China is a huge country in eastern Asia. It is the world's largest country in population and the third largest in area. About a fifth of the world's people live in China. The country covers more than a fifth of the continent of Asia. Only Russia and Canada have more territory. China's vast land area includes some of the driest deserts and highest mountains in the world, as well as some of the richest farmland.

For centuries China has stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. But in the first half of the 20th century, China was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats, and foreign occupation.

After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Output quadrupled in the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP. Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to weaken.

China has an area of about 9.6 million square km and shares its borders with the deserts of Mongolia to the north, the inhospitable Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas to the west. The East and South China seas borders the eastern side of this country.

China is a land blessed with its rich cultural diversity. The inability to translate the content of its literary heritage into a language more universal, like English, has hindered the materials to reach many Western readers. Architectural style can still be seen from the imperial structures, the colonial buildings, the occasional Calligraphy, a form of handwriting, is highly regarded as China's highest form of visual art. The country's unique rural village and its temples. Chinese theatre, or opera, being heavily influenced by Chinese music, has given birth to a diversity of arts including martial arts, acrobatics, and stylized dance.