China has an upper middle income, developing, mixed, socialist market economy incorporating industrial policies and strategic five-year plans. It is the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP, behind the United States, and the world's largest economy since 2016 when measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). China accounted for 19% of the global economy in 2022 in PPP terms, and around 18% in nominal terms in 2022. The economy consists of public sector enterprises, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and mixed-ownership enterprises, as well as a large domestic private sector and openness to foreign businesses in their system. Post-1978 economic reforms China's average GDP growth had been over 10% annually for over three decades, and in some years, growth exceeded 14% annually.
Shanghai, the financial center of China
GDP per capita in China from 1000 to 2018
Distribution of GDP in mainland China
Worlds regions by total wealth (in trillions USD), 2018
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the world's second-most populous country. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land. With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing is the national capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city and largest financial center.
10,000-year-old pottery, Xianren Cave culture (18000–7000 BCE)
Yinxu, the ruins of the capital of the late Shang dynasty (14th century BCE)
China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, is famed for having united the Warring States' walls to form the Great Wall of China. Most of the present structure dates to the Ming dynasty
The Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China to defeat the anti-foreign Boxers and their Qing backers. The image shows a celebration ceremony inside the Chinese imperial palace, the Forbidden City after the signing of the Boxer Protocol in 1901.