good
overview of the problem and the cities affected. Therefore, it is
recommended to buy a mask certified FFP2 or FFP3 in Germany. For
long-term stays, air filters for one's own apartment are also worth
using. The Chinese government publishes exposure values via apps and the
Internet. These values are not always correct. In some cities, such as
Beijing, measurements from the U.S. embassy or consulate can be used as
a reference. Xiamen, for example, is a city with very clean air and
roads, and at the same time very green.
China is a paradise for smokers. Most Chinese men and, increasingly,
a minority of Chinese women smoke. Cigarettes are cheap, even Western
brands are inexpensive. With few exceptions, smoking is ubiquitous, and
no-smoking signs are largely ignored. The government's half-hearted
efforts to reduce tobacco abuse among the population seem to have little
effect.
On airplanes, high-speed trains, and better yet, in
hospitals, smoking is truly taboo. Staff members are strictly prohibited
from smoking. In air-conditioned trains, buses, cabs, elevators, and
other enclosed spaces, smoking is not permitted but is tolerated by the
staff. If a foreigner asks a Chinese smoker to stop smoking in these
places, he or she can expect support from the non-smoking Chinese.
Smoking is the norm in restaurants, nightlife, hotel rooms, etc.,
and as a foreigner, there is probably nothing you can do about it.
However, there are many non-smoking restaurants. Many hotels offer
non-smoking rooms.
The central region around Shanghai and Nanjing has about the same
climate as southern Spain and Cyprus, with temperatures around 0°C and
very little snow.
The further north you go, the colder the
climate becomes. Beijing's climate is probably comparable to that of
Poland, with really cold weather for 3-4 months, but still warm in
summer. On the other hand, in the more inland regions of Outer Mongolia,
the winters can get down to minus 30 degrees Celsius, but the summers
are quite pleasant.
If you prefer a warmer climate, but not hot,
we generally recommend the following climates
Winter: Winter:
Southern China, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Late fall to
early spring: Southern China, up to Shanghai, weather permitting.
Autumn to Spring: Central China, up to and including Shanghai and
Nanjing.
Early fall/late spring: Beijing, Inner Mongolia, south to
Shanghai, weather permitting.
Summer: warm with temperatures above
40°C in the northern regions and throughout China.
Xiamen is
especially worth visiting in summer and autumn. Autumn
(September-October) is particularly suitable. Roughly from May to
October. In the background, temperatures can drop sensitively to around
13-17°C from November to April. heavy rains can occur from February to
April. Summers are quite hot (over 30°C) and humid, while temperatures
in September and October are very pleasant, ranging from 23°C to 28°C.
There is often a pleasant breeze. Xiamen has very clean air, lots of
greenery, and many beaches.
If someone has made a mistake, you can blame that person, but it must
be done politely and always with a solution that is acceptable to both
parties. Also, one should not criticize the Chinese interlocutor
directly, but through flowers if possible. Also, this criticism should
be done only in one-on-one conversations and not in front of others.
While sniffing in public is perfectly normal in Germany, it should
not be done in China. If you must blow your nose, you should take a
handkerchief and look away from the other person or table. In tourist
areas, it is more tolerated, but at least you should throw your
handkerchief away without putting it in your pocket.
The Chinese,
on the other hand, spit on the floor with the utmost glee and volume on
the street or right outside the store or office where they work. This
spitting on the ground persists even though it is not popular among the
Chinese.
Burping is also considered completely normal. In
restaurants, especially for non-Chinese food, it is common for the food
you order not to be served. Ask if the waiter speaks English or if you
speak Mandarin. Naked criticism is not appropriate.
Children
China is a very child-friendly country. If you travel with children, you
will find that the Chinese are more sociable than you might expect.
Children are considered status symbols, and blonde children attract a
lot of attention in tourist areas. Photographs with Europeans are very
popular with Chinese from the western provinces. Everyone wants to touch
the beautiful blonde hair, and they are eager to explain that your child
is beautiful. Of course, all this is done with the consent of the
parents and always with the utmost respect. In any case, there is no
sense that you are being made a spectacle; on the contrary, it is as if
everyone wants nothing more than to get to know you. The children
themselves cope with the clamor surprisingly well.
Nudity in
public is frowned upon. Even going topless on the beach is not
appropriate.
After several wars between China and Japan and a
very brutal Japanese occupation of China, historical relations are
strained to this day. This should be taken into account in the
discussion. In any case, the Chinese are of the opinion that the
Japanese copied their culture from the Chinese.
Tipping was
completely unknown until a few years ago. Thanks to foreign tourists,
the Chinese in commercial establishments and tourist attractions now
know what tipping is and accept it even if they do not expect it. In
rural areas, tipping should still be saved today, and it can definitely
be taken as an insult. Especially in large hotels and restaurants in
Europe and the United States, a tip of 10% to 20% of the price is
uniformly calculated. Unfortunately, this bad practice is becoming more
and more common.
It is helpful to speak even a smattering of Mandarin Chinese,
especially if you are planning an extended trip to the western
provinces. In the north, Russian (the official first foreign language in
schools) is helpful, and in the south, French can also be a point of
reference.
Internet is available free of charge in any hotel,
either by cable or wireless LAN. Connections are fairly fast, at least
the first time you access it. However, once you try to open a
system-critical page, the network becomes unbearably slow; ARD and ZDF
online are partially blocked, but most newspaper portals are accessible.
Google and Facebook do not work at all. Wikivoyage is not a problem. In
particular, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, search engines
and porn sites are blocked. To get around this, a paid VPN is
recommended. Free VPNs should be avoided for a variety of reasons.
However, China's Internet restrictions are becoming increasingly strict,
and VPN providers are also partially or completely blocked. Of course,
you will need to check before you leave in order to take advantage of
any promotions.
If you do not bring your own laptop. Mid-range
and higher hotels usually have so-called business centers, where
Internet PCs are also available. However, they are expensive (usually 1
RMB per minute) and the connection is slow. It is not suitable for more
than short emails. On the other hand, if you want to bring your own
device and type Chinese characters, you can install a free program
(so-called IME), which is often available on the Internet or in the OS.
The keyboard still has the QWERTY sequence of Latin characters.
However, when you open the program's interface, everything will be in
Chinese. Of course, if you type in the desired website in the address
line, it will appear in the desired language. The problem arises when
the computer reports a question, which is then only in Chinese, and the
Y and N characters only indicate that it is a yes/no question. This is
often used to verify that a password has been saved. If you want to
delete your password or browser history at the end of a session, you
must operate the Chinese menu. For security reasons, e-mails should be
redirected to an e-mail account specifically set up for the trip so that
they can be deleted after the trip. In addition, online banking at
hotels and Internet cafes should be avoided at all costs. Not least
because of the prevalence of the old Internet Explorer 6.
Incidentally, when the Chinese themselves use Latin characters to
pronounce Chinese characters on their computers and cell phones, a list
of candidate Chinese characters is displayed as they type. This sounds
tedious, but since the Chinese language is practiced and whole syllables
or words can be selected directly, this allows them to write much
faster.
As already mentioned for areas such as food and
transportation, I would recommend using various apps such as Pleco
(Pleco Software), Taxisapps, Wechat, etc. There are also many great map
apps that can be used in offline mode.
Cell Phones: It used to be
impossible to use your own cell phone in China because China uses its
own cell phone standards that are incompatible with Western cell phones.
This has improved as models from Chinese manufacturers are now available
in Europe and these phones can be used in China. However, models from
Western manufacturers still cannot be used in China (exception: iPhone).
Purchasing a SIM card in China, even if it is possible without problems,
should be discouraged, as it would mean "enjoying" Chinese censorship.
If you surf the Internet only by roaming via a provider in your own
country, there is no problem.
Postage for a postcard to Europe is
RMB 4.50. Postcards are best given at the hotel, but a fee of several
yuan may be added. Mailing time to Europe is about one week.
China has a number of television stations, most of which are broadcast
by the state-run CCTV; CCTV News, also known as CCTV 9, is broadcast in
English and provides minimal information on world events. On non-Chinese
issues, the information can be informative but otherwise one-sided.
German soccer results are also reported there, and sometimes matches are
broadcast live on other channels, but in those cases it is at night due
to the time difference. Depending on the hotel, there are also BBC and
CNN news channels, and occasionally Deutsche Welle TV. Chinese TV
stations are mostly military and historical films. Sometimes there are
German TV series, but of course they are dubbed by Chinese state TV.
China is one of the oldest civilizations and advanced cultures of
humanity. The Han Chinese have established themselves as the bearers of
this culture and the dominant ethnic group in the history of China
(Chinese 中國歷史 / 中国历史, Pinyin Zhōngguó Lìshǐ).
Written records of
Chinese culture go back over 3000 years. In myth, it originally goes
back to the three original emperors: Fu Xi, Shennong and finally the
Yellow Emperor Huangdi as the actual creator of culture - they were
preceded by 16 earthly and a number of so-called heavenly emperors.
However, there is no historical evidence for the existence of these
personalities; according to tradition, they are said to have lived 5000
to 6000 years ago.
Early Paleolithic finds prove that the hominid species Homo erectus
was native to the area of present-day China at least 500,000 to
600,000 years ago. This is proven by two skulls and various stone tools
of the Yuanmou people that were found in Yunnan province. They were
dated to be between 500,000 and 1.7 million years old; this long time
span is due to the fact that the exact location of the fossils was no
longer known at the time of dating. The productive site in the "Dragon
Bone Hill" of Zhoukoudian near Beijing proves that the Peking people
lived there around 400,000 years ago; they are also attributed to Homo
erectus. However, the oldest evidence of the presence of early relatives
of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) are 2.1 million year old
stone tools that were discovered in the Shangchen site in Lantian County
(Shaanxi Province), but which could not be assigned to a specific
species of hominin due to the lack of fossils. According to the dating,
the Shangchen finds are significantly older than the earliest fossils of
Homo erectus / Homo ergaster in Africa - at 1.9 million years old.
According to the Tianyuan 1 fossil, anatomically modern humans have
lived in China for at least 40,000 years.
After the last ice age,
the sea level rose, causing the coastline to shift inland. At that time,
the region of today's Beijing lay on the bottom of a sea, and the plains
along today's coasts consisted of large swamplands.
In the
Neolithic period, there were numerous complex, regionally different
cultures in China, which can be identified primarily by their
cord-patterned pottery. These are documented for what is now Hubei
10,000 years ago, and for what is now Fujian 8,000 years ago. The first
agriculture was probably practiced south of the Yellow River 8,000 years
ago. The first dwellings with a storage economy are documented for the
same period. Agriculture may also have begun in southern China at around
the same time. Finally, in northern China there are numerous sites where
the existence of wooden dwellings, the keeping of domestic animals and
the storage of supplies is documented for 7,000 years ago, while the
people of southern China still lived in caves. Excavations have also
uncovered numerous utensils made of stone and bone.
It is
documented that millet began to be cultivated in northern China 8,000
years ago. This was harvested with stone sickles and stored in pottery
bowls or tripod containers. The most important of these for the Chinese
is the Yangshao culture, which includes the well-researched Banpo
settlement, and the Longshan culture and the Majiayao culture are also
important. The cultures of northern China have certain similarities with
one another.
The cultures of southern China have a different
character to those of northern China. Instead of millet, the people of
southern China domesticated rice; the oldest evidence of wet rice
cultivation comes from Hemudu and is 7,000 years old. There are finds of
rice that are significantly older at 11,500 years, but it is uncertain
whether this was gathered or planted rice.
5,000 years ago the
climate cooled and tribes from the north slowly migrated south. During
this time the transition from life as hunters and gatherers to a
sedentary lifestyle took place. Overall, numerous Neolithic cultures are
documented in the area of present-day China for the fifth to second
millennium BC.
These early Chinese cultures had all already
reached a high level of technology. They produced fine ceramics and
lacquer bowls, kept domestic animals and mastered numerous tools. The
oldest traces of textile production are 6,000 years old. The oldest silk
is estimated to be 5,300 years old. The oldest writing-like characters
are 7,000 years old. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, bronze
processing was introduced. The mechanisms by which these different
cultures became the core of Chinese culture are still the subject of
research. The Erlitou culture in what is now Henan, with its high level
of organization, the succession system and its trade, power and
dependency relationships, formed the basis for the following royal
dynasties.
The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, which were already referred to as
the three dynasties of ancient China in the Zhou period, probably
existed alongside each other as tribes at first and only began to gain
importance for each other through supra-regional activities.
During the period of the three dynasties, the transition to the Bronze
Age and later to the Iron Age took place. Since the Shang period, a
priestly class called Fangshi created the cultural foundation that was
later summarized into Daoism and Chinese philosophy. The two main works
of Daoism, the Daodejing (6th century BC) and the Zhuangzi (4th century
BC), were created, which, like the teachings of Taiji, were already
recognized as widespread and established teachings in their respective
times. Confucianism (founded in the 5th century BC) summarized existing
teachings and expanded them to include political dimensions and
applications. Together with Buddhism, which came later, Daoism and
Confucianism form the three teachings, which (along with the uniform
language and writing) form important cornerstones of Chinese culture and
continue to shape Chinese culture to this day.
The Xia Dynasty (ca. 2200–1600 BC), which supposedly dates back to an emperor named Yu (禹), is referred to in texts from the Zhou period as the earliest Chinese dynasty. However, there is no archaeological evidence that the dynasty or its rulers actually existed; they could also be assigned to the realm of mythology. However, the archaeological finds in Erlitou in Henan Province, especially inscriptions on ceramics and shells, which are attributed to Old Chinese, could be an indication of their real existence. In any case, the word Xia became an ethnic-cultural term for everything Chinese as early as the Zhou period.
The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1570–1066 BC) is the oldest Chinese ruling
dynasty whose existence is archaeologically proven. Its center was in
what is now northern Henan and western Shandong, and during its greatest
power it controlled an area that stretched from what is now Hebei to the
Yangtze River. The Shang capital was moved several times.
During
the Shang period, bronze processing, especially the production of ritual
vessels, experienced an early boom, but this should not obscure the fact
that the majority of the population was still living in the Stone Age.
Under the Shang, people began to practice collectively organized
agriculture and the professions of craftsmen and officials developed.
During this era, a calendar system was created, sacrificial and burial
rites were practiced, and large underground burial sites were built.
Numerous finds of written documents date from this period, particularly
manuscripts on mussel shells that could be dated using the radiocarbon
method, or on oracle bones. Even then, the script comprised several
thousand characters, some of which are still used today with the same
meaning as they were then.
A genealogy of 30 kings has been
handed down. The Shang kings had a complicated succession system and it
is likely that the kings granted fiefs to their relatives and to high
officials.
In the areas of present-day China not controlled by
the Shang Dynasty, there were other cultures that also worked with
bronze. The most famous are the Chu objects made of gold, bronze and
jade, which were found at Sanxingdui (Chengdu).
The Zhou Dynasty (周朝) (1045–221 BC) is divided into two periods: the
Western Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The latter in turn is
divided into the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Warring States Period.
While only late records exist from the first period, there are many
contemporary documents from the Eastern Zhou period. The Zhou Dynasty
was probably a union of various small tribes that formed small states
and whose head was Zhou. In the Western Zhou period, only the Zhou
rulers called themselves king (Wang 王), while the other rulers called
themselves Gong (公, usually translated as duke). It was not until the
Spring and Autumn period that the other rulers also began to call
themselves king, which is a clear indication of the loss of authority of
the Zhou rulers.
From the Zhou period onwards, it is also
possible to assign clear dates to historical events. The loss of power
of the Zhou rulers led to increasing centralization. Initially there
were around 170 small kingdoms, which were only loosely united but which
already considered themselves to be one people - especially in contrast
to the barbarians of the surrounding nomadic tribes.
Through
wars, marriage and diplomacy, the kingdoms continued to unite. At the
time of the Warring States period, only seven kingdoms still existed.
During that time, population numbers grew rapidly due to improved
agricultural cultivation methods. Weapons made of iron were used. The
Zhou period was the heyday of China's great philosophers.
In the more than 2000 years of the Chinese Empire, periods of
relative stability alternated with invasions by nomadic peoples
(especially from the northern regions) and violent upheavals between the
dynasties, which sometimes led to long-lasting divisions.
Traditional Chinese historiography places great emphasis on describing
the respective main dynasties, while the periods of division tend to be
neglected. Below is a list of all eras with a short description of each.
The detailed descriptions of the respective dynasties, periods or states
can be found in detailed articles.
The Qin Empire was one of the seven kingdoms at the end of the Zhou
Dynasty. It had an efficient administration and extremely restrictive
legislation that regulated the lives of the peasants. Through intrigue,
the merchant Lü Buwei succeeded to the throne for Prince Zhuangxiang,
who appointed Lü Buwei as chancellor.
After the prince's death,
his son Zhao Zheng became the new king. He was characterized by
particular brutality. There were several assassination attempts, but
they failed. In several campaigns, Zheng subjugated the other kingdoms
and thereby brought about the unification of the empire in 221 BC. He
had himself crowned the first emperor and called himself Qin Shihuangdi
("First God Emperor of Qin"). A series of reforms were subsequently
carried out. All of China received the efficient administrative system
of the Qin Empire. In addition, measurements and weights were
standardized. Minister Li Si standardized the writing.
To protect
against the nomadic tribes in the north and west, he had the Great Wall
of China built using forced labor by connecting the existing walls of
the seven kingdoms. The first canals for transporting goods were also
built.
In 210 BC, Emperor Qin Shihuangdi died. He was buried in a
large complex; the famous Terracotta Army is one of his grave goods (and
one so insignificant that it was not even mentioned in historical
records). His grave has not been opened to date; the explorations to
date have shown that it was allegedly not touched by grave robbers.
Shortly after his death, peasant uprisings broke out under his son,
which led to a civil war and the founding of the Han Dynasty.
In view of the desolate conditions in the country, the first Han
emperors tried to consolidate the situation through low taxes and
generous land distribution. The successful measures made the Han period
a golden age of the imperial period. In fact, the Han Dynasty was so
successful militarily and economically that the Chinese people were
henceforth referred to as Han Chinese. The annexation of the ethnic
groups in what is now southern China (conquest of Canton in 111 BC) took
place during their reign.
With the subjugation of the small
states along the Silk Road, an indirect trade relationship with the
Roman Empire was established. At the same time, Buddhism reached China
in this way. However, the Han emperors elevated Confucianism to the
state philosophy. It was to remain valid in this function for the next
two millennia. In the defensive struggle against the steppe kingdom of
the Xiongnu and other groups, the emperors used the so-called heqin
policy in addition to military actions.
The usurpation of the
imperial throne by Wang Mang from 9 to 23 AD ended the so-called Western
Han Dynasty. It was followed by the Eastern Han Dynasty, which
temporarily succeeded in restoring imperial central power.
The
rule of the last Han emperor was weakened mainly by internal power
struggles at the imperial court (the last emperors no longer exercised
any real control), the influence of wealthy landowning families in the
provinces (at the expense of the imperial central government) and
internal unrest. All of this simultaneously led to the strengthening of
regional military rulers who were no longer loyal to the emperor. The
Yellow Turban Rebellion, led by a sect of Daoism, plunged the country
into complete chaos. The last Han emperor, Han Xiandi, was only a puppet
and was forced to abdicate the throne at the end of 220. The empire
split into three separate kingdoms.
Long before the last Han emperor, Xian, was deposed, he had
degenerated into an instrument of power for ambitious warlords who held
him captive. The central power had collapsed, and the individual
territories were ruled by regional warlords who briefly formed alliances
with each other, only to fight each other again a short time later.
In 220, when the last Han emperor had to abdicate, three regional
powers had emerged from these struggles: The Wei dynasty of Cao Cao
controlled the Chinese heartland on the middle and lower reaches of the
Yellow River. Shu (founded by Liu Bei) had holed itself up in the
difficult-to-access Sichuan basin province. Finally, the Wu dynasty
under Sun Quan controlled the fertile land south of the Yangtze and was
able to maintain the river as a natural border against the strong Wei.
Thanks to the very popular novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
and countless plays (but also the historical work Chronicles of the
Three Kingdoms), many stories and heroes from this era are as well known
among the Chinese as Adam and Eve are in the western world. Some of the
heroes were even worshipped as gods or elevated to god emperors by later
emperors.
This interim period was ended by Sima Yan, a minister
of the Wei. He deposed the last Wei emperor Cao Huang, took his place
himself and thus founded the Jin dynasty. The weakness of the other two
kingdoms allowed him to reunite the country after 60 years of division
and an even longer period of unrest.
The Jin dynasty was soon shaken by internal power struggles when armed conflicts broke out among the emperor's brothers. Nomads from the north (such as the Xiongnu) were able to exploit this weakness. The capture and execution of the Jin Emperor Jin Huaidi by the Xiongnu ruler Liu Cong brought an end to the Western Jin Dynasty. A relative of the emperor fled to what is now Nanjing and founded the Eastern Jin Dynasty, while the old Chinese heartland drifted into chaos. The invading nomads were unable to establish a stable government, and the sixteen kingdoms replaced one another in rapid succession.
By the end of the Jin Dynasty, two power blocs had established
themselves: the foreign northern dynasty along the Yellow River and a
national Chinese southern dynasty along the Yangtze. Both power blocs
fought with varying intensity for the entire country, but neither bloc
was able to win.
As a result of these struggles, the power of the
military commanders steadily increased. In the south, four dynasties
replaced one another within just under 150 years. All changes followed
the same pattern: the military commander deposed the ruling emperor and
installed himself in his place. In the north, however, the Northern Wei
Dynasty was able to hold its own for a long time, but its empire
eventually split into two parts.
During this period of unrest, a
foreign religion experienced its first heyday: Buddhism spread in China.
In the north, some kingdoms even began to establish it as the state
religion. Many monasteries also date from this period.
Between 500 and 1500 AD, China was superior to the West in almost all areas. This advantage was most evident in science and technology. The Chinese made discoveries that the West did not make until centuries later. As early as the 4th century, the Chinese achieved such high temperatures in furnaces that they could produce cast iron. In the 6th century, they developed a process for producing steel that was not achieved in the West until 1846 with the Siemens-Martin process. The Chinese also invented paper production, porcelain, the magnetic compass, the printing press and gunpowder before the Europeans. The Chinese were particularly good at astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, meteorology and seismology. Their agricultural technology, which was superior to that of the Europeans (for example the development of the reversible plough with iron plough caps, or the harness and collar for using the horse as a draft animal, or the targeted, state-initiated development of crops, or the introduction of more robust and productive plants such as Champa rice from Vietnam) and the construction of canal systems enabled them to farm more efficiently and more productively than the Europeans.
The short-lived Sui Dynasty represented a unification of the country after a division of almost 300 years. However, high taxes and hard labor imposed on the peasants by the Sui Emperor quickly led to uprisings that paved the way for the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty benefited from the Sui's reforms and construction projects. The best example of this is the Grand Canal, which was started under the Sui Emperor Sui Wendi (581-604) and still connects the Yangtze Delta with northern China today.
Like the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty represents a high point of the
Chinese imperial era. The Chinatowns in American cities are called
Tang-Ren-Jie (Streets of the Tang People) in Chinese. Nevertheless, the
glorification by later historiography does not always correspond to the
historical facts - for example, the marriage of the Tang princess Wen
Cheng to the ruler of Tibet in 641 was more of an act of appeasement. In
the first 150 years of the Tang Empire, China repeatedly undertook
aggressive campaigns of conquest in Central Asia and the Korean
peninsula.
One weakness of the Tang dynasty was its internal
power struggles. The only empress in Chinese history, Empress Wu Zetian
(reigned 690-705), was able to come to power through intrigue and very
brutal methods. The rebellion of An Lushan (756-763) plunged Tang China
into chaos and weakened the dynasty permanently.
The classic
five-syllable and seven-syllable poems reached their heyday (poet Li
Bai), and trade with the West via the Silk Road also flourished.
Christianity reached China for the first time. Intensive relations were
also maintained with Japan and Korea. Zen Buddhism reached Japan by sea.
From 907 to 960, for more than half a century, the country was
politically torn. During this short period, China was a true multi-state
system, with five short-lived governments alternating in rapid
succession to control the old imperial heartland in northern China,
hence the name Wudai (Five Dynasties). During the same period, ten
relatively stable, independent states formed in parts of eastern and
southern China, which is why this period is also known as the Shiguo
(Ten Kingdoms).
Most of the major developments of this period
were already initiated in the late Tang period, and many were not
completed until the founding of the Song dynasty. For example, political
disintegration had already begun long before Zhu Wen brought the Tang
dynasty to a formal end in 907. The developments that led to
reunification, rapid economic growth and the decline of the aristocratic
families were initiated long before the first Song ruler Taizu, who
reconquered a large part of the empire, and extended well into the Song
period.
The Song Dynasty (960–1279) initially succeeded in reunifying central
and southern China after a 53-year period of internal struggles (Five
Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms), while the north of the country was first
ruled by the Qidan Liao Dynasty and then by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty. As
a lesson from the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty placed the
army under civilian command. The entire empire, which included the core
Chinese provinces, was covered with police stations and offices that
guaranteed the central power of the emperor. Paper money was issued and
maritime trade became more important. The Song Dynasty was a time of
cultural prosperity and inventions (around 1100 there were large iron
foundries that produced around 150,000 tons of iron and steel). In the
Song period, the steel industry was very important for the economy and
society. By 1078, they were producing as much steel as England did at
the beginning of industrialization in the 18th century. This was
encouraged by the state paying the inventors.
Another important
innovation in the Song Dynasty was the introduction of wet rice
cultivation and early-ripening rice varieties. The south now became
China's breadbasket, as the climatic conditions there are optimal. This
also led to a shift in economic centers to the south. The river was used
even more intensively as a trade route and large trading cities were
built on the banks. They also formed the basis for the flourishing
export of silk and porcelain. The enormous economic growth of this
period, around 1100, resulted in the population doubling from 50 to
around 100 million and the standard of living had also improved
enormously.
The Ci poem form, which reached its peak in the Song
period, broke with the uniform number of syllables of Tang poems,
introduced rhythm into the recitation and seemed much livelier and more
intense.
A radically progressive reform attempt by Wang Anshi to
mitigate the unfair distribution of land and the corrupt civil service
system failed due to resistance from local officials who felt
disadvantaged (1069–1085).
The Song Dynasty was constantly
threatened from outside, which meant that the Song Empire was a
militarily well-equipped state that was constantly involved in border
conflicts. The Song took a more defensive stance towards the
establishment of states on their western and southwestern borders
(Western Xia Dynasty of the Tanguts, Nanzhao). Due to the civilian
supreme command, the Northern Song Dynasty was only able to achieve
partial success against the Liao and later the Jin Dynasty in northern
China. At the beginning of 1127, the capital Kaifeng, which had already
been surrounded by the Jurchen since the beginning of 1126, fell and
Emperor Huizong was taken prisoner. The Southern Song Dynasty, founded
by Gaozong, a son of Emperor Huizong, was able to survive for almost
another 150 years thanks to the Yangtze River as a natural border and a
policy of appeasement.
Although China had often been ruled by
northern peoples before, the Song period was the first time that an
ethnic consciousness among the Han Chinese developed. The reason for
this was probably the discriminatory policies of the Liao and Jin
rulers, who degraded the Han Chinese in northern China to second-class
citizens. Later Han Chinese "national consciousness" found its earliest
historical references and "national heroes" here, such as Yue Fei.
The Mongolian army that overran the Eurasian continent was the first to fall victim to the Jin Dynasty, followed shortly afterwards by the Western Xia Dynasty and finally by the Southern Song. Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty in China. The Yuan rulers continued the policy of ethnic discrimination, which meant that they were never really accepted by the majority of the population. Traditional historiography generally judged the Yuan Dynasty and its rulers very disparagingly. Nevertheless, trade with Central Asia and beyond experienced a period of prosperity. Marco Polo reached China via the Silk Road. A typhoon thwarted the plan to conquer Japan.
The population of China was largely dissatisfied with the rule of the
Mongols. This eventually led to a peasant revolt (Red Turbans), which
drove the Mongols back. The Ming Dynasty took over power in 1368. China
flourished again. Art and crafts, especially porcelain production (Ming
vases), reached new heights.
The founder of the dynasty was Zhu
Yuanzhang (Hongwu). He placed particular emphasis on agriculture - not
least because of his peasant origins. Large latifundia were confiscated
by the state, divided up and leased to small farmers. Private slavery
was banned. The role of the emperor became even more autocratic and the
centralization of the imperial bureaucracy was promoted, which is why
the Ming period is seen as the beginning of so-called Chinese
absolutism. Foreign merchants were subject to the same restrictions as
locals.
During the Mongol rule, the population had decreased by
40 percent to around 60 million. Two centuries later, it had doubled
under the Ming emperors due to the economic boom. Urbanization
increased. Large cities such as Nanjing and Beijing contributed to the
growth of crafts.
The early days of the Ming dynasty were an era
of special seafaring achievements under Emperor Yongle and his admiral
Zheng He, who made China the leading maritime nation in the world in
terms of technology (treasure ships) and navigation. The early Ming
period was also characterized by a strongly expansive foreign policy.
The later Ming emperors adopted a more defensive strategy due to the
Mongol invasions. To protect themselves against the Mongols, they had
the Great Wall rebuilt and brought up to today's standards. In 1551,
Emperor Jiajing issued a sea ban (Hai jin) against the emerging piracy
of the Wokou on the coast; ships were only allowed to have one mast.
Nevertheless, Zheng He's voyages laid the foundation for the subsequent
settlement of Southeast Asia by the Chinese and for further trade by
sea. In 1567, the ban on sea travel was lifted again because its
implementation was unsuccessful.
During the Ming period, the
first western trading post was opened by the Portuguese in Macau.
Internally, the Ming emperors set up a network of secret services
unprecedented in Chinese history, soon led by powerful eunuchs. When the
last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, came to power, he tried to curb the power
of the eunuchs and to alleviate the suffering of the rural population
through land reform. Nevertheless, the measures came too late. When the
peasants rebelled in Shaanxi Province, the situation could no longer be
brought under control. The emperor hanged himself when the rebels
marched into Beijing.
General Wu Sangui, who was supposed to
guard the Great Wall of China northeast of Beijing, called the Manchus
for help and opened the gates of the wall to the Qing armies.
The Manchus founded the last Chinese dynasty after the fall of the
Ming Dynasty in 1644. By the end of the century they had consolidated
their power throughout the territory that the Ming had ruled and, at
considerable expense, expanded it to include Xinjiang, Tibet and
Mongolia. The key to success was the combination of Manchu martial
talent and Chinese administration.
Some outstanding cultural
achievements were made under the Qing. Under Emperor Kangxi, the largest
dictionary was compiled and under Emperor Qianlong a lexicon of all
important cultural works was written. The famous book "The Dream of the
Red Chamber" also dates from this period. Advances in agriculture and an
enormous economic boom enabled the population to double from 160 million
to 300 million between 1700 and 1800. China, as the most important
political and economic power in Asia, accounted for about 50% of world
production. In 1759, the Chinese Empire reached its maximum extent in
history at 11.5 million km²; it was about 20% larger than today.
Although the Qing dynasty was the last, it is considered one of the most
successful because China was experiencing a cultural and political
heyday at that time. The Sinocentric worldview also flourished. In order
to consolidate their rule, the early Qing emperors specifically
recruited intellectuals and sought their cooperation in the state. But
they also imposed cruel punishments for some offenses; for example, if
certain anti-Manchu words were used, they would have the entire house
destroyed.
In the 19th century, China experienced massive social
tensions. This was a result of natural disasters combined with increased
pressure from Europeans (especially England) to integrate the economy
into the emerging world market. Until around 1820, China had a foreign
trade surplus. Britain in particular had a massive trade deficit with
China due to excessive tea imports, with losses of 20 million pounds
annually. From around 1820, the British East India Company
systematically increased the export of opium to China, even though the
import of opium was prohibited. Between 1821 and 1837, the amount
handled increased fivefold. This led to a trade deficit on the Chinese
side. China's attempt to defend itself against the increasingly powerful
foreign countries (due to western industrialization) and their free
trade policy failed. In the First Opium War (1839 to 1842) and the
Second Opium War (1856–1860), Britain used military force to ensure that
it could import opium into China. From the Chinese perspective, the
century of humiliation began roughly after the First Opium War. In
pursuing its economic interests, the United Kingdom government accepted
that millions of Chinese became dependent on opium, which led to social
and economic problems in China.
China had to give up its economic
protectionism. After the first Opium War, China had to cede Hong Kong to
Great Britain in the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 and open other treaty
ports. After the second Opium War, China had to open more ports and make
extensive concessions not only to Great Britain, but also to France,
Russia and the USA. As a result, an open-door policy was introduced in
China. The damage to the Chinese economy was irreversible. Large parts
of the economy collapsed, and mass poverty was the immediate result.
The Taiping Rebellion with 20 million victims, the Nian Rebellion
and Islamic and separatist efforts in Mongolia and Xinjiang supported by
Russia brought the Qing Dynasty into distress and could only be
suppressed in some cases with foreign military help. As a result, China
increasingly fell to the level of a colony. The empire, which had lasted
for over two millennia, was in a serious crisis: Confucian rule was
based primarily on the reputation of the emperor - the last emperors of
the Qing dynasty had to accept too much loss of face and lost a lot of
prestige.
In the last years of the late 19th century in
particular, China suffered one humiliation after another: in 1895, the
defeat against Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion
that got out of control in 1900 and the Boxer Protocol of 1901
associated with it. The Qing dynasty was at its end at the beginning of
the 20th century and had to give in to calls for reforms.
The
Qing emperors initially tried to counteract this with modernization
efforts, for example with the so-called campaign for self-strengthening.
Conservative forces, especially Empress Dowager Cixi, thwarted this by
instigating a military coup in 1898 and removing the reformers from
office (for example Emperor Guangxu). Corruption paralyzed the army; the
modernized troops were defeated in several wars.
At the beginning
of the 20th century, the Qing dynasty lay in ruins. Two opposition
movements had formed in the country: on the one hand, the moderates, who
wanted to reform the empire into a constitutional monarchy, and on the
other, the revolutionaries, who wanted to finally eliminate the empire
and make China a republic.
In 1912, the Qing Dynasty and the last emperor, Puyi, who was only
five years old, came to an end. General Yuan Shikai negotiated with the
revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen, who proclaimed the Republic of China
on January 1, 1912, and also put pressure on the imperial family. To
prevent civil war and unnecessary bloodshed, Sun gave up the presidency
in favor of Yuan, provided that Yuan could persuade the dynasty to give
up without a fight.
Yuan Shikai was a man of tradition. When it
became known that he wanted to ascend the imperial throne himself in
1915, not only the provinces rebelled, even his own generals refused to
support him. Deeply disappointed and hurt, Yuan died shortly afterwards
on June 6, 1916. Puyi was restored again for two weeks in 1917.
Various uprisings followed. Yuan Shikai's powerful Beiyang Army (Beiyang
= Northern China, more precisely: Liaoning, Hebei and Shandong) split
into several factions that fought each other (Northern Warlords). Many
southern provinces declared themselves independent. This period is known
in historiography as the Warlord Era and lasted until Chinese
reunification (1928) after the Northern Campaign.
The cultural
change in China on the way from the empire to a more modern society was
reflected in the ban on foot binding, the New Culture Movement of the
1910s and 20s and the May Fourth Movement in 1919.
In 1917, after the German Empire declared submarine warfare, China
was drawn into World War I by declaring war on the Central Powers
Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although China did not send troops to the
European, Asia Minor or African theaters of war, it supported the French
armaments industry, agriculture and mining with around 140,000 Chinese
contract workers for the British troops' staging area in France. The
internal turmoil prevented China from taking a direct part in the war.
China's main motive for entering the war in the first place was fear of
Japan's harsh imperialist policy of interests. In November 1914, shortly
after entering the World War, the Japanese had taken the German colony
of Kiautschou/Tsingtau on China's coast. Japan now had an appetite for
new conquests. China wanted the support of the European and American
allies of the World War to secure its territory against Japan - and it
was to get this support by declaring war on the enemies of the Allies.
After the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916, the Warlord Era began.
From 1921, Sun Yat-sen tried to build his own power base in Guangdong in
order to restore his ideals of a republic.
In 1927, the
decades-long Chinese civil war began.
Japan conquered Manchuria in 1931 and established the puppet state of Manchukuo there in 1932 with Puyi as emperor. In July 1937, the Japanese began the second Sino-Japanese War and continued the conquests. On March 30, 1940, the Japanese installed Wang Jingwei (d. 1944) as head of government of the newly organized Republic of China controlled by the Japanese in Nanjing. The war ended in 1945 with the end of World War II. In World War II, China had the second highest number of casualties of all the nations involved after the Soviet Union (see also: Nanking Massacre, Unit 731). At least ten million Chinese civilians and three and a half million soldiers lost their lives. Recent research even estimates that the worst consequences of the war were over twenty million deaths and that agriculture was destroyed. The conflict between communists and nationalists, which had been dormant in the fight against Japan, flared up again. In 1949, Mao Zedong's troops finally defeated the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek. The nationalists fled to Taiwan, which had only recently been reclaimed from Japan, where the Republic of China continues to exist to this day. The People's Republic of China was founded on the mainland.
Yuan Shikai had sufficient military powers under his command to
prevent China from falling apart. However, he was unable to stop the
advance of foreign powers; he suppressed any attempts at civil society,
and the Kuomintang was banned in 1913. The country's elites therefore
turned away from the state during this phase and pursued their own
interests. Yuan had himself proclaimed emperor on January 1, 1916, while
Japan deliberately weakened him by raising the Twenty-One Demands. The
central government lost control of China's politics, the country
fragmented, and the military governors of the provinces and hundreds of
warlords fought for influence in changing alliances during the warlord
period. Chaos and misery reigned, and the population suffered under
oppression. Mongolia and Tibet declared their independence. The phase of
fragmentation was also a creative time, in which the intellectual
climate changed through confrontation with Western ideas. The May Fourth
Movement became the starting point for numerous political and
intellectual movements, schools and universities were founded. Capital
and knowledge from abroad flowed into the treaty ports, and the basis
for the development of the economy was laid.
After the October
Revolution in Russia, China also became fascinated with socialist and
communist ideas; in 1921 the Communist Party of China was founded. Since
China lacked industry as a basis for a proletarian movement, the
Comintern supported both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party (CP). As
part of the First United Front, the two parties cooperated against the
warlords and Japanese expansionism. With Soviet help, the Whampoa
Military Academy was founded in 1924, from which numerous officers
emerged who were important in later Chinese history, such as Chiang
Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai. After the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925,
tensions arose in the united front, delaying progress in the Northern
Campaign. After securing Shanghai in March 1927, Chiang Kai-shek had
thousands of (alleged) communists killed and a strike crushed on April
12, 1927, which caused the united front to collapse. Chiang, who had
control of the army within the Kuomintang, outmaneuvered the left wing
of the party and set up a counter-government in Nanjing. In June 1928,
his troops managed to capture Beijing, which initially reunited China.
The communists, who had been forced into the countryside, attempted
to stage uprisings in some cities and establish Soviet territories.
However, the uprisings in Nanchang in August 1927, Canton in December
1927 and Changsha in 1930 were crushed. Mao Zedong, on the other hand,
managed to hold onto a larger area for longer after the Autumn Harvest
Uprising and set up a Soviet republic in the mountains of Hunan and
Jiangxi using a strategy adapted to rural conditions. Due to the
encirclement by Kuomintang troops, it had to be evacuated in 1934, and
the leaders of the Communist Party retreated to the north of Shaanxi on
the Long March, where they arrived one year later ideologically
consolidated and united. During this march, Mao won the internal party
battles and was elected Chairman of the Central Committee.
Japan,
whose troops had been stationed in northeast China since 1901 after the
Boxer Rebellion, seized Manchuria from the warlord Zhang Xueliang in
1931 and established the vassal state of Manchukuo there. In 1933,
Japanese troops took Jehol. In view of the threat posed by Japan, the
Communists called for an alliance of all parties and armed forces.
However, Chiang preferred to first consolidate the Kuomintang's rule
over the Communist Party. In December 1936, Chiang was forced to agree
to a second united front, which was only formed after the Marco Polo
Bridge incident and the open outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Despite the united front, Chiang deployed his most powerful troops
against the Communists. The united front remained weak, and despite
support from the USA and the USSR, Chiang's troops were poorly organized
and had poor morale. The Japanese troops thus succeeded in occupying the
large plains and coastal areas of China; in Nanjing they committed mass
murder lasting several weeks. However, they were unable to control the
conquered areas permanently. Chiang's government had to retreat to
Chongqing.
Shortly after Japan's surrender, Mao Zedong negotiated
with Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing to resolve their differences, but to
no avail. The Kuomintang subsequently attempted to gain control of the
entire country, but its troops were undisciplined and had no clear
mandate, its representatives were corrupt and feared by the population.
However, the Kuomintang won the parliamentary elections held in 1947.
The People's Liberation Army, on the other hand, had enough support
among the population. It conquered Manchuria in 1948, Nanjing in April
1949 and Shanghai in May 1949. The Kuomintang government fled to the
island of Taiwan, which had been occupied in 1945, wiped out the elite
there and established a dictatorship.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of
China in Beijing. This marked the end of Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist
government on the Chinese mainland. The Communists' seizure of power was
not a coup brought about from outside, but rather a revolution supported
by a broad majority in China. In the first phase after the proclamation
of the People's Republic, the state and party leadership carried out a
so-called land reform from 1949 to 1952, in which almost half of the
agricultural land was distributed to around 120 million farmers. "Large
landowners" were expropriated. In 1950, the Communist Party passed a
marriage law that, in addition to the constitution, specified the
equality of men and women. In particular, the right of women to decide
for themselves whether to marry, the prohibition of demanding a dowry
for the bride or concubinage, the introduction of a minimum age for
women, which led to the abolition of child and forced marriages, and the
legalization of the termination of a marriage through divorce with
corresponding regulations on the division of property between the
spouses, all permanently improved the situation of Chinese women.
However, breaking the traditional rural cultural practice or imparting
knowledge of the law to rural women encountered difficult hurdles.
Active and passive women's suffrage was introduced in 1949.
In
February 1950, the communist state and party leadership signed a
friendship and mutual assistance treaty with the Soviet Union. The
development of the urban economy was given priority after the Communist
Party's activities had concentrated on rural areas during the civil war.
To this end, a "four-party coalition" of workers, peasants, petty
bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie was formed under the slogan "New
Democracy". At the 8th Party Congress, Mao's values such as activism,
altruism, unity with the masses and abstinence from consumption did not
win him a majority, and the path of imitating the Soviet development
model with the priority development of heavy industry was confirmed.
Mao Zedong initiated the departure from the Soviet model with his
speech on the "Ten Great Relationships" in April 1956. In May 1957 he
initiated the Hundred Flowers Movement to mobilize the intelligentsia.
When the call for healthy criticism also led to criticism of the party
and individual party leaders, the party responded with the "Campaign
against Right Deviants", in the context of which at least 400 critics
were executed and half a million people were deported to labor camps.
The departure from the Soviet Union became final in 1958, when the Great
Leap Forward was announced. As part of this campaign, almost the entire
rural population was grouped into 26,000 people's communes and organized
according to military principles. They were supposed to promote
agriculture and heavy industry simultaneously as a "production battle".
However, planning errors, chaos and natural disasters led to around 30
million people starving to death nationwide within three years from 1960
to 1962. Liu Shaoqi took on the task of consolidating the economy from
1963 to 1964. He was criticized for his measures as a "revisionist".
Under the pretext of revising undesirable developments and purging
the bureaucracy, Mao Zedong began the Cultural Revolution in the early
summer of 1966. Young people across the country were organized into
so-called Red Guards. A wave of terror began against representatives and
decision-makers of the state and the intelligentsia; schools and
universities remained closed for several years in some cases. The
individual was to be destroyed, the revolution was to be permanent.
China closed itself off even more to foreign countries. In 1968 the
"movement to the countryside" began, with 15 million young city dwellers
being assigned to work in agriculture. President Liu Shaoqi and numerous
other high-ranking party officials were criticized as "revisionists" and
removed from office. The Cultural Revolution also saw the growing fear
of a Soviet attack following the Sino-Soviet rift, which made
normalization of relations with the USA necessary. After a visit by
President Nixon in 1972, Beijing established diplomatic relations with
Washington; Beijing also took over Taiwan's seat at the United Nations.
The Cultural Revolution ended after Mao's death in September 1976 and
the arrest of the "Gang of Four" in October 1976.
When Mao died, his designated successors were already dead: Lin Biao
died in 1971 after an alleged coup attempt, Deng Xiaoping was linked to
the protests on Tian'anmen Square in 1976 after the death of Prime
Minister Zhou Enlai and was demoted. Thus, the previously little-known
Hua Guofeng was chosen as Mao's successor. Hua and his supporters, who
stood for the continuation of Mao Zedong's policies, were outmaneuvered
and deposed by Deng by 1980. In December 1978, the course of the "Four
Modernizations", which is closely associated with Deng's name, was
confirmed by the party leadership. Victims of the Cultural Revolution
and other excesses were rehabilitated and economic freedoms were
expanded. A market economy gradually replaced the centrally planned
economy adopted from the Soviet Union in order to increase the economic
performance of the system. A peace and friendship treaty was signed with
the former wartime enemy Japan, and foreign investment was gradually
permitted. Deng visited the USA, which subsequently became an important
foreign policy partner. The special economic zones were designated areas
where experiments could be carried out with market economy mechanisms,
and in 1984 a further 14 coastal cities were opened.
However, the
expansion of economic freedoms was not matched by an expansion of
personal freedoms. Parallel to the party congress in December 1978, the
public expressed their dissatisfaction with the restrictions on freedom
at the Democracy Wall, which was closed after demands for democracy
arose. The "campaign against intellectual pollution" was used against
intellectuals who had gradually taken greater freedoms for themselves.
The negative side effects of the economic reforms, such as growing
inequality, corruption, inflation and the lack of social security,
increased the potential for protest. This erupted when mourning rallies
for General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who was deposed in 1987 and died in
the spring of 1989, led to renewed demonstrations on Tian'anmen Square.
They became more radicalized in parallel with Mikhail Gorbachev's visit
to Beijing for normalization talks, and were violently ended in early
June. From the Chinese perspective, the return of the Hong Kong and
Macau colonies under the principle of "one country, two systems"
represents a further step towards ending the colonization of China. In
addition, relations with Russia were revived.
Although the
undesirable side effects of the economic reforms were controversially
discussed within the party leadership, the Deng era was a period of
comparatively great unanimity. The rapid economic growth, which
drastically reduced the number of people below the poverty line from 250
million in 1979 to 45 million in 1999, legitimized the measures. Deng
was succeeded by Jiang Zemin; under him and his successors, the
Communist Party endeavored to defuse the still existing potential for
protest by settling conflicts and applying the law. The challenges that
the party and state leadership have had to face since then include the
social conditions of migrant and factory workers, the rapid aging of
society caused by the "one-child policy" and demands for the rule of
law, the fight against corruption and state arbitrariness.
In the first twenty years of the 21st century, China experienced
unprecedented economic growth. On average, China’s economic power grew
by 8.9% annually from 2000 to 2019 inclusive. In addition to doubling
China’s share of world trade, gross domestic product increased sixfold
during this time, so that by the end of that period China had grown to
become the second largest economy in the world. This had a positive
impact on the quality of life of more than 200 million Chinese who rose
from absolute poverty. For decades, up until 2020, the People’s
Republic’s growth engine was primarily the real estate and construction
sector, which at its peak accounted for more than a quarter of economic
output. The construction boom ended with a drop in prices in the Chinese
real estate market and the liquidation of one of the country’s largest
construction companies (Evergrande). According to a decision by the
government, industrial production and the technology sector should take
on the role of economic engine. In order to absorb know-how, among other
things, In order to obtain access to quantum technology, artificial
intelligence, hypersonic technology and biotechnology, the country has
been and continues to be engaged in massive industrial espionage; from
2000 to at least 2023, China was the country with the most cyber attacks
in the world.
Against the backdrop of its foreign policy geared
towards economic expansion, China began to underpin its claim to power
in the world with massive development funding for Africa and the One
Belt, One Road project.
During the 2010s, China began an attempt
to systematically re-educate the Uighurs in Xinjiang. From a Chinese
perspective, the decade was also marked by the confrontation with the
Hong Kong protest movement in 2014, which revived with the protests from
2019 onwards.
At the end of 2019, a wave of illness in the
Chinese city of Wuhan sparked an epidemic that developed into a global
pandemic. After the Chinese authorities initially tried to cover up the
outbreak, it came into the spotlight worldwide in early January 2020.
While other countries were hit harder and harder by the pandemic, China
was spared the second wave in autumn 2020 and was able to return to a
largely normal everyday life. The state and party leadership initially
relied on a strict zero-Covid policy. After its failure and nationwide
protests, China's leadership abruptly ended this approach. In the weeks
that followed, a nationwide wave of infections occurred, which,
according to estimates by international experts, resulted in around two
million people dying in China. A critical debate about the mistakes and
omissions during the pandemic outbreak is prevented by the state and
party leadership.
With the 14th Five-Year Plan from 2021 to 2025
adopted in March 2021 and the associated long-term goals up to 2035, the
CCP shifted the economic focus to the development of the domestic
market. The two main developments are the expansion of research and
development, especially basic research, and the strengthening of the
supply of industrial goods and services for national consumption. It is
noteworthy that for the first time all key figures are only target
values and deviations due to market forces are explicitly recognized.
In 2024, China's economy has cooled further, with growth remaining below
government expectations.
In terms of total area (land and water), China is the fourth largest
country in the world with 9,596,960 km² and the third largest country in
terms of land area with 9,326,410 km². The territory stretches from the
northernmost tip on the Siberian border to the southern tip of Hainan
Island for around 5,500 kilometers and from east to west for around
5,200 kilometers. In the east and southeast, the country borders on the
Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea. In the south,
southwest, west and northwest, high mountain ranges, in the north
steppes and deserts, and in the northeast the Amur and Ussuri separate
the country from its neighbors.
With a total length of 22,133
kilometers, China has the longest land border of all countries. The
coastline of all sea borders is 14,500 kilometers. In total, the
People's Republic of China has 14 neighboring countries. These are,
anti-clockwise: North Korea in the northeast, then Russia and Mongolia,
westwards Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan,
southwards and southwestwards India, Nepal and Bhutan, and finally
Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
The physical surface, climatic
conditions and thus the habitability of the individual regions vary
greatly. The country slopes from west to east. The topographical
structure can be divided into five forms, the respective proportions of
which in the total area of the mainland are as follows: mountains
(33.3%), plateaus (26%), basins (18.8%), plains (12%) and hilly areas
(9.9%).
Western China has a pronounced high mountain character
with plateaus in between. The highest mountains are: Himalayas, Tian
Shan, Pamir, Altai. To the east there are plateaus and sedimentary
basins, such as the Mongolian Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Sichuan
Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are
the driest parts of the country, with the Gobi and the Taklamakan
representing their distinct desert climate. The east of China is
characterized by four large floodplains. There are huge river deltas on
the coasts. The southeastern coastal strip is mountainous, while the
south is more hilly.
There are around 5,400 islands scattered
throughout the territorial waters. According to the UN's claim to sole
representation, the People's Republic of China considers Taiwan to be
the largest island with an area of 36,000 square kilometers, and
Hainan with an area of 34,000 square kilometers the second largest. Of
the 14 mountains that are higher than 8,000 meters, nine are on the
Chinese border or within China. Most of China's high mountains rise from
the highlands south of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world.
The Himalayan chain is on average 6,000 meters above sea level. The
highest mountain in China is Qomolangma (Mount Everest), which lies on
the border with Nepal and, at 8,848.86 meters, is also the highest
mountain in the world.
The Yangtze River (or Yangtze for short)
is the longest river in China with a total length of 6,300 kilometers
and the third longest river in the world after the Nile and the Amazon.
The Yellow River (Huang He) is the second longest river in China; its
total length is 5,464 kilometers. Other large rivers are the Xi Jiang,
the Mekong, the Pearl River and the Heilong Jiang. The rivers flow from
west to east according to the geographical conditions: from the high
regions with snow and glaciers to the plains and the coasts.
The
largest canyon in China is the Dihang Gorge of the Yarlung Tsangpo in
the Tibetan Plateau. With a length of 504.6 kilometers and a depth of up
to 6,009 meters, the narrow gorge is considered the largest in the
world. The deepest point in the country is -154 meters in the dried-up
Aydingkol Lake in the Turpan Depression in eastern Xinjiang.
Poyang Lake, located in the plain on the middle and lower reaches of the
Yangtze, is the largest freshwater lake in China. Its area is 3,583
square kilometers. The largest salt lake is Qinghai Lake on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an area of 4,583 square kilometers. The
largest canal is the Grand Canal. It begins in the north in Beijing and
ends in the south in Hangzhou. Its total length is 1,801 kilometers.
Construction began in the 5th century BC - it is the longest and oldest
man-made waterway in the world.
Since 1949, the Chinese legal
time (UTC+8), which corresponds to the Beijing time zone, has been used
throughout China.
The climate in China is as diverse as its geography, with 18
different climatic regions. The continental climate is found in the
northeast. The winter is long, very cold and dry, but often sunny. The
summer, on the other hand, is warm and humid because it is influenced by
the summer monsoon. Then it can be humid and warm with 30 °C and high
humidity.
The dry desert climate extends from the Taklamakan in
the west to Beijing. It is characterized by frosty and snow-poor winters
and hot summers. In addition, there is extreme dryness and large daily
temperature fluctuations. In the high mountains in the interior of
China, there is a cool mountain climate with large temperature
contrasts. The winters are extremely cold, but the sun shines almost
continuously during the day. In summer it is moderately warm and there
is occasional rain.
In the east between Beijing and the Yangtze,
there is a temperate monsoon climate. There are consistently cool,
sometimes frosty, mostly dry and snow-poor winters. The sun often
appears at this time of year. In summer it gets increasingly hotter. The
summer monsoon brings not only plenty of rain, but often oppressive
humidity. The climate in the east south of the Yangtze is subtropical,
in the extreme south it is tropical. Winters are mild to warm and rather
dry. In summer it is tropically hot with heavy rainfall and high
temperatures. It hardly gets any cooler at night either.
Precipitation increases steadily from west to east and from north to
south. In the deserts of central China barely 100 milliliters of rain
fall annually; the wettest region is southeast China with up to 3000 mm.
In all regions almost all precipitation falls in the summer months. On
this basis, China's land area consists of 36% fertile farmland, 24%
grassland, 9% forest and 2% wetlands, as well as 21% desert and 6.5%
wasteland. Cities in China take up 1.5% of the total area.
Much of China's natural vegetation has been replaced or altered by
thousands of years of human settlement, but individual areas provide
space for great biodiversity, giving China one of the richest and most
diverse faunas and floras in the world. In the tropical and temperate
zones of the northern hemisphere, China has by far the most indigenous
plant species. In total, more than 7,000 species of woody plants have
been recorded, including 2,800 trees and over 300 species of
gymnosperms. The rare ginkgo tree, the dove tree and the dawn redwood,
which have long since become extinct elsewhere, still grow in China.
Among the flowering plants, 650 of the 800 known azalea species occur in
China, 390 of the 450 known primrose species and around 230 of the 400
known gentian species. Over 400 varieties of the shrub peony, which
originates from Shandong Province, have been cultivated in gardens.
The richest and most extensive coniferous forests occur in the
mountains of the northeast, where stands of larch, the birch species
Betula platyphylla (related to silver birch), and Scots pine thrive, and
in the Hinggan Mountains stands of Korean pine and Dahurian larch. In
the Sichuan Basin, the vegetation changes with altitude, so that a
variety of conifers grow at high elevations, deciduous trees and cypress
at mid-elevations, and bamboo at lower elevations. Further south, in the
subtropical provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, evergreen broadleaf
forests predominate. Forests give way to natural grasslands and shrub
steppes in drier western and northwestern areas, particularly in the
semi-arid regions of Shanxi and Shaanxi, in the steppes of Inner
Mongolia, and along the desert fringes of the Tarim and Junggar Basins.
The different habitats are home to a diverse fauna, ranging from
arctic species in Manchuria to a rich tropical wildlife in the south. In
total, there are over 6,300 vertebrates in China, of which 2,469 are
terrestrial vertebrates, with around 500 mammals, 1,258 bird species,
376 reptiles, 569 amphibians and 3,862 fish species. There are also
hundreds of thousands of invertebrate species, including around 150,000
insect species.
Some species that have already become extinct in
other parts of the world have survived in China. These include the
paddlefish from the Yangtze River, certain alligators and salamanders,
the giant panda, which only lives in southwest China, and the water
deer, which only exists in China and Korea. Endemic and particularly
rare animal species include the snub-nosed monkey, the South China
tiger, the four species of eared pheasant, the red-crowned crane, the
Nipponi bison and the Chinese alligator.
The tropical south of
China is home to many primates, including gibbons, macaques and many
other species of monkeys. Larger predators, such as bears, tigers and
leopards, are only present in limited numbers and are only native to
remote areas. Leopards live in northern Manchuria; Tibet is the habitat
of the snow leopard. Smaller predators, including foxes, wolves and
raccoons, are numerous in many regions. Antelopes, gazelles, chamois,
wild horses and other ungulates inhabit the mountainous regions and
valleys in the west. The elk is common in northern Manchuria. Birds can
be found in a wide variety of species, including pheasants, cranes,
parrots, herons and Asian peacocks. Water buffalo are among the domestic
animals used as draft animals in the south, as are camels, which are
used as pack animals in the dry north and west, and yaks, which serve as
semi-domesticated high mountain cattle in Tibet. Flounder, cod, tuna,
squid, crabs, shrimps and dolphins are found mainly on the south coast.
China's rivers provide a habitat for various carp species as well as
salmon, trout, sturgeon and catfish. Many of China's inland waters are
used for fish farming.
The panda is considered a national
treasure by the Chinese. By order of China's National Forestry
Administration, the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi have been
obliged since 2011 to carry out a census of the population living in the
wild every ten years. The last so-called panda census at the beginning
of 2015 counted 1,864 specimens, ten years previously there were only
1,596. The panda breeding station in Chengdu plays a significant role in
this growth, from where the sexually very abstinent pandas with a
correspondingly low reproductive rate are released into the wild after
breeding.
The first nature reserves were established in the
1950s. Since then, a total of over 2,700 nature reserves have been
created in China. The area of all protected areas is 1.42 million
square kilometers. This corresponds to around 15 percent of the
country's territory.
China is regularly hit by droughts, floods, snowstorms, hail,
landslides, sandstorms and wildfires. In addition, the coasts in the
south and east of the country are often exposed to tropical cyclones and
typhoons. Floods regularly occur on all major rivers. The last major
flood disasters occurred in 1998 and 2016, when entire regions were
flooded for weeks. Both events were preceded by an El Niño.
The
Yangtze lies in the densely populated Yangtze Delta. This area has been
plagued by floods for centuries. The causes of the floods are soil
erosion, droughts and the containment of the natural river flow. The
construction of the Three Gorges Dam was and is therefore controversial.
Tectonic earthquakes cause the greatest damage in the People's
Republic of China. According to the Chinese Meteorological
Administration, they are responsible for the most human casualties and
the greatest economic losses each year. On average, around 20
earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 to 5.9 occur in China each year; three to
four between 6.0 and 6.9; and only every two to three years a maximum of
two of magnitude 7.0 or more occur. The east of China, the southern
provinces and the Himalayas are particularly affected. The most recent
earthquakes to cause devastating damage were the Sichuan earthquake in
2013 and the Jiuzhaigou earthquake in 2017, both with a magnitude of
7.0.
Contemporary culture in particular is affected by restrictions and
censorship. China's state security authorities are trying to prevent
supposedly critical art from being shown in public spaces. According to
China's state and party leadership, art exhibitions should mainly spread
"positive energy". Works with supposedly unpleasant content are not
wanted, at least not in public spaces. Numerous critical contemporary
visual artists live in exile, such as Ai Weiwei and Badiucao. Musicians
and bands in China usually have to submit their planned lyrics in
advance and have them approved before performances.
China's state
and party leadership is also using transnational repression to put
pressure on critical artists living abroad.
Traditional Chinese
culture is shaped by Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.
More than
30 Chinese buildings are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the
Great Wall, Qin Shihuangdi's mausoleum with more than 7,000 life-size
figures of the Terracotta Army and the Imperial Palace in Beijing as
part of the Forbidden City.
The more than three thousand year history of Chinese literature is
dominated by poetry, with its peak up to the 16th century. The classics
include:
the Book of Songs from the 6th century BC, the oldest
collection of Chinese poems and the largest in the world from
pre-Christian times;
the Elegies of Chu from the 4th century BC,
which are considered the earliest complete written evidence of the
shamanistic culture of Central Asia;
the works of Li Bai, Wang Wei,
Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Li Houzhu from the Tang Dynasty
(7th-10th century), which often contain criticism of the prevailing
social conditions in a clear, simple and generally understandable prose
style (Tu-Wen);
the artistic landscape descriptions by Su Shi and
Ouyang Xiu during the Song Dynasty (10th-13th century);
the
masterpiece Jin Ping Mei, which became famous and temporarily banned due
to its erotic and pornographic passages;
the Four Classical Novels
from the 14th to 18th centuries, which are considered the most important
adventure epics in Chinese literature and are still used as a template
for stage performances, comics and films today.
Classical Chinese
literature is closely linked to Chinese calligraphy, which in turn is
closely related to Chinese painting. One of the most famous Chinese
calligraphers was Wang Xizhi, whose style from the 4th century AD is
still the basis of "beautiful writing" today. The invention of paper is
attributed to the Chinese Ts'ai Lun around 105 AD. The most famous
Chinese paper, Xuan paper, is one of the "Four Treasures of the
Scholar's Room". It is still referred to as the "King of all Papers" and
is part of the intangible world heritage.
In contrast to the
tradition that ended with the fall of the empire in 1911, modern
literature (1912 to 1949) and contemporary literature (since 1949) in
China has been well researched and translated in many ways. Its value
has been assessed schematically as follows: Like classical literature,
modern literature is also largely part of world literature. On the other
hand, after 1949 there were declines for ideological reasons, from which
contemporary Chinese literature on the mainland was only able to slowly
recover with the start of the reform period (1979).
A fair
assessment of Chinese literature after 1912 is so difficult because,
strictly speaking, one would have to distinguish between
Chinese-language literature that is written worldwide and literature
that is associated with a political state structure. Chinese literature
is not only written in the People's Republic of China, but also in
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as overseas (Malaysia, USA, etc.).
The wide range of publication options available today often makes it
difficult to clearly assign authors to a country or region.
Traditional Chinese martial arts are known worldwide, especially the
styles of kung fu. Basketball, badminton and table tennis are popular
sports. Football is the most popular spectator sport in China. In recent
years, the state and party leadership have invested the equivalent of
many billions of euros in expanding football infrastructure. Stadiums
and football academies have been built, football lessons have been
promoted in schools and the development of a China-wide football league
has been promoted. Chinese professional clubs have invested billions
more, including in signing foreign football professionals. However, the
footballing quality and international competitiveness of Chinese
football have so far fallen short of expectations. At the end of 2023,
China's men's national football team was only ranked 79th in the FIFA
world rankings. International observers say that the state-imposed
expansion of the football sector in China has flopped.
In 1991
and 2007, the Women's World Cup took place in the People's Republic of
China. China's capital Beijing hosted the Summer Paralympics and the
Summer Olympic Games in 2008. The 2009 Women's Handball World
Championship was held in Jiangsu Province in December 2009. The II
Summer Youth Olympic Games were held in Nanjing in 2014. The 2022 Winter
Olympics will be held in Beijing. Special Olympics China was founded in
1985 and has participated in the Special Olympics World Games several
times.
According to the annual report of the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), India should have overtaken China as the world's most populous
nation by mid-2023. Previously, the People's Republic of China was the
most populous country in the world. According to the National Bureau of
Statistics, 1,412,600,000 people lived there in 2021.
After the
founding of the People's Republic of China, the country had two
centuries of great population growth, but also great losses due to war,
famine, epidemics and natural disasters. Mao Zedong viewed a high
population as a sign of national strength. The first census, carried out
in 1953, showed a population of over 580 million, 70 million more than
previously estimated. In response to this, late marriages and
contraception were first promoted at the end of the 1950s because there
was a shortage of jobs in the cities and the ratio of population to
arable land in the countryside was unfavourable. Due to the falling
infant mortality rate (from 200 ‰ in 1949 to 60 ‰ at the beginning of
the 1970s and 45 ‰ by 2000) and the increasing life expectancy (by one
year annually between 1953 and 1970), the population grew rapidly. Life
expectancy, which had been 28 years in 1950, had risen to 68.5 years by
2000.
From 1973, only two children were allowed per marriage.
This was enforced in cities and also in the countryside, although
national minorities were exempt. In 1979, the one-child policy was
officially introduced, which was enforced regionally and sometimes with
violence, such as forced abortions. In 1996, fertility was between 1.5
and 1.6 children per woman. In 2000, it was between 1.2 and 1.4 children
per woman. The effects of the one-child policy include non-registration
of births and up to 70 abortions per 100 births - the cultural
preference for sons meant that female fetuses in particular were
aborted. Due to the non-registration of births, it is assumed that the
actual birth figures are 15 to 30 percent higher than the recorded
births. The sex ratio has shifted from the normal value of 1,050 boys to
1,000 girls in the 1950s and 1960s to 1,200 boys to 1,000 girls since
1997. In regions with particularly strict birth control, there are
around 27 million girls missing in the birth cohorts 1980 to 2010.
Socioeconomic reasons have led to the decline in birth rates.
The
goal of the one-child policy to stabilize the population at 1.2 billion
by the turn of the millennium was missed; in 2000, around 1.27 billion
people lived in China. The population peaked in 2021 at 1.412 billion
people and has been declining since then.
In regions where the
one-child policy was strictly enforced, according to a 2014 forecast,
around 40 percent of people will be over 65 years old in 2050. For these
reasons, the one-child policy was replaced by the two-child policy on
January 1, 2016 and by a three-child policy in 2021. Nevertheless, the
birth rate continued to fall.
In 2023, there were 6.39 births per
thousand inhabitants, compared to 6.77 in 2022 (for comparison: in
Germany, this figure is 9.4). In 2023, 9.02 million babies were born,
compared to 9.56 million babies in 2022. The total population fell to
1.409 billion people in 2023, 2.08 million less than in the previous
year.
The 1.4 billion inhabitants are very unevenly distributed across the territory. The imaginary Heihe-Tengchong line divides China into a western part, which takes up 57% of the country's territory, and an eastern part. In 1982, about 94% of the total population lived in the 43% of the country's eastern territory. Many districts in the eastern part of the country have a population density of more than 800 to 900 people per square kilometer, while large areas in the western part of the country are uninhabited.
After the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1978, 17.9 percent of
China's population, or 170 million people, lived in cities. During a
phase of urban revitalization from 1978 to 1995, the urban population
grew to 30.5 percent of the total population. This was followed by a
phase of rapid urban growth, so that in 2013 around 730 million people,
or 53.7 percent of the population, lived in cities. Increased efficiency
in agriculture, which freed people up to work in low-productivity jobs,
and industrialization led to this development. Urbanization has been an
important factor in economic growth in recent decades. By 2020, the
urbanization rate is expected to increase to 60 percent of the
population.
In the People's Republic of China, there are 15
megacities with a total population of over 260 million people, and more
than 150 cities with a population of over one million. The three largest
metropolitan areas are the Yangtze Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the
region around Beijing and Tianjin, where several cities with a
population of over a million are located in a small area and are the
preferred destinations for internal migration.
Despite the high
rate of urbanization, China has managed to avoid the formation of slums
and infrastructure overload as in other developing countries.
Nevertheless, China is affected by the negative side effects of rapid
urbanization, such as the destruction of agricultural land,
environmental pollution and inadequate compensation when agricultural
land is expropriated. In the suburbs of the metropolitan areas, numerous
artificial cities have been built that are purely dormitory settlements
for workers, such as Anting. Here there are sometimes high vacancy rates
because industrial settlements have not materialized and new
construction has been fueled by speculation.
China is a multi-ethnic country. 91.51 percent of the population are
Han (around 1.25 billion). The name goes back to the Han Dynasty.
However, this largest population group is not a homogeneous group: Over
time, strong regional differences developed in terms of language,
dialect, settlement forms, folk tales, clothing and diet. The 18 largest
ethnic groups after the Han in 2010 were:
Zhuang (16.9 million),
Uighurs (11.5 million),
Hui (10.5 million),
Manchu (10.3 million),
Miao (9.4 million),
Yi (8.7 million),
Tujia (8.3 million),
Tibetans (6.2 million),
Mongolians (5.9 million),
Dong (2.8
million),
Buyei (2.8 million),
Yao (2.7 million),
Bai (1.9
million),
Koreans (1.8 million),
Hani (1.6 million),
Li (1.4
million),
Kazakhs (1.4 million),
Dai (1.2 million).
A total
of 55 ethnic groups are recognized as national minorities, which, in
addition to minority protection, are granted special rights in the
Chinese constitution, such as instruction in their own language, easier
access to higher education, and special quota regulations. However,
these rights have been increasingly eroded since the 2000s. After unrest
in Tibet in 2008, Tibetans were driven out of their residential areas
and assimilated through tourism. In 2016, there were several
self-immolations. Unrest in Xinjiang province in 2009 exacerbated the
conflict between the Uighurs and the state. After a series of attacks in
2014, China began implementing the assimilation policy, the Xinjiang
re-education camps, an ethnocide of Muslim Uighurs and other minorities
in Xinjiang. After the so-called China Cables - secret documents of the
People's Republic of China - were leaked, the situation of the Uighurs
received international attention in 2019.
In addition to Mandarin Chinese, which is based on a dialect of Mandarin and is the general official language, other official languages are officially recognized depending on the region. These include Cantonese in Hong Kong and Macau and English in Hong Kong. There are also regional languages such as Zhuang in Guangxi, Tibetan in Tibet, Uighur in Xinjiang, then Mongolian in Inner Mongolia and Korean in Yanbian. There are also Tibeto-Burmese languages such as Ladhakish and Yi, then Tai-Kadai languages such as Bouyei, Dong, Tai Lü, Tai Nüa or Tai Pong, but also Mangghuer and the Turkic languages Äynu, Ili Turki, Salar or West Yugur.
The four most important religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism,
Islam and Christianity. There are also some popular religions among
national minorities. Chinese religions are generally family-based and do
not require membership. Of the major religions, only Taoism originates
from China. Buddhism dates back to the 1st millennium BC; it spread in
China from the 1st century AD. Taoism goes back a similar distance,
integrating numerous elements from much older religions. Islam came to
China in the 7th/8th century, Christianity in the 13th century. Jesuits
began missionizing in the late 16th century. Protestantism came to China
in 1807.
During the imperial era, Confucianism was considered
orthodox, the other religions heterodox. Since its founding, the
People's Republic of China has been a secular state in accordance with
its communist ideology of state atheism. Buddhism, Daoism, Islam,
Catholicism and Protestantism are religions recognized by the state,
although Catholicism and Protestantism are considered to be separate
religions and are not allowed to organize independently. The Roman
Catholic Church is banned in the People's Republic, and only a Chinese
Catholic Patriotic Association, which does not recognize the authority
of the Pope and has no contact with the Vatican, is permitted. Under
Mao, the Catholic Church experienced a particularly rigid form of
control. The new religious community of Falun Gong is now the focus of
state persecution, with reports of organ harvesting and executions of
members of the community prompting human rights organizations to take
action.
As in the former Eastern Bloc countries of Europe that
are critical of religion, China is based on a strict principle of
separation between religion and state. The right to freedom of religion
is formally anchored in the constitution of the People's Republic. Due
to the disastrous effects on believers during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976), the Chinese government has been striving since the 1980s to
grant religious freedom and open up spaces for religious activities.
Traditional faiths such as Taoism and Buddhism, which are seen as an
integral part of Chinese culture, receive state support.
Constitutionally, everyone is free to pray alone or in community with
others, to recite scriptures, to hold religious services, to baptize or
to read masses. In practice, these rights are often restricted.
Nevertheless, a "religious boom" has been observed in China since the
turn of the millennium. Temples and monasteries have become more
popular, and Tibetan Buddhism has also spread again in the country's
eastern provinces.
In 2013, the People's Republic had a
population of 1.4 billion, with around 85,000 religious sites, around
300,000 priests, around 3,000 religious groups and 74 theological
institutions. Religious organizations can establish their own schools
and publish books and periodicals. Higher education and research
institutions sometimes offer religious programs and research projects.
There is no church tax in China. The respective religious
communities finance themselves through donations and mainly through
intangible services provided by the respective religious order, for
example the joint construction or repair of buildings or the joint
management of gardens and agricultural land. There is no religious
instruction in schools, but since the end of the 1990s the opening of
privately run religious schools and kindergartens has been observed.
Since no one in China is supposed to officially profess a religious
denomination, there are no official figures and no reliable statistics
on the number of religious followers. All studies and projections by
Chinese and foreign institutions are based on estimates and surveys,
some of which differ considerably from one another. In addition, the
boundaries between the different faiths in China are often fluid. In
several Chinese regions, it is not unusual for believers to profess
different religions. There is a Chinese saying about this:
"A
Chinese is a Confucian when things are going well; he is a Taoist when
things are going badly; and he is a Buddhist when faced with death."
In this respect, the religious scene in China is very diverse and
can by no means be considered a homogenous culture. Shenism, a mixture
of religious and philosophical practices, is very widespread. Taoism and
Confucianism are two examples of philosophical beliefs in China that
contain religious elements. Aspects of ritual and belief about the
afterlife exist independently of the philosophies. Apart from the
European ones, the focus of all religions practiced in China has always
been not an invisible god, but life, the earth, happiness and harmony.
The People's Republic of China is an autocratically governed, centralist party dictatorship under President Xi Jinping. The Chinese state organization is formally anchored in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. According to this, the state is organized according to the "principle of democratic centralism". Although eight other political parties are permitted in the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China has leadership over all of these bloc parties within the framework of the united front. This means that the People's Republic of China is a socialist one-party state in which decisions are made first by the Communist Party of China. Only then are the fundamental political goals laid down in the constitution and the political guidelines implemented in the state apparatus. There is no separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial branches, but rather an interlocking of powers.
The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921 and has held party
congresses every five years since then to determine policy. The
Communist Party of China is led and represented by the General
Secretary, who usually also holds the position of President of the
People's Republic of China. Since 2012, Xi Jinping has been General
Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the Republic and
Supreme Commander of the Army. The Standing Committee of the Politburo,
which consists of seven people and is the center of power in the
People's Republic of China, is elected at the party congresses. The
Standing Committee is elected from the ranks of the Politburo, which has
25 members. The Politburo is elected every five years by the Central
Committee, which has around 200 members. The Central Committee is chosen
at the party congresses by the 3,000 delegates who attend. The delegates
are sent by the various party organizations. As soon as three party
members come together, they form a grassroots organization of the
Communist Party. The entire state apparatus is reflected in a parallel
structure within the party, i.e. within all state organs there are
parallel party organizations that make the actual decisions.
In
2016, the Communist Party of China had 89 million members. The
membership structure has changed in recent years, as party cadres,
workers, private entrepreneurs and a high proportion of students now
reflect the heterogeneity of Chinese society. Until 2014, party members
were selected based on their economic, political or academic position.
Since 2014, the criterion of "loyalty to the party" has been the
decisive factor for joining.
Under Xi Jinping, the Communist
Party aims to realize the "Chinese Dream". Document number 9, an
internal party strategy paper, warns against "influence from the Western
world". The beginning of the Xi era is also characterized by the rigid
"anti-corruption campaign" with which Xi will have made many enemies in
the party. At the party congress in autumn 2017, it was decided that the
limit of two terms for a presidency would be abolished. This decision
was included in the constitution at the National People's Congress in
2018. This means that Xi can remain President of the People's Republic
of China until the end of his life. This decision was seen as a step
back from the personal rule of Mao Zedong. Until Xi Jinping's
presidency, an internal party balance in the form of collective
leadership was assumed. With the abolition of the age limits, this
collective leadership was abandoned. This decision was justified by the
fact that "stability" took priority because there were "problems" with
the separation of party and state. Analysts assume that there were
factional struggles within the party at the end of the Hu Jintao era.
There are rumors that point to a foiled coup in 2011. With the
anti-corruption campaign, Xi has eliminated possible opponents, while at
the same time corruption is undermining the legitimacy of the Communist
Party, so that he has no other choice. However, he must have control
over politics and the economy to do this. Xi is putting political
control over economic growth. This puts the leadership in a dilemma,
however: on the one hand, they must prevent the arbitrary actions of the
oligarchic economic cliques by punishing corruption, but at the same
time they are dependent on these economic cliques to keep the state
apparatus functioning. During Xi Jinping's second term as head of state
and party in China, the personality cult surrounding him has increased
significantly across the country. The state media in China are
increasingly referring to Xi as the "core" of the Communist Party.
According to its constitution, the People's Republic of China is a
"socialist state under the democratic dictatorship of the people". The
constitutional amendments in 1993, 1999, 2004, 2012 and 2018 continue to
emphasize the absolute leadership of the party. In addition, the
preamble states that the "principle of the socialist market economy" is
to be pursued, private property and human rights are to be "protected"
and "rule by law" is to be sought. According to the constitution, the
highest state organ is the National People's Congress, the legislature
of the People's Republic of China. The deputies elect the president, the
prime minister and other leaders. It passes laws of fundamental
importance and votes on the executive's accounts. The National People's
Congress has around 3,000 deputies and usually meets once a year in
early March. The working organ of the People's Congress is the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress, which meets every two
months and passes most laws. Due to the lack of real power, the National
People's Congress is referred to as a voting machine, but there are also
controversies, such as the Three Gorges Dam project in 1992. Other
scientists therefore do not consider this description necessarily
justified, as dissenting voices have been raised - especially when it
comes to personnel decisions. People's congresses are elected at all
levels, i.e. at provincial, district and county level. The people to be
elected are specified by the party. In the past, free elections were
only possible at county and village level.
The Political
Consultative Conference of the People's Republic of China was founded in
1946 and was the legislative body of the People's Republic of China
until 1954. Since then, it has only had an advisory function. It meets
parallel to or after the National People's Congress every year in March.
The actual highest office in the People's Republic of China is that
of the President. He signs the laws passed by the National People's
Congress, which only then come into force. He also appoints and
dismisses the Prime Minister and his deputy, the State Commissioners and
the ministers. Only he can declare a state of war. Xi Jinping has been
President since 2013 and is also General Secretary of the CCP. As Prime
Minister, Li Qiang heads the State Council. Li Zhanshu is Chairman of
the National People's Congress.
The central administrative body
is the State Council. The Prime Minister heads the State Council and
directs its work. He is formally accountable as the State Council's
representative in the National People's Congress. Four Vice-Premiers,
State Secretaries and the Ministers support the Prime Minister and are
responsible to him. The provinces and autonomous regions have their own
governments and people's congresses. The structure, working methods and
powers of the provincial governments correspond in basic structure to
the central government level.
The administrative structure consists of six levels. They are divided
below the national level as follows:
Provincial level with 22
provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities directly
under the central government. The two special administrative regions of
Hong Kong and Macau are also located at this level. They are
administered according to the principle of one country, two systems and
have their own constitutions and laws. In addition, 15 cities have
special economic zones with special rights. According to the official
representation of the People's Republic of China, Taiwan is the 23rd
province of the People's Republic.
District level with 45 autonomous
districts and aimags and 288 prefecture-level cities.
County level
with 1,596 counties, autonomous counties, banners and special areas as
well as 361 county-level cities and 897 urban districts.
Municipality
level with 32,685 large towns, municipalities, ethnic communities and
sums, as well as 7,696 street districts.
Village level with an
unknown number. At this lowest level, state power is exercised in the
Danweis, which form the lowest level of the executive.
The
central government sets policy with orders and framework laws. However,
these are not legally binding for the local governments; instead, they
implement the policy with their own legislation through their people's
congresses. Sanctions for non-compliance are only possible in the form
of personnel decisions. Article 89 of the constitution gives the State
Council the authority to revise norms or decisions of the local
authority. However, conflicts of authority are not openly resolved.
Conflicts are settled in negotiations between the central and local
governments. This is why the People's Republic has sometimes been
described as "informal federalism". With the inauguration of Xi Jinping,
recentralization is intended. There are no steps towards formal
federalism. However, the administrative structures are fragmented, so
that "governing through" is not possible; instead, every political
decision is implemented "on a negotiated basis" or not.
In the Chinese hierarchy of norms, the decisions of the Communist
Party of China are above those of the legal bodies. At the national
level, laws are passed by the National People's Congress and its
Standing Committee. These laws are then incorporated into their own laws
by the local people's congresses. The implementation of the central
guidelines at the local level is only examined by an examination
commission of the National People's Congress, which is sent to the
provinces after prior notice.
According to the Chinese
constitution and the organizational law for people's courts, people's
courts are the organs of the state's jurisdiction. There are "people's
courts", intermediate people's courts, "special people's courts" and
higher people's courts at various levels. The highest legal authority is
the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, which oversees the jurisdiction
of the people's courts and interprets the case law.
Although Xi
Jinping has promised legal reforms, these do not correspond to a rule of
law, but use law as a means. Repression and censorship have increased
since he took office, although Chinese citizens are more aware of their
rights than they were 20 years ago and are trying to assert them. In
1999, Germany began a German-Chinese dialogue on the rule of law with
the People's Republic of China in order to exchange views on legal
issues.
The political goals are set out in five-year plans. They provide an
indication of the political direction for the next five years. The
current five-year plan runs from 2015 to 2020 and the new 14th five-year
plan, which covers the period from 2021 to 2025, is currently being
drawn up.
Under President Xi Jinping, restrictions have been
tightened in all areas since 2012. Fighting corruption has become
"essential" for the party, as corruption has increased significantly
with the economic reforms. Xi Jinping initiated the so-called
"anti-corruption campaign" in 2012. Numerous corruption proceedings have
been opened and high-ranking politicians (Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai) have
been convicted. Without the party's approval, these disciplinary
proceedings would not be possible. The downside of the anti-corruption
campaign is a civil service apparatus that is only partially functional
because it no longer makes decisions because the fear of being accused
of corruption paralyzes the officials. Since 2014, Operation Fox Hunt
has been used to persecute Chinese citizens abroad if they have fled
abroad with state funds. In principle, Xi has thus expanded the
anti-corruption campaign to the world. According to Transparency
International's Corruption Perceptions Index, the People's Republic of
China ranked 80th out of 180 countries in 2019.
Under Xi Jinping,
a system of neighborhood surveillance was revived during the COVID-19
pandemic. Households are organized into groups of 10 led by a leader,
such as a village cadre or a former cadre. This group division has
historical roots, but the new version comes from experiences in
Xinjiang. This neighborhood system is intended to exercise social
control.
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch accuse the People's Republic of numerous violations of
basic human rights. The human rights situation in the People's Republic
of China has been criticized, especially since the massacre on June 4,
1989 in Tian'anmen Square.
With thousands of executions, the
People's Republic of China is the country in the world where the death
penalty is carried out most frequently. The exact figures can only be
estimated, as the actual number of executions is a state secret.
Formally, the Chinese government has largely ratified the United Nations
human rights conventions. According to Article 33, Paragraph 3 of the
Chinese Constitution of 2004, "the state respects and guarantees human
rights." According to the Chinese interpretation, the state "grant and
protects" human rights, but these must not be directed against the
interests of other citizens or "the state." This means that subjective
rights do not have priority in the People's Republic of China.
Particular attention was paid to cases such as the re-education camps in
Xinjiang, the oppression of Uighurs and Tibetans, the organ harvesting
of Falun Gong practitioners in China, the systems of "re-education
through labor" and "arrest and repatriation," the social credit system,
and birth control as part of the one-child policy.
In cities, surveillance cameras are being installed on a large scale on streets and public squares. While the Chinese state had installed an estimated 176 million cameras in the first half of 2017, the number of surveillance cameras doubled in the following year. Estimates of the number of cameras installed up to and including 2020 are between 567 and 600 million. The Chinese police use image and facial recognition software from Megvii and SenseTime, among others, to evaluate the images. At the same time, the social credit system was tested from 2020, in which citizens receive points for socially appropriate behavior and have points deducted for violations of morality or criticism of the party. Those with few social credit points are disadvantaged when booking travel tickets or similar. However, a nationwide social credit system for citizens was not introduced until 2023 and the concept was instead mainly applied to companies.
The foreign policy of the People's Republic of China is characterized
by the desire to be a world power and to secure geostrategic resources
and trade routes. As the second most populous country in the world, a
permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a nuclear power
and a growing economy, China is increasingly striving to participate in
all important global political issues and confidently pursues its
national interests. The People's Republic of China is a member of the
G20 and the BRICS states.
Since the end of the 2010s, according
to public opinion, China has been catching up with the USA as the second
superpower, and the conflict between the alliances of the two states is
sometimes referred to as the Second Cold War. The two China-led
organizations SCO and BRICS plus are increasingly seen as opponents of
the US-led NATO. In contrast to the first Cold War, Russia is now
China's junior partner.
An important project since 2013 has been
the New Silk Road Initiative ("One Belt, One Road"), which initially
sought to build a trade route from the People's Republic of China to
Europe along the old Silk Road. However, this trade route now extends
beyond this old Silk Road and now covers almost all parts of the world.
It is no longer limited to trade, but also aims to gain access to
resources and political and military influence. The investment projects
associated with this (such as the 17+1 initiative in Eastern Europe or
the port of Piraeus in Greece) are often used as a means of exerting
pressure. In this context, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
(AIIB) was founded in 2016 by the People's Republic of China. In 2011,
China replaced the USA as Africa's largest trading partner through its
development financing.
In relations with other states, the One
China doctrine is strictly adhered to: This means that any state that
wants to trade with the People's Republic of China or enter into
diplomatic relations with it must not recognize the Republic of China on
Taiwan as an independent state. Otherwise, he will have to expect
sanctions.
Since Donald Trump took office in 2016, Sino-American
relations have been at a low point. The trade conflict between the
United States and the People's Republic of China has existed since 2018
and, due to the close financial and economic ties between the two
states, has had serious consequences - including for the rest of the
world. There are also points of friction in the South China and East
China Seas, where China is becoming increasingly aggressive. Triggered,
among other things, by events related to the Taiwan conflict, tensions
between the two states regularly arose in the early 2020s.
Relations between China and South Korea and North Korea have become more
difficult since 2013. Since 2016, China has agreed to stricter UN
sanctions against North Korea, even though North Korea is a communist
state and a socialist "brother state". In principle, the People's
Republic wants to maintain the status quo, especially since a collapse
of North Korea is likely to result in a flood of refugees into the
People's Republic of China. Chinese-Japanese relations remain tense. The
dispute often erupts over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China
Sea. It also involves historical controversies and resources under
international law. Relations with other neighbors in the region, such as
the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei, are also tense,
partly due to the ownership disputes in the South China Sea.
Nevertheless, Chinese investments, some of them extensive, continue to
be made in all of these countries.
Relations with other
neighboring countries, such as Russia, have relaxed (also due to
overlapping geostrategic interests), but Chinese-Russian relations are
strained by historical disputes. Since Russia's attack on Ukraine,
however, China's state and party leadership have again moved closer to
Russia. Pakistan is a close ally of the People's Republic, see
Chinese-Pakistani relations. Chinese-Indian relations are
conflict-ridden due to territorial border disputes and have even led to
isolated military clashes in recent years. In September 2023, China and
Syria agreed on a "strategic partnership" between the two states.
Sino-German relations are characterized by close economic ties. In
the political sphere, regular consultations take place, such as the
German-Chinese Rule of Law Dialogue. However, areas of conflict have
also emerged in this relationship since 2016, such as a significant
increase in Chinese investments, which for the Germans is associated
with the fear of a drain of know-how (see, for example, the Kuka case),
China's refusal to submit to international law in the South China Sea
and, finally, China's open criticism of the liberal social model.
Chinese influence on other states and societies is therefore
increasingly referred to as a "systemic struggle".
During the
COVID-19 pandemic, there was criticism that China had withheld
information about the virus and put pressure on countries to distribute
medical supplies when they criticized China's foreign policy.
The Taiwan question is a problem from the Chinese civil war, in the
final phase of which the nationalist government retreated to the island
of Taiwan and established a military dictatorship there, while the
People's Republic was proclaimed on the mainland. The "return of Taiwan
to the People's Republic of China" is firmly anchored in Chinese
nationalism and is the goal of the Chinese leadership, even though
Taiwan was never part of the People's Republic. Alongside the conflict
on the Korean peninsula, the Taiwan question is the greatest security
policy challenge in East Asia.
Under the slogan of the One China
principle, the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that
there is only one China, but that there are different views on who the
legitimate government of this one China is. Since Deng Xiaoping, the
government of the People's Republic has intended to unite Taiwan with
the mainland under the principle of one country, two systems, whereby
Taiwan would be promised greater autonomy than Hong Kong after its
return by Great Britain. The Taiwanese population sees this as a
strategy of subjugation and distrusts the promises from Beijing. Beijing
reserves the right to use force under certain conditions, including
Taiwan's nuclear armament or concrete steps towards independence by the
government in Taipei. The military balance is constantly changing in
Beijing's favor. The USA has made a political commitment to support
Taiwan.
The People's Republic's strategy is to make Taiwan
economically dependent on the mainland, promote social exchange, isolate
Taiwan diplomatically, threaten the island militarily and influence the
USA in its favor. Since the beginning of the opening policy, Taiwanese
companies have invested more than 200 billion US dollars on the mainland
and employ around 14 million Chinese workers. Around 60 percent of
Taiwan's direct investments abroad go to the People's Republic; around a
quarter of Taiwan's foreign trade is conducted with the People's
Republic. Beijing's calculation that Taiwanese businesspeople and
companies would intervene with the Taiwanese government in Beijing's
favor has not worked, however.
Since Tsai Ing-wen of the
Democratic Progressive Party was elected as President of Taiwan in early
2016, relations have deteriorated as she seeks the status quo. Tsai was
re-elected in early 2020.
The Ministry of State Security (國家安全部 / 国家安全部, Guójiā Ānquánbù) is a tightly organized, civilian service responsible for foreign intelligence and internal security. It is subordinate to the State Council. Residencies for Chinese foreign intelligence are located in embassies or consulates, in Germany, for example, in the Chinese embassy in Berlin. The Military Intelligence Service, Department Two (Information) of the General Planning Department (Chinese: 總參謀部 / 总参谋部, Pinyin: Zǒngcānmóubù) of the People's Liberation Army, also maintains foreign missions.
The People's Liberation Army was founded in 1927 and helped the
Communist Party during the "revolutionary struggle" before 1949 and in
consolidating its rule after 1949. The People's Liberation Army is the
largest army in the world in terms of personnel. It consists of the
army, navy, air force and missile forces. The People's Republic of China
is a nuclear power. It has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
and declared an unconditional renunciation of first use.
The
Central Military Commission coordinates defense policy, formulates
military doctrine and assumes supreme command in the event of war. The
supreme commander is Xi Jinping as chairman of the Central Military
Commission. For 2017, the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute estimated that the People's Republic of China's military
expenditure was 1,544 billion yuan, or 1.9 percent of gross domestic
product. After the USA and Russia, the People's Republic of China ranks
third in global military spending (followed by India).
From the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 until the 1980s, all media were state-run. Even after the controlled opening of the market to private players, the state news agency Xinhua News Agency, the state television station China Central Television (CCTV) and People's Daily, the party organ of the Communist Party, dominated the media landscape. The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) ensure control and censorship. The mass media in the People's Republic of China mainly consists of television, radio, daily newspapers and magazines. From the 2000s onwards, the Internet became increasingly important for the dissemination of information and is extensively censored and monitored.
China's media are subject to strict censorship and are centrally controlled by daily directives from the government. Under head of state and party leader Xi Jinping, the Communist Party further expanded its comprehensive control over news and information with the help of the latest technology. In October 2021, a draft of market access positive lists announced that in future only media that are financed by the Communist Party will be allowed. Internationally, it promotes this repressive model as a "new world order of media". The many taboo topics that are censored include human rights violations and political protests. The People's Republic's internet censorship is considered one of the strictest in the world. Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Skype and Wikipedia are banned in China, and search engines filter out sensitive search queries for the government. Chinese social media apps are used in a targeted manner. In 2023, the organization Reporters Without Borders ranked the People's Republic 179th out of 180 in the press freedom rankings, just ahead of North Korea. The same organization reported the number of journalists imprisoned in China to date as 67 and the number of blogging citizen journalists imprisoned as 46.
A lively media scene has developed since the 1970s. While in the
1980s and 1990s it was still magazines, films and literature, since the
2000s online media have conquered the public. There is a wide range of
magazines and online platforms, services and online media. But this
should not disguise the fact that all media in the People's Republic are
censored. Many of these media are profitable companies that finance
themselves through advertising and have to cooperate with the Communist
Party.
The People's Daily (Chinese 人民日报, Pinyin Rénmín Rìbào) is
the state newspaper that reports the guidelines of the Communist Party.
Critical reports were found in Southern Weekly (Chinese 南方周末, pinyin
Nánfāng Zhōumò) and for finance in Caijin (Chinese 财经, pinyin Cáijīng)
and Caixin (Chinese 财新, pinyin Cáixīn). English-language newspapers
include China Daily and Global Times, the latter with a strongly
nationalist orientation.
China Central Television (CCTV) is the
state television, which broadcasts over 20 channels. Advertising revenue
secures the financing. Since 2018, CCTV, China National Radio (CNR) and
China Radio International (CRI) have merged to form the China Media
Group (Chinese 中央广播电视总台, Pinyin Zhōngyāng Guǎngbò Diànshì Zǒng Tái). CRI
also provides information in German on the Internet. Voice of China is
the broadcasting company for foreign countries, which has the rank of a
ministry. The Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of
China is responsible for content and administration. In 2020, the China
Film Administration, together with the China Association for Science and
Technology, published a guide to promoting the development of science
fiction films, highlighting this genre as an important growth area and a
new driving force for the high-quality development of the Chinese film
industry.
Due to the high number of mobile users, news portals
such as QQ.com, Sohu.com and Sina.com are used. Mobile apps are popular
in China. KuGou has around 450 million active users per month,
especially in rural areas, followed by QQ Music with 211 million and
KuWo with 108 million.
In September 2019, around 192 million households had a fixed telephone connection. This low number can be attributed to the fact that telephone connections were distributed restrictively in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and demand could not keep up with installation. The situation changed with the advent of mobile phones. In December 2018, the number of mobile phone contracts concluded in China was 1.57 billion. Of China's more than 800 million Internet users in 2018, 98 percent were mobile Internet users.
With a per capita income of 54 US dollars, the state was one of the
poorest countries in the world when it was founded in 1949. Over 80
percent of the population were landless farmers, day laborers and
migrant workers. With the start of economic reforms, living conditions
and prosperity improved from the 1980s onwards. According to the World
Bank, the People's Republic of China transformed from a developing
country to a country with an upper middle income level within 30 years.
The United Nations Development Program ranks the People's Republic of
China among the countries with high human development.
According
to the World Wealth Report, the number of US dollar millionaires in
China rose to 4.4 million people in 2019. This makes the People's
Republic of China one of the three countries with the most millionaires
in the world, behind the USA and Japan. Measured by population density,
more dollar millionaires lived in Hong Kong in 2016 than anywhere else
in the world.
In 2017, households had an average consumption
expenditure of 22,902 RMB (equivalent to just under 3,000 euros/as of
April 2020) per year. In cities, this figure was 31,032 RMB and in rural
areas, 11,704 RMB. Depending on the calculation method, the Gini
coefficient for income inequality is between 42.2 percent and 61
percent, although the World Bank considers values above 40 percent to
be worrying. In 1980, income inequality was still 32 percent. This
development is leading to dissatisfaction among the population and
social protests. The Chinese government is trying to counteract this
with social policy measures such as surveillance and censorship.
Chinese millennials have high expectations to meet from their parents,
employers and the authoritarian state. Due to the one-child policy, they
have to support their own parents in old age, work according to the
slogan 996 - from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a
week - and should be happy through work, according to Xi Jinping. This
led to a movement called lying flat (Chinese: 躺平; pinyin: Tǎng píng), in
which millions of people want to withdraw and live their own lives.
The social safety net consists of state-organized social insurance,
which covers the risks of illness, old age, unemployment, accidents and
maternity, and social assistance, which provides a livelihood. Although
a social insurance law came into force nationwide in 2011, the specific
design of the various social insurance branches depends on the
respective local government. State social insurance only insures
employees. In 2009, voluntary health insurance was introduced for
children, students, the self-employed, the rural population and
generally for every citizen who is not an employee. The state pays half
of the contributions and the other half is paid by the insured person,
who can take out this insurance voluntarily. In this way, the Chinese
government wants to integrate the entire Chinese population into health
care by 2020.
The phenomenon of urban poverty has been occurring
in the People's Republic since the end of the 1990s, so a state social
assistance system was set up. Securing a livelihood is part of social
assistance. This includes disaster relief, support for poor areas and
for low-income families, which is primarily provided as maintenance for
poor and single elderly people, the disabled and orphans. The assistance
is provided in the form of services, benefits in kind and cash. The
prerequisite for receiving the benefit is that they have no right to
maintenance payments from relatives in accordance with the principle of
subsidiarity. The head of a needy family must apply for a minimum
subsistence allowance to the relevant authority or the residents'
committee, which will monitor the information on his or her personal
situation. Personal and social controls are provided by the residents'
committee. Field research results show that subsistence allowances are
used to influence former prisoners or dissidents in their views on the
state. A draft social assistance law exists, but it has not yet been
passed.
When the People's Republic was founded, life expectancy was an
average of 40 years. This was due to poor nutrition, a lack of medical
care and the associated high prevalence of communicable diseases. The
average life expectancy of the Chinese population rose to 76.34 years by
2015 due to better living conditions and medical care. Obesity,
respiratory diseases, cancer, stroke, heart attack, smoking and
unhealthy eating also contribute to health impairments in China.
Tuberculosis remains one of the most threatening infectious diseases in
China. The SARS pandemic in 2002/2003 revealed the deficiencies in the
health system. The COVID-19 pandemic in the People's Republic of China
began in the city of Wuhan in December 2019. It developed from China
into a global COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2017, there were around
28,000 hospitals nationwide, around 4,000 clinics for traditional
Chinese medicine, 37,015 medical stations, 33,965 local health stations
and 195,176 outpatient clinics. The institutions are financed through
health insurance contributions, government subsidies and the sale of
medicines. The provision of sufficient specialists is problematic, which
is partly due to the payment of medical staff. This leads to a low
quality of medical treatment.
IT solutions such as e-health
systems, telehealth and e-learning are seen in strategy papers as a
possible solution for greater efficiency in hospitals.
A central
health protection institution is the Chinese Center for Disease Control
and Prevention. This institution works with foreign research
institutions.
Since 2016, the central government has been
increasingly promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in order to
reduce health care expenditure.
The Ministry of Education in Beijing is responsible for the education
sector. The provinces and autonomous regions are responsible for shaping
education policy (“cultural sovereignty”). As in many other public
areas, the education administration of the People's Republic of China
has been heavily deregulated: competencies have been transferred to
lower levels, and these have autonomously implemented the educational
standards in terms of finances, personnel and content. Education
spending in the People's Republic of China has increased significantly
since 2005. In 2017, 4.14 percent of gross domestic product was invested
in education. This puts China roughly on a par with Germany; however,
both countries invest significantly less than the OECD annual average of
5.3 percent.
In 2001, the People's Republic of China achieved a
literacy rate of 98 percent of the population. Since 2009, China has
regularly ranked among the top ten in the PISA study results tables. The
school system includes preschools, primary schools and secondary
schools, which are attended for a total of at least nine and a maximum
of twelve years, as well as universities. In addition to the public
schools, an extensive network of private schools has been created. The
problem is that schoolchildren in rural areas in particular suffer from
iron deficiency, parasitic intestinal worms and do not have glasses,
which makes it difficult for them to learn. In rural areas, 53% of
babies and toddlers fail the Bayley test and therefore do not have
adequate cognitive, linguistic and emotional skills for their age, which
affects their ability to learn at school. The reasons for this are poor
nutrition and the way parents treat their children, as they neither
speak to the children nor encourage them to interact.
Primary
school generally lasts six years. Subjects include Chinese, mathematics,
sports, natural sciences, music and art; English is taught from the 3rd
grade onwards. Secondary education takes place in general or technical
secondary schools and is divided into three years of lower secondary and
three years of upper secondary. Chinese, mathematics, a compulsory
foreign language (usually English), physics, chemistry, biology,
technology, IT, sports, art, music, ethics, economics, history and
geography are taught here. Since the early 1990s, in response to the
Tian'anmen massacre, the Patriotic Education Campaign has been carried
out in schools. As part of this campaign, the view of China's history
and culture was changed in a nationalist direction. China's long history
and the emergence of a wealthy, powerful nation-state are emphasized.
Nationalism is seen as a spiritual pillar of the communist state. Any
criticism of the Chinese Communist Party is therefore seen as an attack
on the Chinese people. In November 2019, these guidelines for
nationalist education were renewed in response to the protests in Hong
Kong in order to strengthen national identity.
The Gao Kao refers
to the final examination in the Chinese secondary system, which enables
study at universities. This examination is the final examination of the
twelve-year school education and is comparable to the Abitur in Germany.
This final examination determines admission to one of the renowned
universities; many parents therefore invest a lot of time and money in
their children's education so that they can pass this exam as well as
possible.
According to the official statistics of the Chinese
Ministry of Education, there were 2,956 state-recognized higher
education institutions (universities and colleges), 292 institutions for
adult higher education and 813 other tertiary education institutions in
China in 2019. In 1995, the Chinese Ministry of Education passed Project
211 and in 1998 Project 985, which specifically supported universities.
Both programs were discontinued in September 2017 and replaced by the
Double Excellence Program in order to reach the level of top Western
universities by the middle of the 21st century. The teaching staff
comprised 2.4 million teachers, most of whom have doctorates. The
proportion of women in the teaching staff is almost 49 percent. In
principle, university studies are subject to fees, although there are
several options for scholarships, loans or - especially for the rural
population - tuition fee waiver.
In 2017, 38 million Chinese were
enrolled at universities. Almost 8 million completed their studies with
a bachelor's, master's or PhD in 2017. By comparison: in Germany, almost
three million people study, compared to 20 million across Europe. In
absolute terms, the People's Republic is the largest university nation
in the world. Finding a job after a university degree is becoming
increasingly difficult. Therefore, in February 2019, the State Council
passed the plan to implement the reform of national vocational training.
The measures aim to obtain professional qualifications and strengthen
cooperation with companies.
In recent years, controls on
universities and scientists have become more stringent. In some cases,
lecture halls are monitored with cameras and professors are denounced by
students if they deviate from the views of the Communist Party.
In 2018, the service sector accounted for 52 percent of gross
domestic product, the industrial sector over 40 percent, and agriculture
7 percent. Of China's almost 900 million workers in 2019, 45.1 percent
were employed in the service sector, 28.3 percent in industry, and 26.6
percent in agriculture.
With the Made in China 2025 strategy, the
People's Republic of China has been trying since 2015 to promote key
industries in order to achieve global market leadership in these and
become technologically independent from foreign countries. The massive
state support has been criticized by foreign companies and states; the
term Made in China 2025 is avoided by the Chinese leadership (as of
2019). The People's Republic of China has since been seen by foreign
countries as a systemic competitor.
The Chinese financial system
is state-managed. In addition to the People's Bank of China, which acts
as the central bank, and the Ministry of Finance, both of which are
subordinate to the State Council, there are so-called commercial banks
that implement government policies. The Bank of China is one of the four
large state-owned banks, alongside ICBC, China Construction Bank and the
Agricultural Bank of China. They are responsible for granting loans,
which are primarily given to state-owned companies. There are also
so-called shadow banks, which are closely linked to the state-owned
banks. Their job is to grant loans to private entrepreneurs. There are
stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen as well as in the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region.
In the past, China's strength as a
manufacturing location was mainly due to the comparatively low wages; an
advantage that has diminished in recent years due to sharp increases in
wages. China is no longer a low-wage country. The strengths of the
Chinese economy now lie in advanced production know-how and supply chain
management. This gives rise to fears that China could get caught in the
so-called middle-income trap.
The People's Republic of China is the second largest economy in the world after the USA, and in terms of purchasing power parity, the largest since 2016. The gross domestic product (GDP) was 15.27 trillion US dollars in 2019. China's economy officially grew by 6.1 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. However, Chinese analysts suspect significantly lower growth. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the People's Republic of China, Prime Minister Li Keqiang expects growth of less than three percent for 2020. Public debt as a percentage of GDP officially rose to 60.9 percent in China in 2019. Abroad, China's total debt of the government, companies and households is estimated at just under 243 percent of 2017 GDP. Inflation was 2.4 percent in 2019.
China has 10 percent of the world's arable land and thus has to feed
22 percent of the world's population. Agriculture is an important
economic sector in China, accounting for around 7 percent of GDP in
2019, and employs over 300 million farmers. Small farmers account for
around 80 percent of the country's food supply. The farms are either
state-owned or small family businesses. Experts are in favor of
restructuring, but analysts believe it is unlikely that the Communist
Party would allow this.
China mainly produces rice, wheat,
potatoes, tomatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton,
oilseeds, corn and soybeans. It also produces meat, mainly pork. For
meat production, China needs feed, especially soybeans, which the
country imports. Before the outbreak of African swine fever, China was
one of the world's largest exporters of pork. Since the outbreak in
China in 2018, it has been importing pork, especially from Germany and
Spain.
As part of the Made in China 2025 strategy, Chinese companies, both
state-owned and private, are to develop away from traditional industries
such as mechanical engineering or aviation and towards new technologies
such as artificial intelligence. More than 530 industrial parks with
smart factoring have been created. Big data, cloud computing and green
manufacturing are on the agenda. The People's Republic of China wants to
move from being the world's workshop to becoming a global technology
power. In some areas, such as electric batteries, the People's Republic
of China has had a global market share of over 50 percent since 2017. In
2015, BYD was the world leader in the sale of electrically rechargeable
vehicles. The introduction of compulsory quotas for the production of
electric cars has led to a sharp increase in sales, making China the
world market leader in electric cars. From 2019, all domestic and
foreign car companies in China must produce ten percent of their total
production as electric vehicles, and from 2020, twelve percent.
In key industries such as telecommunications, shipbuilding, aviation and
high-speed trains, the share of state-owned companies is 83 percent,
while in automotive and electronics companies it is only 45 percent.
Private companies are considered innovative. The ZTE Corporation and
smartphone manufacturer Huawei have filed the most application patents
worldwide since 2015. Nevertheless, China is dependent on foreign
countries in some key industries, as was shown in the chip industry, for
example.
In October 2022, the US government imposed export
restrictions on high-tech computer chips to China. Machines for the
production of special semiconductors are also affected. This de facto
initially cut off the People's Republic from the supply of
state-of-the-art computer chips, such as those needed for cutting-edge
scientific research and space and military technology. The US government
justified the move, among other things, with the Chinese government's
pursuit of military supremacy and its use of cutting-edge technology to
monitor the population. US President Joe Biden's National Security
Advisor Jake Sullivan explained that the aim was to keep China at a
technological distance. In January 2023, media reports revealed that the
governments of Japan and the Netherlands were also joining China's
semiconductor restrictions.
Start-up companies are financially
supported in the innovation industry and high-tech sector by receiving
loans from state-owned banks. There is a high willingness to take risks
when founding new companies. In 2018, venture capital invested in China
amounted to 107 billion dollars. Overall, more is invested in the
start-up scene than in the USA, for example. The metropolis of Shenzhen,
which has a population of millions, is home to centers of the high-tech
industry, entrepreneurship, innovation and the start-up scene. The city
is the global center for computer companies and has earned a name for
itself as the Silicon Valley for start-ups. Well-known start-ups in
Shenzhen include Huawei, Tencent, DJI (company), Ubtech Robotics,
SenseTime and Ping An Insurance. Companies such as Apple,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Nintendo, Olympus, Panasonic,
Pioneer, SAP and Siemens not only produce most of their hardware in
Shenzhen, but are increasingly relocating their software development to
the economic metropolis on the Pearl River Delta.
The
construction industry plays a central role in the Chinese economy:
housing construction has contributed around 10% to gross domestic
product in recent years, more than in any other country. The
construction boom is fueled by the fact that Chinese employees are
obliged to pay into a state building savings fund.
Before the start of economic reforms in 1978, China's service sector
was characterized by state-owned enterprises, rationing and regulated
prices - with the reform came private markets, individual entrepreneurs
and a commercial sector. Wholesale and retail trade developed and
numerous shopping centers, retail stores, restaurant chains and hotels
were built in urban areas. Tourism has also become a significant
economic factor.
In 2018, the number of Internet users was over
800 million people. The majority of the Chinese population shops via
e-commerce, 40 percent of global online trade is carried out in China.
Corporations such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi are among the
largest technology companies in the world. The high level of acceptance
is facilitated by mobile payment systems such as Alipay or WeChat Pay.
The so-called Singles' Day, November 11th, was launched by Alibaba and
regularly achieves record sales. The state promotes e-commerce in rural
areas as a kind of poverty project. So-called Taobao villages produce
for online trade. This creates an effective infrastructure, such as in
logistics, and the rural population is given employment opportunities.
On December 11, 2001, China was admitted as the 143rd member of the
World Trade Organization (WTO). The status of the People's Republic of
China as a "free market economy" is controversial. Strict conditions
were imposed on the People's Republic. China received a contractual
assurance from the WTO that it would receive free market economy status
after 15 years at the latest. Before this deadline expired, several
countries, including Australia, Brazil and South Africa, recognized the
Chinese economic system as a free market economy. In contrast, the
United States officially informed the WTO at the end of 2016 that it
would refuse to recognize China because without market economy status,
trading partners can more easily impose tariffs. As part of the America
First policy promoted by Donald Trump since November 2016, decisive
action is to be taken against the large trade deficit between the two
countries by levying tariffs of up to 45 percent. The trade conflict
between the United States and the People's Republic of China has been
escalating since 2018.
While some EU states are also denying
China status, export-strong nations such as Great Britain, Germany and
Sweden are of the opinion that after almost twenty years of membership
in the World Trade Organization, China can no longer be denied the
status of a market economy, especially since other countries such as
Russia and Saudi Arabia, which have also joined the WTO, have been
classified as "free market economies". However, the EU has not yet
recognized China as a market economy because it would then have to lift
its anti-dumping duties. Chinese state subsidies and violations of
intellectual property rights are controversial. For Germany, the
Federation of German Industries published a position paper in 2019 in
which the People's Republic of China is described as a partner and
systemic competitor. According to a study published in 2021 by the
German Economic Institute (IW), the People's Republic of China is
increasingly competing with the German economy on the European market,
including in sophisticated industrial goods such as cars and modern
machinery, with Chinese industry benefiting from unfair competitive
conditions, according to this study.
A Comprehensive Agreement on
Investment (CAI), which was negotiated at the end of 2020, is on hold
due to Chinese "sanctions against a number of EU MPs" and against
Lithuania.
Until the end of 2024, the retirement age in China will be one of the lowest in the world. On January 1, 2025, the People's Republic of China will raise the retirement age for female workers from 50 to 55 years, and for female employees from 55 to 58 years; from then on, men will no longer have to work until 60, but until 63.
The economic boom in China is accompanied by serious environmental
problems. In 2018, the People's Republic was only ranked 120th out of
180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index.
China's
"ecological footprint" has doubled since the middle of the last century.
High energy consumption causes high levels of air pollution. In 2005,
the People's Republic of China overtook the USA in CO2 emissions for the
first time and in 2018 was by far the world leader with a value of 11.2
billion tons. In 2013, record levels of over 800 micrograms of fine dust
per cubic meter of air were measured in several cities in northern
China; 30 times the level that the World Health Organization considers
harmless.
As a result of the severe environmental pollution,
groundwater is polluted in many places. Dam projects and high water
consumption are leading to falling groundwater levels and the
disappearance of lakes. Soil erosion and desertification are increasing,
resulting in the loss of vegetation and arable and forest areas.
China ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 and the Paris Climate
Agreement in 2016. Although individual Chinese cities are still
regularly hit by heavy smog, pollution levels are demonstrably
decreasing. According to Greenpeace, in the last quarter of 2017,
pollution levels in Beijing, for example, fell by 53.8 percent compared
to the previous year. However, over the entire period from 1750 to
today, China's contribution to the greenhouse effect is still far behind
that of the industrialized countries. In terms of per capita CO2
emissions, China has been ahead of Germany and the European Union since
2020. The Chinese government has announced that it will reduce annual
CO2 emissions by 2030 at the latest. The People's Republic is to be
climate neutral by 2060.
A reformed environmental protection law
that has been in place since 2015 allows civil society organizations to
file "lawsuits in the public interest" against construction projects or
other projects that endanger the environment.
The share of research expenditure in 2017 was 2.17 percent of GDP. Research and internationalization were driven forward, especially in technical and scientific subjects: Most of the recognized patents came from China in 2016 (1.2 million). In 2023, China overtook the USA in the Nature Index, which measures the share of published articles in leading scientific journals worldwide. The most important non-university research institution is the Chinese Academy of Sciences with 124 research institutes. In addition to space travel, research areas include nuclear fusion, quantum computing and geoengineering. In the humanities, particular emphasis is placed on archaeology.
The launch of the Dong Fang Hong I satellite on April 24, 1970 marked
the beginning of Chinese space travel's presence in space. The People's
Republic of China's lunar program was approved on January 24, 2004, and
Chang'e 1 entered lunar orbit on November 5, 2007. The first lunar
landing took place on December 14, 2013 with the unmanned Chang'e 3
probe. On January 3, 2019, Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the moon
for the first time in the history of space travel, and on December 16,
2020, the return capsule of Chang'e 5 brought around 1.7 kg of lunar
dust and rock samples back to Earth. On May 14, 2021, the Zhurong rover
landed on Mars.
On October 15, 2003, Yang Liwei made the first
manned Chinese space flight, and on June 18, 2012, the crew of Shenzhou
9 put China's first space laboratory, Tiangong 1, into operation. On
April 29, 2021, the construction of the permanently occupied Chinese
space station began with the launch of the Tianhe core module. A year
and a half later, on November 3, 2022, the first expansion phase was
completed. On October 30, 2000, the construction of the Beidou global
satellite navigation system began and was completed on June 23, 2020.
The People's Republic of China invested heavily in the country's
infrastructure in the 2000s. Most projects are financed by the state to
promote economic growth. The expansion of infrastructure is also
necessary because the state's targets are an urbanization rate of 70
percent by 2030. All parts of China, with the exception of certain
remote areas of Tibet, can be reached by rail, road, water or air.
In addition to the national projects, President Xi Jinping initiated
the international infrastructure project One Belt, One Road in 2013,
which is intended to revive the Silk Road and expand to other
continents.
With the economic development of the People's Republic of China,
energy consumption has increased; China is the world's largest energy
consumer. The demand is primarily met by coal-fired power plants. These
pollute the air in cities and metropolitan areas, for example in
Beijing, considerably, especially in the cold season. There are numerous
nuclear power plants in China.
The aim for 2020 was to achieve an
energy mix in which the share of coal in the energy mix was to be less
than 60 percent, that of non-fossil fuels more than 15 percent and that
of gas more than 10 percent. In 2019, China generated 348.1 TWh of
electricity from nuclear energy, 18.1 percent more than in 2018. Two new
reactors were put into operation in 2019 (Haiyang and Yangjiang) and two
more in 2020 (Tianwan and Taishan). In March 2019, 46 nuclear reactors
with a capacity of 42.8 GW were in operation in China and 11 reactors
with a capacity of 10.8 GW were under construction.
In 2021,
China's wind turbines had a total installed capacity of 338.31 GW, of
which 310.63 GW was onshore (39.8% of global onshore wind power
capacity) and 27.68 GW offshore (48.4% of global offshore wind power
capacity). Compared to China's previous year's figures of 279.96 GW
onshore (39% of global capacity) and 10.78 GW offshore (28% of global
capacity), these were increases of 11.0% and 157% respectively. China
led the expansion of wind energy in 2021: 42% of the newly installed
onshore turbines in 2021 were built in China, and 80% of the newly
installed offshore capacity was built in Chinese maritime territory, and
China was also the leader by a clear margin in terms of wind energy
inventory.
In the first two quarters of 2024, an average of 5 GWp
of solar and wind energy was installed in China per week. The People's
Republic thus reached its publicly announced expansion target for
renewable energies by 2030 6.5 years earlier. Hydroelectric and
battery-electric storage make up the majority of the storage power
plants required.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the
infrastructure was largely destroyed by the consequences of the war. The
rail network could only be expanded slowly. In view of the continuing
major bottlenecks, significant investments have been made in railway
infrastructure and vehicles since the turn of the millennium. The
railway, which is the most important means of long-distance transport,
was able to use 120,970 kilometers of rail in 2016. Between 2008 and
2018, China built the world's largest high-speed rail network with
29,000 km of track. In 2018, China spent 803 billion RMB on railway
projects. Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced in March 2019 that a
further 800 billion RMB would be invested. The development of
self-driving train technology is to be accelerated. In cities with more
than 3 million inhabitants, inner-city rail transport is handled by
subway systems or tram systems.
As the network is expanded,
passenger numbers are increasing; in 2018, 3.3 billion passengers were
transported (9 percent more than in 2017). The transport performance in
freight transport was around 4 trillion tonne-kilometers.
In 2016, China had over four million kilometers of roads, some of which are in very poor condition and have been expanded and improved since the 1990s. In the 1990s, a national plan was drawn up for highway construction. Since then, construction has been underway on the so-called 7-9-18 highway network. In this network, seven highways radiate out from Beijing; There are nine highways running north-south and 18 highways running west-east. A special achievement is the construction of the Beijing-Lhasa highway. In 2018, there were approximately 206 million cars registered in China. In order to reduce the environmental impact of car traffic, the Chinese government is promoting the production and use of alternatively powered vehicles.
According to forecasts by the International Air Transport
Association, Chinese civil aviation will become the world's largest
market, measured in commercial passenger kilometers, by 2020 at the
latest. Since 2014, the ten most frequently used air routes in the world
have been in Asia. The number one connection is the Hong Kong-Taipei
connection, with more than five million travelers annually, with the
majority of mainland Chinese flying to Taiwan via Hong Kong. Hong Kong
is also proving to be a hub for flights to Singapore, Shanghai, Seoul,
Bangkok and Beijing. In 2015, the civil aviation industry in China
transported 436 million people and 85.2 billion tonne-kilometers.
At the end of 2015, China's general aviation sector comprised more
than 300 airports. The new Beijing Daxing Airport opened 46 kilometers
south of Beijing city center in September 2019. In 2015, work began on
the construction of Nagqu Dagring Airport, which was scheduled to open
in 2019, but construction work was halted for the time being due to
technical problems. A further 50 airports are under construction
throughout China and are due to be completed by 2021 at the latest. In
2016, there were 28 airports in China, each of which handled over ten
million passengers annually. The two airports in Shanghai, Hongqiao and
Pudong, together exceeded the 100 million passenger mark in 2015. With
over 94 million passengers annually, Beijing Capital International
Airport was the airport with the second highest passenger volume in the
world in 2016, surpassed only by Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta
International Airport.
The Chinese commercial aircraft
manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) plans to
be the first Chinese manufacturer to manufacture and sell commercial
aircraft on a large scale itself. The C919 aircraft developed by COMAC
is a direct challenge to the Boeing 737 and the Airbus 320, previously
the best-selling passenger jets in the world. On May 3, 2017, the Comac
C919 successfully made its maiden flight, opening up demand for the
Chinese jumbo jet on the domestic market. In 2016, there were a total of
281 airlines in the People's Republic of China transporting passengers
or cargo, 36 of which are state-owned. In 2007, the state-owned airlines
were merged with service providers to form six conglomerates: Air China
Group, China Eastern Group, China Southern Group, TravelSky, China
National Aviation Fuel Group and China Aviation Supplies Holding
Company.
Major private airlines include Cathay Pacific, Hainan
Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Qingdao Airlines, Juneyao Airlines
and Urumqi Air. The market was opened to private providers in 2005. The
aircraft of all Chinese airlines are mostly modern, the majority of them
no older than five years.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,
China's government has largely closed the People's Republic's borders.
The number of international flights to and from China has since fallen
by around 95 percent. In the 2022/23 winter flight schedule, only 5
percent of international connections were planned compared to 2019.
Transport in China is characterized by inland and coastal shipping.
There are 126,300 kilometers of navigable rivers and canals in China.
The most important transport routes are the Yangtze, the Pearl River and
the Grand Canal. There are more than 20 deep-water ports on the 18,000
km long coast that are ice-free even in winter. In 2014, half of the
cargo was handled by water. Overseas cargo accounted for 60% of the
volume of all Chinese water freight. 26% was transported by coastal
shipping and 14% by inland waterways. In 2014, 3.5 billion tons of cargo
were handled in inland ports.
The development plan for China's
waterways and ports for the period 2007-2020 envisages that the
transport volume should be increased by 40 percent from 2007 to 2010 and
doubled again from 2010 to 2020.
In 2017, of the 20 largest ports
in the world by container throughput, 9 were in China. Since 2009, the
port of Shanghai has been the largest in the world by cargo throughput.