China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational (multinational state) entity.

In 1949, when major combat ended in the Chinese Civil War, two political entities (Two Chinas) emerged having the term "China" in their names: *flagiconChina The Peoples 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). *flagiconTaiwan The Republic of China (ROC) established in 1912 on mainland China, now commonly known as Taiwan, has control over the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu (Matsu Islands).

China is one of the worlds oldest civilizations and is regarded as the oldest continuous civilization. In 1100, China had the most advanced economy in the world. It subsequently missed the industrial revolution and began to decline. In the 19th and 20th century, imperialism, wars and civil wars damaged the country and its economy. In the 1950s, change to economic policies in the Republic of China (Taiwan) transformed the island into a technology-oriented industrialized developed economy. It became known as one of the Four Asian Tigers along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. In mainland China, in the 1970s, reforms known as the Four Modernizations modernized the agriculture, industry, technology and defense, eventually making the PRC one of the major powers. China is viewed as the source of many major inventions (List of Chinese inventions). It has also one of the worlds oldest written language system (Chinese writing system)s.

Historically, Chinas cultural sphere (Culture 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. 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.