China is a large country in East Asia. With nearly 4,000 years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations. Prior to the 19th century, it possessed one of the most advanced societies in the world; but successive dynasties missed the Industrial Revolution that occurred in Europe and China began to decline. In the 19th and 20th century, European and Japanese imperialism, internal weakness and civil war damaged the country and its economy, and led to the overthrow of imperial rule. In 1949, after major combat in the Chinese Civil War had ended, two states calling themselves "China" emerged: File:Flag of the People's Republic of China. svg The People's Republic of China (PRC), established in 1949, commonly known as China, has control over mainland China and the largely self-governing territories of Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999). File:Flag of the Republic of China. svg The Republic of China (ROC) established in 1912 in mainland China, now commonly known as Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, the Pratas island group, and a few other outlying islands. In the 1950s, change to economic policies in Taiwan transformed the island into a technology-oriented industrialized developed economy after a period of high growth rates and rapid industrialization. In the 1970s on mainland China, reforms known as the Four Modernizations improved agriculture, industry, technology and defense, raising living standards and making the PRC one of the great powers. By 2011 challenges included the growing divide between rich and poor and environmental degradation. Historically, the cultural sphere of China has extended across East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion, customs, and writing systems being adopted to varying degrees by neighbors such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Through its history, China was the source of many major inventions. It has also one of the world's oldest written language systems. The first evidence of human presence in the region was found at the Zhoukoudian cave. It is one of the earliest known specimens of Homo erectus, now commonly known as the Peking Man, estimated to have lived from 300,000 to 780,000 years ago.See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China

Reference materials

Encyclopaedia

• Luo, Jing(2005).China today : an encyclopedia of life in the People's Republic. Greenwood Press
• Perkins, Dorothy(1999).Encyclopedia of China : the essential reference to China, its history and culture. . New York : Facts on File
• Wang, Ke-wen(1998).Modern China an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism. New York : Garland Pub.Garland reference library of the humanities ;; v. 1519; Variation: Garland reference library of the humanities ;; vol. 1519., 1 online resource (xxxv, 442 p.) : ill., maps.
• Chai, May-Lee Chai Winberg(2007).China A to Z : everything you need to know to understand Chinese customs and culture. Plume
• Leese, Daniel(2009).Brill's Encyclopedia of China. BostonHandbook of oriental studies. Section four, China,; v. 20 =; Handbuch der orientalistik; Variation: Handbuch der Orientalistik.; Vierte Abteilung,; China ;; 20. Bd.
• Kaplan, Fredric M. Sobin Julian M. Andors Stephen(1979).Encyclopedia of China today. . Fair Lawn, N.J. : Eurasia Press : New York
• Cua, A. S.(2003).Encyclopedia of Chinese philosophy. . New York : Routledge
• Davis, Edward L.(2005).Encyclopedia of contemporary Chinese culture. . London : New York
• Hook, Brian Twitchett Denis Crispin(1991).The Cambridge encyclopedia of China. . Cambridge [England] : New York
• Cheng, Linsun(2009).Berkshire encyclopedia of China : modern and historic views of the world's newest and oldest global power = 中华全书 : 跨越历史和现代审视最新和最古老的全球大国.Berkshire encyclopedia of China : modern and historic views of the world's newest and oldest global power = [Zhonghua q. . Great Barrington, MA : Berkshire Pub. Group