China 2016 Country Review http://www.countrywatch.com Table of Contents Chapter 1 1 Country Overview 1 Country Overview 2 Key Data 3 China 4 Asia 5 Chapter 2 7 Political Overview 7 History 8 Political Conditions 13 Political Risk Index 54 Political Stability 68 Freedom Rankings 84 Human Rights 95 Government Functions 99 Government Structure 100 Principal Government Officials 104 Leader Biography 105 Leader Biography 105 Foreign Relations 118 National Security 145 Defense Forces 148 Appendix: Hong Kong 150 Appendix: Taiwan 173 Appendix: Macau 208 Chapter 3 220 Economic Overview 220 Economic Overview 221 Nominal GDP and Components 224 Population and GDP Per Capita 226 Real GDP and Inflation 227 Government Spending and Taxation 228 Money Supply, Interest Rates and Unemployment 229 Foreign Trade and the Exchange Rate 230 Data in US Dollars 231 Energy Consumption and Production Standard Units 232 Energy Consumption and Production QUADS 234 World Energy Price Summary 236 CO2 Emissions 237 Agriculture Consumption and Production 238 World Agriculture Pricing Summary 241 Metals Consumption and Production 242 World Metals Pricing Summary 245 Economic Performance Index 246 Chapter 4 258 Investment Overview 258 Foreign Investment Climate 259 Foreign Investment Index 261 Corruption Perceptions Index 274 Competitiveness Ranking 285 Taxation 294 Stock Market 296 Partner Links 297 Chapter 5 298 Social Overview 298 People 299 Human Development Index 305 Life Satisfaction Index 309 Happy Planet Index 320 Status of Women 329 Global Gender Gap Index 333 Culture and Arts 342 Etiquette 352 Travel Information 354 Diseases/Health Data 365 Chapter 6 371 Environmental Overview 371 Environmental Issues 372 Environmental Policy 373 Greenhouse Gas Ranking 375 Global Environmental Snapshot 386 Global Environmental Concepts 397 International Environmental Agreements and Associations 411 Appendices 435 Bibliography 436 China Chapter 1 Country Overview China Review 2016 Page 1 of 448 pages China Country Overview CHINA China is the oldest continuous major world civilization, with records dating back about 3,500 years. Prior to early 20th century, China was ruled by dozens of successive dynasties. With the weakening of the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century, prosperity diminished and China suffered massive social strife and economic stagnation. A revolutionary military uprising in October 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty and ended the monarchy system in China, but in the next few decades China continued to suffer from internal conflicts. In 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded after the Communist Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang in a civil war. China embarked on a market-oriented economic reform in the late 1970s that brought significant changes to the country. As a result, living standards for much of the population have improved dramatically, although political freedom remains limited. With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China is the most populous country in the world. China is also the fastest growing economy in the world, with GDP expanding at an annual average rate of around nine percent over the past two decades. Benefiting from increased access to foreign markets since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has become one of the world’s largest trading countries as well as a global economic force. China Review 2016 Page 2 of 448 pages China Key Data Key Data Region: Asia Population: 1361512576 Extremely diverse; tropical in south, desert in the northwest and subarctic in Climate: north, among other typologies. Standard Chinese or Mandarin Yue (Cantonese) Wu (Shanghaiese) Languages: Minbei (Fuzhou) Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese) Various other dialects Currency: 1 yuan (Y) = 10 jiao Holiday: National Day is 1 October (1949), Children's Day is 1 June Area Total: 9596960 Area Land: 9326410 Coast Line: 14500 China Review 2016 Page 3 of 448 pages China China Country Map China Review 2016 Page 4 of 448 pages China Asia Regional Map China Review 2016 Page 5 of 448 pages China China Review 2016 Page 6 of 448 pages China Chapter 2 Political Overview China Review 2016 Page 7 of 448 pages China History A Brief History of China China has a recorded history of about 3,500 years, and it is the oldest continuous major world civilization. Prior to early 20th century, China was ruled by dozens of successive dynasties. The first prehistoric dynasty was the Xia Dynasty, from about 2,000 to 1,500 B.C.E. The bureaucratic system of the Chinese dynasties brought about an agrarian civilization more advantageous over neighboring nomadic and hill cultures. The development of the Confucian ideology further strengthened the Chinese civilization, reaching its peak in various aspects during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.). During this period, the Confucian ideals of government were adopted as the creed of the Han Empire, and Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service. With initiation of a civil service examination system, intellectual, literary and artistic endeavors flourished. Two of the great Chinese technological inventions, paper and porcelain, were also dated in this period. On the other hand, China's history of the dynastic period was also full of records of conquest by neighboring nomadic tribes, such as by the Mongols in the 13th century and by the Manchus in the 17th century. Whenever this was the case, however, the conquerors would adopt the more influential Chinese civilization in ruling the country, adding new elements into the Chinese culture. The last Chinese Dynasty was the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty established in 1644 when the nomadic Manchus invaded China and overthrew the Ming Dynasty. During the 19th century, the power of the Qing Dynasty declined, accompanied with economic stagnation and social unrest. With weakened control of the Chinese government, the Western countries began to seek economic opportunities there. As opium was one of the significant trading items for the British with China, its desire to continue the trade and the Chinese government's prohibiting of the trade resulted in the First Opium War in 1840. After China lost the war, Britain and other Western powers occupied Chinese territories by China's concessions for special commercial privileges. In 1842, China and Britain signed the Treaty of China Review 2016 Page 8 of 448 pages China Nanking by which Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. In 1898 Britain executed a 99-year lease of the New Territories, thus expanding the size of the Hong Kong colony. In contrast with the Western world, China lagged behind in the 19th century science and technology development. As a result, the Western countries were able to conquer the old civilization with their superior economic and military powers, obtaining more economic and political privileges from China. A group of reformist Chinese government officials arose who suggested adopting Western technology to strengthen the Chinese empire and counter the Western economic and technological attacks. But the Qing government refused to accept these ideas, ignoring the significance of technology development as well as the Western threat. In spite of the government's resistance to reform, the reformers, inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen, advocated the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. On Oct. 10, 1911, a revolutionary military uprising led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, thus ending the monarchy system in China. In order to prevent a civil war, the revolutionaries allowed high officials of the Qing Dynasty to retain their positions in the new republic government. As a result, Gen. Yuan Shikai was chosen as the republic's first president. After coming to power, however, Yuan Shikai attempted to restore the dynasty system by becoming an emperor himself, but failed to realize his dream before he died in 1916. Yuan's death resulted in the division of the country ruled by various warlords competing with each other while controlling certain provinces. To reunite the fragmented nation, Sun Yat-sen established a revolutionary base in southern China in the 1920s. He organized the KMT, the Chinese Nationalist People's Party, and aligned with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to begin the anti-warlords war. Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, and was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek. Soon after, Chiang Kai-shek reigned over south and central China, and fought the CCP in order to take control of the whole country. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek arrested and executed many leaders of the CCP, thus ending the alliance and ushering in a civil war. In spite of the much stronger KMT forces, the communists retreated to the mountain areas in southeast China. In 1934, after failing in fighting a large scale KMT attack, the communists were forced to go on a "Long March" and finally arrived to Yan'an in northwest China. Mao Zedong then became the leader of the Chinese communists and established Yan'an as his base to continue fighting the KMT. In 1937, the KMT and the CCP formed a united front to resist the Japanese invasion of China. But throughout all these years, the struggle between the two had never stopped. After the Japanese were defeated in 1945, the civil war resumed in China, and the KMT battled the CCP for the sole China Review 2016 Page 9 of 448 pages China political will of the country. In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government were forced to flee to Taiwan in face of the overwhelming CCP forces. In October 1949 the communists founded the People's Republic of China on the mainland, and in December of that year Chiang Kai-shek established Taipei as the "provisional" capital of the KMT government. After assuming power, the CCP started a massive economic and social reconstruction of the country. China was facing various problems then.