China Map

History of Red China Map

The globally famous country has one of the oldest civilizations in the world, emerging at the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain, back in 6000 BC. There are several ways in which the classification of the historical periods of China can be attempted. One way is to take into account the broad historical periods – the period of The Ancient Dynasties, The Imperial Era, The Emergence of Modern China, The period of Republican China, and The period of the People’s Republic of China.

Another way would be to divide the periods according to the stages that the society has gone through– the periods of the Primitive Society, Slave Society, Feudal Society, Semi-feudal & Semi-Colonial Society, and Socialist Society that subsisted in the land of the current Peoples Republic of China, whose boundaries are shown on China Map.

The Chinese history can also be chronicled based on the periods of the different dynasties that have ruled the earlier regions that are currently included in the map of China

• ca. 2000 - 1500 BC: Xia Dynasty was established by Qi, the son of Yu the Great.
• 1700 - 1027 BC: Shang Dynasty was established by Tang and the homeland of China was ruled by 31 emperors of this dynasty.
• 1027 - 771 BC: Western Zhou was founded by Zhou Wuwang (Ji Fa) after defeating Shang dynasty, thus founding a new era in the history of China.
• 770 - 221 BC: rule of the Eastern Zhou.
• 221 - 207 BC: Qin Dynasty was established by Emperor Qin Shi Huang who is best known for the army of terracotta warriors in his tomb complex in Xian and their commandment existed at that time.
• 206 BC-AD 9: rule of the Western Han Dynasty.
• AD 9 - 24: The Xin Dynasty was established by Wang Mang.
• AD 25 - 220: rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
• AD 220 - 280: Three Kingdoms (220-265: Wei Dynasty, 221-263: Shu Dynasty, 229-280: Wu Dynasty ruled in China) thus, dividing the current China Map into three provinces of territory during that time.
• AD 265 - 316: Western Jin Dynasty was established by Sima Yan.
• AD 317 - 420: Eastern Jin Dynasty was founded by Sima Rui.
• AD 420 - 588: That time the current map of China was divided into North, South,East and West with each one of the dynasties having their own territory of rule and jurisdiction.[420-588: Southern Dynasties (420-478: Song Dynasty, 479-501: Qi Dynasty, 502-556: Liang Dynasty, 557-588: Chen Dynasty).] [386-588: Northern Dynasties (386-533: Northern Wei Dynasty, 534-549: Eastern Wei Dynasty, 535-557: Western Wei Dynasty, 550-577: Northern Qi Dynasty, 557-588: Northern Zhou Dynasty).]
• AD 581 - 617: rule of the Sui Dynasty.
• AD 618 - 907: rule of the Tang Dynasty.
• AD 907 - 960: Five Dynasties subsisted in that era in China (907-923: Later Liang Dynasty, 923-936: Later Tang Dynasty, 936-946: Later Jin Dynasty, 947-950: Later Han Dynasty, 951-960: Later Zhou Dynasty.)
• AD 907 - 979: Ten Kingdoms existed at that time.
• AD 960 - 1279: Song Dynasty (960 - 1127: Northern Song Dynasty was established by Zhao Kuangyin, 1127 - 1279: Southern Song Dynasty was established by Zhao Gou.)
• AD 916 - 1125: Liao Dynasty was established by Yelv Abaoji.
• AD 1038 - 1227: Western Xia Dynasty was founded by the Tanguts (Dangxiang) people.
• AD 1115 - 1234: Jin Dynasty was founded by the Jurchen people.
• AD 1279 - 1368: Yuan Dynasty was founded by the Mongol, Kublai Khan.
• AD 1368 -1644: Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuan-zhang and was ruled by 19 emperors.
• AD 1644-1911: The dominance of the famous Qing Dynasty was established by the Manchu people.
• AD 1911-1949: The Republic of China was established (in mainland China).
• AD 1949 - The Republic of China (in Taiwan).
• AD 1949 - People's Republic of China ( as depicted on China Map) was instituted as a leftist, communist, anti-capitalist nation, thus completely changing the history and the coming decades.

Timeline of Major Events in China



• 21st to 17th century BC: Xia, the first hereditary dynasty in Chinese ancient history, was established by forming a league of different tribes.
• 11th century BC to 771 BC: The Han Chinese nationality came into being.
• 476 to 221 BC: This period witnessed the conflict between the seven major states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin.
• 221 to 207 BC: King Ying Zheng built the first Great Wall of China. Standardization of weights, measures and the uniform system of writing for the entire country were established.
• 206 BC to 24 AD: This period saw great improvements in agriculture, handicrafts, and commerce.
• 25 to 220 AD: The Silk Road to Europe was opened. Buddhism was introduced in China. Taoism was also founded in the country during this period, thus changing the religious domain of prayer in the land.
• 220 to 280 AD: The phase saw confrontations among the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu and war
• 581 to 618 AD: The Imperial Examination System was founded.
• 618 to 907 AD: Under successive emperors of the Tang Dynasty, this period saw great achievements in politics, economy, military, culture, and diplomacy. It also saw China’s influence spreading among the neighboring countries as well as around the world, thus seeing the recognition and elevation of the state and China around the world.
• 1271 to 1368 AD: For the first time in Chinese history, a minority regime was established by the Mongols. Beijing became the capital of China and westerners, including Marco Polo, visited the country. This was also the period when the Great Wall of China was completed; it is represented on the map of China.
• 1644 to 1911: The Chinese Empire reached its zenith at the beginning of this period. The ‘Boxer Rebellion’ sought to establish traditional rule and drive out the foreigners, but was defeated by foreign intervention. At the end of this period, China became a semi-colony and semi-feudal society.
• 1912 to 1949: Over 2000 years of the feudal system came to an end. Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, thus changing the history of governance and politics in the land for the people and the states.
• 1950 to 2000: The five-year economic plan, the ‘Great Leap Forward’, was launched and abandoned. The large-scale revolt was suppressed in Tibet. Thereafter, economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping put China on the road to transformation. The Cultural Revolution resulted in massive social, economic and political upheaval. In 1979, the government imposed 'One-child' policy to curb the growing population. China opened its doors to foreign investment with its ‘Open-door' policy in the late 80s. However, the Tiananmen Square incident where 200 students were killed during protests led to international outrage. It was followed by international sanctions. In 1997, the sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred to China, therefore adding a new Specially Administered Region in the communist China Map .
• In 2003, Astronaut Yang Liwei went to space in China’s first manned spacecraft.
• In 2006, the Three Gorges Dam was completed. The world’s highest train route, the China-Tibet railway line, began operations.
• In 2008, China hosted the Olympic Games in Beijing, making it more prominent and famous in the world map. Beijing is located in northern China, as shown on the map of China.
• In 2014, China's trade surplus jumped to $31.9 billion.
• In 2015, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) - the first international financial institution proposed by China, was formally set up in December.
• From January 1, 2016, China ended its one-child policy, and Chinese couples were once again allowed to have two children, after more than 35 years of its effect.
• In 2017, China launched the world's fastest bullet train 'Fuxing', sustaining a maximum speed of 400 km/h (249 miles per hour), making it very popular all around the world and hence, bringing more monetary inflow to China.
Geography of China The People’s Republic of China is located in Asia as depicted in the China Map. It is bound by Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia in the north; North Korea, South Korea, Philippines, Japan, & Taiwan in the east; Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar in the south; and Pakistan, India, Kyrgyzstan & Afghanistan in the west. China also has the longest combined land border, measuring up to 13,743 miles (22,117 km). Despite its large latitude extent, the country has only one time zone, CST - China Standard Time (UTC +8) and it does not utilize daylight saving time.



Area of China


The geographic coordinates of the country are 35° N and 105° E. The total area of the country is 3.705 million square miles, out of which land area is 3.60 million miles, and the rest is waters.


• Northernmost point: Mohe Village in the Heilongjiang Province.
• Southernmost point: Hainan in Guangdong Province.
• Disputed southernmost point: Zengmu Ansha or James Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
• Easternmost point: Fuyuan County in Heilongjiang Province
• Westernmost point: Border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, in Akto County in Xinjiang Province.

The world's highest point - Mount Everest is located here in Tingri County, Shigatse (Xigaze). The elevation is 29,029 feet and the lowest point is Turpan Pendi in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, lying 505 feet below sea level.



Landforms in China


By virtue of its vast geographical extent as evident from the map of China, it is endowed with diverse landforms that include hills, mountains, high plateaus, deserts, plains, and deltas.

The Himalayas lie to the South & West, and are home to some of the highest mountains in the country and the world, including Mt. Everest (also called Zhumulangma or Qomolangma), Mt. K2 (also called Chogo Ri), Namjagbarwa Peak, Minya Konka, Meili Snow Mountains, Mt. Kailash, the Daocheng-Sanshen Mountain group, Mt. Emei, Mt. Huashan, and Mt. Huangshan.

China is said to have more than 22,000 rivers, including major rivers like Yangtze River (Changjiang), Yellow River (Huanghe), Heilongjiang River, Songhuajiang River, Zhujiang River (The Pearl), Brahmaputra River (Yaluzangbujiang), Lancang River (Lancang Jiang), Nujiang River, Hanjiang River (Han Jiang), and Liaohe River (Liao He). The Yangtze River is the longest river in the country. Most of the rivers originate in the west and flow eastwards.

Freshwater lakes in the country are mostly found in the middle-lower Yangtze Plain and include Poyang, Dongting, Taihu, and Hongze. The lakes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau include Qinghai, Nam Co, and Siling - these are saltwater lakes.

Demographics
As of 2017, the total population of China was estimated to be 1.411 billion, the highest in the world. 12.3 births per 1,000 was the birthrate and the death rate was 7.8 deaths per 1,000 population. 1.06 children per female was the sex ratio and population growth rate was estimated at 0.6% (World Bank, 2017).

  The life expectancy at birth in China is 76 years (World Bank, 2017). Owing to the one-child policy, that existed for about 30 years in the country, the youth population is comparatively low in the Peoples Republic Of China.

  Any person above the age of 15, who can read and write, is considered literate. The literacy rate in China is 96.4% (2015 estimate). China's rapid growth pulled over hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, since 1978. The surprising results at present witness only 0.7% of the Chinese population below the international poverty line in China (World Bank, 2015).

  China's 59.2% of the total population, as per the 2018 estimate, is classified as an urban population, while the remaining come under the rural population.

  The ethnic groups of the country consist mainly of Han Chinese (91.51%) Other groups found are Hui, Uighur, Manchu, Yi, Tujia, Miao, Mongol, Yao, Tibetan, Buyei, Dong, Korean, Bai, Li, Hani, Dai, Kazakh, and other nationalities.

Officially, China is an atheist country. However, followers of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, as well as other religions are found in the country.

The languages spoken in China are Mandarin, Wu (Shanghainese), Yue (Cantonese), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Minbei (Fuzhou), Gan, Hakka dialects and other minority languages. Out of them, the official language of the country is Mandarin, but some of the provinces have their own official languages. Zhuang is spoken in Guangxi Zhuang province, Uighur in Xinjiang Uygur province, Yue in Guangdong province, Kyrgyz in Xinjiang Uyghur province, Mongolian in Nei Mongol province, and Tibetan in Xizang (Tibet).

Politics
The People's Republic of China is one of the five communist states remaining in the world. China's form of government has been called communist, as well as socialist and authoritarian, with considerable restrictions on the freedom of press and people's right to reproduce and practice religion.

The members of the People's Congress are directly elected, and the members of the National People's Congress in China are indirectly elected by the People's Congress. Hence, there is a limited scope for democratic processes in the party.

Administratively, China has 22 Provinces (shengs), 4 Government-controlled Municipalities (shihs), 5 Autonomous Regions (zizhiqus), and 2 Special Autonomous Regions (Macau & Hong Kong). The country claims sovereignty over Taiwan as its 23rd province, but it remains disputed region.

Travel
From historical monuments and large cities to beaches and diverse landscapes, China has plenty to offer to discerning travelers. Cities such as Beijing and Shanghai offer cultural experiences, low-cost shopping, nightlife, and historic sites. The regional varieties of food in China can be sampled across the country, as well as cuisines influenced by other nearby countries. Different places of interest can be located on the map of China.

Major tourist destinations in China include the a 5,500 mile-long wall, and Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth. Special administrative regions, Macau and Hong Kong dish out a unique experience to visitors. Macau, which was a Portuguese colony until recently, has an influence of European and Asian cultures. It is known for its casinos and resorts all over the world. It's inclusion in China has been made profitable to the nation and for its travelers & tourists from all over the world. 

Education
The education system in the People's Republic of China is run by the state's Ministry of Education. Education is mandatory from age 6 to 15. The Chinese government has pledged to provide free education to students for nine years, from elementary school to middle school. Most children residing in urban parts of China also attend high school for three years after middle school. The education system in China has produced results, with mathematics, science, and literacy programs at the top of world.

As of 2018, the country has the world's second highest number of top universities.

Trivia

• The Song Dynasty was the first government ever to issue paper money and create a permanent standing navy in China and its territory.
• China's four great inventions are the compass, gunpowder, paper making, and printing.
• The Pekingese dog, which has Chinese origins and is named for Beijing, was the dog of Chinese emperors.
• Silk originated in China before 3500 BC, and today the People's Republic of China is the biggest producer of silk.
Quick facts about the Chinese territory and the map of China

• China is the largest exporter of goods
• Has the second largest defense budget
• Sustains world's largest standing army
• Is a recognized nuclear weapons state
• Is one of the world's fastest growing economies.
Last Updated on: September 17, 2020