PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

• Official name: Zhonghua Renmin Gonghe Guo (People's Republic of China)
• Location: East Asia
• International organisations: Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, Group of Twenty, United Nations, World Trade Organisation.
• Borders: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Korea (DPRK), Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakista, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam
• Coastline: East China Sea, South China Sea, Yellow Sea
• Land area: 9,596,960 Km2
• Population: 1,345,800,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$6,600 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 102
• Ethnicity: Han Chinese 91.9%, Mongol, Tibetan, Uygur and other nationalities 8.1%
• Languages: Standard Chinese (Putonghua, known in the west as Mandarin) is the official language and is almost universally understood. Major regional variants include Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Korean, Mongol, Tibetan and Turkic languages are spoken in outlying regions.
• Religion: China is officially an atheist country, but religion is tolerated provided it does not challenge the state. A large but unknown percentage of the population follow Daoist and Buddhist practices. Christian 4%, Moslem 2%.
• Form of government: People's Republic (in practice, Communist Party dictatorship). There are 23 provinces and five autonomous regions, but these have no real autonomy. Hong Kong and Macau have become Special Administrative Regions since being returned to China by Britain and Portugal. They have elected assemblies and enjoy considerable autonomy, although Beijing is the ultimate authority.
• Capital: Beijing
• Constitution: The Constitution of the People's Republic of China has been revised many times. The current version was promulgated on 4 December 1982. Since China is officially a revolutionary state, however, the Communist Party reserves the right to act outside the Constitution.
• Head of state: The President, elected by the National People's Congress for a five-year term. The real power of the President depends on the position the incumbent holds in the Communist Party. Hu Jintao assumed office on 15 March 2003. He has been General Secretary of the Communist Party since 15 November 2002, and this post is the real source of his power.
• Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the National People's Congress, presides over the State Council. In practice ministers are appointed by the Communist Party. Wen Jiabao was appointed on 16 March 2003.
• Legislature: The National People's Congress (Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui) is a unicameral legislature with 2,979 members, who serve five-year terms. Its members are supposedly elected by municipal, regional, and provincial people's congresses. In practice its membership is determined by the Communist Party. It has no real legislative autonomy, although its members do exercise some genuine representative functions. The last elections were held in March 2008.
• Electoral authority: The Ministry of Civil Affairs administers the election of members of the National People's Congress, under the supervision of the Communist Party.
• Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 7, Civil Liberties 6

Political history

When the Chinese monarchy was overthrown in 1912, the new republican government made a brief attempt to establish a western-style democracy. In 1913, there was an election (using a system of indirect voting) for a Parliament consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. In 1918, the franchise was extended and voters elected a new Parliament which lasted until 1923. But full democracy was not attained, and the weak republican government was unable to establish control of the country.

During the 1920s and '30s China slid into warlordism and civil war, aggravated from 1931 onwards by Japanese interference and eventually full-scale invasion. The two parties contending for control of China, the Guomindang (Nationalists) and the Communists, were equally authoritarian. In 1928 Chiang Kai-shek's Guomindang regime established a Legislative Yuan or Parliament, but this was not directly elected.

After the defeat of Japan the Nationalist government regained control of most of the country, and a new constitution was promulgated. Elections were held in November 1947, again using a system of indirect election. The Legislative Yuan elected in 1947 moved to Taiwan in 1949 and was not dissolved until 1992.

By 1947 the Communists had launched a new civil war, which was to result in 1949 in the conquest of the whole country except Taiwan and the establishment of the People's Republic, led by Mao Zedong. The Communists established a People's Republic on the Soviet model, in which the Communist Party held all power and no opposition was tolerated. The Communists have retained power ever since.

Since Mao's death in 1976 there has been a profound change in economic policy, amounting to an almost complete restoration of capitalism. This has greatly increased living standards, although it has created many other problems. There has also been a relaxation of everyday life, with the Communist Party no longer seeking to control the social, economic, religious or sexual lives of the population. But Mao's successors - Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao - have remained adamant that there will be no move to multi-party politics or free elections. There was a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing in 1989, and repression of overt opposition to the regime remains severe, if unpredictable.

Freedom House's 2009 report on China says: "China is not an electoral democracy. The CCP possesses a monopoly on political power, and the party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee makes most important political decisions and sets government policy. Party members hold almost all top posts in government, the military, and the internal security services, as well as in many economic entities and social organizations. The CCP also exercises control over government and society through networks of party committees at all levels... The state uses an opaque State Secrets Law to justify the detention of those who engage in political activity without CCP approval... Corruption remains endemic, and according to some observers it has risen in recent years, despite increased government anticorruption efforts... China was ranked 72 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... Freedom of the press remains extremely restricted, despite constitutional free speech guarantees and comparative freedom in private discussion... Though constitutionally recognized, religious freedom is sharply restricted... Freedoms of assembly and association are severely restricted... The CCP controls the judiciary and directs verdicts and sentences, particularly in politically sensitive cases."

Updated December 2009