China

China is a large country in East Asia. Its full name is the People's Republic of China. It is the third or fourth largest country in the world by land area, depending on how borders are measured. Only Russia and Canada are clearly bigger. China has about 1.4 billion people, which makes it one of the two most populated countries on Earth, along with India. The capital is Beijing, and the largest city is Shanghai.

The land

China stretches almost 3,000 miles from east to west. That is about the same distance as from New York City to Los Angeles. It borders 14 other countries, more than almost any country in the world. The land includes almost every kind of landscape. In the west rise the Himalayas, the tallest mountains on Earth. In the north lies the Gobi Desert, a cold, rocky wasteland. In the south grow thick, green forests. In the east, rivers run down to the Pacific Ocean.

Two great rivers shape much of China. The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia, running about 3,900 miles. The Yellow River, farther north, is sometimes called "the cradle of Chinese civilization" because some of China's first cities grew along its banks.

A very old civilization

China has one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world. People have been writing in the Chinese language for more than 3,000 years. Ancient China was ruled by families of kings called dynasties. Each dynasty ruled for many years and then fell, replaced by a new one. Famous dynasties include the Han, the Tang, the Ming, and the Qing.

The last emperor of China was a boy named Puyi. He took the throne at age two in 1908. He lost it in 1912, when China became a republic. This ended more than 2,000 years of rule by emperors.

Ancient China invented many things that changed the world. Four of the most famous are paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. Chinese farmers were also the first people to grow tea and to raise silkworms for silk cloth. For hundreds of years, traders carried Chinese silk across a long route called the Silk Road. The route stretched all the way to Europe.

The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China is the most famous thing ever built in the country. It is not one single wall but many walls, joined and rebuilt over many centuries. Together, the walls stretch more than 13,000 miles, longer than the distance across the United States four times over. The oldest parts are more than 2,000 years old. Chinese rulers built the wall to keep out armies from the north.

Despite a popular story, you cannot actually see the Great Wall from the Moon. Even from low orbit, it is very hard to see, because the wall is narrow and blends into the land around it.

Modern China

In 1949, a leader named Mao Zedong led the Communist Party to victory in a civil war. He declared China a communist country. For about 30 years, China kept itself mostly closed off from the rest of the world. Starting in the late 1970s, its leaders opened up the country to trade. Chinese factories began making goods for people all over the world. If you look at the tags on your toys, clothes, or electronics, many will say "Made in China."

This change moved hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. It also made China the second-largest economy in the world, after the United States. Cities like Shanghai grew into forests of skyscrapers almost overnight. But the fast growth brought problems too, like polluted air and crowded cities.

China today is a one-party country. The Communist Party has full control of the government. People cannot vote for different political parties the way people do in the United States or many other countries. The Chinese government also controls what people can say online and in the news. Many websites and apps used in other countries, like Google and Instagram, are blocked in China.

People and culture

Most people in China speak Mandarin, which has more native speakers than any other language in the world. Chinese writing uses thousands of characters instead of letters. A well-read adult knows about 3,000 to 4,000 of them.

Chinese food is eaten all over the world. Noodles, rice, dumplings, and stir-fries are all common dishes. The biggest holiday is Lunar New Year, when families gather, eat special foods, and light firecrackers. The celebrations last for 15 days.

The giant panda lives only in the mountain forests of China. It is the country's most famous animal, and it appears on coins, stamps, and sports team logos as a symbol of China itself.