People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is not only the largest state in East Asia by a considerable margin, but is also home to the largest human population in the world: over 1.4 billion people. It also holds the record as the largest and most successful communist nation, in that it has survived and in some ways prospered while others, such as the Soviet Union, have not.

Perhaps the PRC's most recent cultural achievement has been to win the right to stage the 2012 Olympics in the capital Beijing, but this is just the latest in a string of cultural events pertaining to this country and Chinese civilisation generally. While the modern PRC was established only in 1949, its people are arguably the latest generation of the oldest continuous culture in the world, stretching back over 4000 years.

The existence of the PRC has remained controversial these last sixty years or so; it was not until 1972 that the country was recognised by the United Nations, which until then had accepted only the Republic of China, i.e. the de facto state of Taiwan. To this day, some commentators prefer to refer to the PRC as 'Mainland China'. Of more general concern than what country is the 'true' China is the PRC's uneven record on human rights; the Chinese Communist Party has been reluctant to engage with Western ideas of what constitutes fair treatment of its citizens, such as the promotion of multi-party democracy. In a country where 70% of the population live a rural lifestyle, the PRC has often resisted calls to place these issues at the top of the agenda. Critics would argue that it places its own rule as the main priority.

Chinese culture has always strongly influenced neighbouring regions of East Asia, and today the modern PRC continues to receive mixed impressions. On the one hand, relations between the PRC and Taiwan have gradually improved, with open hostility much rarer nowadays. Likewise, the PRC has developed closer economic ties with Japan, though arguments persist over the role of that nation in China during World War II. Relations with the United Kingdom have been friendly since the sovereignty of Hong Kong, a former British colony, passed to the PRC in 1997. On the other hand, the PRC is eyed with some unease in Asia and the wider world, as a potential spark for possible conflict and even, though coal mining and burning to power the country, as a future source of runaway global warming.