China (Joan of What?)

China, officially the Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia. With a population of over 1.376 billion, it is the world's most populous country. Neighbours include to the north,  and  to the east,  to the southeast, and,  and  to the southwest. It exercises jurisdiction over 23 provinces, six autonomous regions, and seven national municipalities (Nanjing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong and Macao). The country's major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterised as a potential superpower.

Covering approximately 11.1 million square kilometres, China is the world's second largest state by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China, and South China seas.

China emerged as one of the world's earliest civilisations in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties. Since 221 BC, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the state has expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. The Republic of China replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and has ruled since then.

Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2014, it is the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and the largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a recognised nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army and second-largest defence budget. China is a member of the United Nations, and is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organisations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BCIM and the G-20.