No.1 » 2012 May 12 » ChinaU
7:25 PM ChinaU | |
| Chinese government has responded to foreign criticism by arguing that the notion of human rights should take into account a country's present level of economic development and the "people's rights to subsistence and development".[211] It emphasizes the rise in the Chinese standard of living, literacy rate and average life expectancy since the 1970s, as well as improvements in workplace safety and efforts to combat natural disasters such as the perennial Yangtze River floods.[211][212][213] Furthermore, some Chinese politicians have spoken out in support of democratization, although others remain more conservative.[214] Some major reform efforts have been conducted; for an instance in November 2013, the government announced its plans to the abolish the much-criticized re-education through labour program.[101] Although during the 2000s and early 2010s, the Chinese government was increasingly tolerant of NGOs that offer practical, efficient solutions to social problems, such "third sector" activity remained heavily regulated.[215] Military Main article: People's Liberation Army A PLAAF Chengdu J-10 fighter aircraft With 2.3 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC).[216] The PLA consists of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), and a strategic nuclear force, the Second Artillery Corps. According to the Chinese government, China's military expenditure in 2012 totalled US$100 billion, constituting the world's second-largest military budget.[217] However, a 2009 report by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense argued that China does not report its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher than the official budget.[218] As a recognized nuclear weapons state, China is considered both a major regional military power and a potential military superpower.[219] According to a 2013 report by the US Department of Defense, China fields between 50 and 75 nuclear ICBMs, along with a number of SRBMs.[21] However, compared with the other four UN Security Council Permanent Members, China has a relatively limited power projection capabilities.[220] To offset this, it has developed numerous power projection assets – its first aircraft carrier entered service in 2012,[221][222][223][224] and it maintains a substantial fleet of submarines, including several nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines.[225] China has furthermore established a network of foreign military relationships along critical sea lanes.[226] Lanzhou (DDG170) is a Type 052C destroyer of the PLAN China has made significant progress in modernising its air force since the early 2000s, purchasing Russian fighter jets such as the Sukhoi Su-30, and also manufacturing its own modern fighters, most notably the Chengdu J-10 and the Shenyang J-11, J-15 and J-16.[221][227] China is furthermore engaged in developing an indigenous stealth aircraft and numerous combat drones.[228][229][230] China has also updated its ground forces, replacing its ageing Soviet-derived tank inventory with numerous variants of the modern Type 99 tank, and upgrading its battlefield C3I and C4I systems to enhance its network-centric warfare capabilities.[231] In addition, China has developed or acquired numerous advanced missile systems,[232][233] including anti-satellite missiles,[234] cruise missiles[235] and submarine-launched nuclear ICBMs.[236] Economy Main articles: Economy of China, Agriculture in China and List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP The Shanghai Stock Exchange building in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district. Shanghai has the 25th-largest city GDP in the world, totalling US$304 billion in 2011[237] As of 2013, China has the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, totalling approximately US$9.469 trillion according to the International Monetary. If purchasing power parity (PPP) is taken into account (US$16.149 trillion in 2013), China's economy is again second only to the United States. In 2013, its PPP GDP per capita was US$11,868, while nominal GDP per capita was US$6,959. Both cases put China behind around ninety countries (out of 183 countries on the IMF list) in global GDP per capita rankings.[238] Economic history and growth Main article: Economic history of China (1949–present) From its founding in 1949 until late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and unprofitable ones were closed outright, resulting in massive job losses. Modern-day China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership,[239] and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism.[240][241] The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008.[242][243][244][245] Nanjing Road, a major shopping street in Shanghai Beijing central business district (Beijing CBD) Since economic liberalization began in 1978, China has been among the world's fastest-growing economies,[246] relying largely on investment- and export-led growth.[247] According to the IMF, China's annual average GDP growth between 2001 and 2010 was 10.5%. Between 2007 and 2011, China's economic growth rate was equivalent to all of the G7 countries' growth combined.[248] According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by Citigroup in February 2011, China has a very high 3G growth rating.[249] Its high productivity, low labour costs and relatively good infrastructure have made it a global leader in manufacturing. However, the Chinese economy is highly energy-intensive and inefficient;[250] China became the world's largest energy consumer in 2010,[251] relies on coal to supply over 70% of its energy needs, and surpassed the US to become the world's largest oil importer in September 2013.[252][253] However, China's economic growth and industrialization has damaged its environment, and in the early 2010s, China's economic growth rate began to slow amid domestic credit troubles—international demand for Chinese exports has weakened and this has led to turmoil in the global economy.[254][255][256] In the online realm, China's e-commerce industry has grown more slowly than the EU and the US, with a significant period of development occurring from around 2009 onwards. According to Credit Suisse, the total value of online transactions in China grew from an insignificant size in 2008 to around RMB 4 trillion (US$660 billion) in 2012. Alipay has the biggest market share in China with 300 million users and control of just under half of China's online payment market in February 2014, while Tenpay's share is around 20 percent, and China UnionPay's share is slightly greater than 10 percent.[257] China in the global economy China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international trade value of US$3.87 trillion in 2012.[20] Its foreign exchange reserves reached US$2.85 trillion by the end of 2010, an increase of 18.7% over the previous year, making its reserves by far the world's largest.[258][259] As of 2009, China owns an estimated $1.6 trillion of US securities.[260] China, holding over US$1.16 trillion in US Treasury bonds,[261] is the largest foreign holder of US public debt.[262][263] In 2012, China was the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $253 billion.[264] China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $62.4 billion in 2012,[264] and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies.[265] China's undervalued exchange rate has caused friction with other major economies,[178][266][267] and it has also been widely criticized for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods.[268][269] A graph comparing the 2012 nominal GDPs of major economies in US$ billions, according to IMF data[270] China ranked 29th in the Global Competitiveness Index in 2009,[271] although it is only ranked 136th among the 179 countries measured in the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom.[272] In 2011, 61 Chinese companies were listed in the Fortune Global 500.[273] Measured by total revenues, three of the world's top ten most valuable companies in 2011 were Chinese, including fifth-ranked Sinopec Group, sixth-ranked China National Petroleum and seventh-ranked State Grid (the world's largest electric utilities company).[273] Class and income equality See also: Income inequality in China China's middle-class population (if defined as those with annual income of between US$10,000 and US$60,000) had reached more than 300 million by 2012.[274] According to the Hurun Report, the number of US dollar billionaires in China increased from 130 in 2009 to 251 in 2012, giving China the world's second-highest number of billionaires.[275][276] China's domestic retail market was worth over 20 trillion yuan (US$3.2 trillion) in 2012[277] and is growing at over 12% annually as of 2013,[278] while the country's luxury goods market has expanded immensely, with 27.5% of the global share.[279] However, in recent years, China's rapid economic growth has contributed to severe consumer inflation,[280][281] leading to increased government regulation.[282] China has a high level of economic inequality,[283] which has increased in the past few decades.[284] In 2012, China's Gini coefficient was 0.474.[285] Internationalization of the renminbi Main article: Internationalization of the renminbi Since 2008 global financial crisis, China realized the dependency of US Dollar and the weakness of the international monetary system.[286] The RMB Internationalization accelerated in 2009 when China established dim sum bond market and expanded the Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity.[287][288] In November 2010, Russia began using the Chinese renminbi in its bilateral trade with China.[289] This was soon followed by Japan,[290] Australia,[291] Singapore,[292] the United Kingdom,[293] and Canada.[294] As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the eighth-most-traded currency in the world in 2013.[295] Science and technology Main articles: Science and technology in China and Chinese space program A man in black armor standing in front of a rocket, attached to a stick, with the stick being held up by two X-shaped wooden brackets. History of science and technology in China * Inventions * Discoveries By era * Han dynasty * Tang dynasty * Song dynasty * Science and technology in the Republic of China (1912-1949) * People's Republic of China (PRC) * Present-day People's Republic of China (PRC) * v * t * e Historical China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming Dynasty. Ancient Chinese discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder (the Four Great Inventions), later became widespread in Asia and Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use negative numbers.[296][297] However, by the 17th century, the Western world had surpassed China in scientific and technological development.[298] The causes of this Great Divergence continue to be debated.[299] After repeated military defeats by Western nations in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning.[300] After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology was established as one of the Four Modernizations,[301] and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.[302] Modern era Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research,[303] spending over US$100 billion on scientific research and development in 2011 alone.[304] Science and technology are seen as vital for achieving economic and political goals, and are held as a source of national pride to a degree sometimes described as "techno-nationalism".[305] While Chinese-born scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physics four times and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry once, these scientists had all earned their doctorates and conducted their award-winning research in the West.[o] The launch of a Chinese Long March 3B rocket China is rapidly developing its education system with an emphasis on science, mathematics and engineering; in 2009, it produced over 10,000 Ph.D. engineering graduates, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.[310] China is also the world's second-largest publisher of scientific papers, producing 121,500 in 2010 alone, including 5,200 in leading international scientific journals.[311] Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing,[312][313][314] and Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful.[315][316] Currently China is experiencing a significant growth in the use of industrial robots; from 2008 to 2011, the installation of multi-role robots has risen by 136 percent.[317] The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active, and is a major source of national pride.[318][319] In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth country to do so independently.[320] In 2003, China became the third country to independently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; as of June 2013, ten Chinese nationals have journeyed into space. Two of them are women. In 2011, China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, was launched, marking the first step in a project to assemble a large manned station by the early 2020s.[321] In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 probe and Yutu rover onto the moon. The rover is expected to last 3 months and the lander up to one year. China plans to collect lunar soil samples by 2017.[322] Infrastructure Telecommunications Main article: Telecommunications in China China currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1 billion users by February 2012.[323] It also has the world's largest number of internet and broadband users,[324] with over 591 million internet users as of 2013, equivalent to around 44% of its population.[325] A 2013 report found that the national average internet connection speed is 3.14 MB/s.[326] As of July 2013, China accounts for 24% of the world's internet-connected devices.[327] China Telecom and China Unicom, the world's two largest broadband providers, accounted for 20% of global broadband subscribers. China Telecom alone serves more than 50 million broadband subscribers, while China Unicom serves more than 40 million.[328] Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.[329] China is developing its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012,[330] and is planned to offer global coverage by 2020.[331] Transport The Baling River Bridge is one of the world's highest Main article: Transport in China Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of national highways and expressways. In 2011 China's highways had reached a total length of 85,000 km (53,000 mi), making it the longest highway system in the world.[332] In 1991, there were only six bridges across the main stretch of the Yangtze River, which bisects the country into northern and southern halves. By October 2014, there were 81 such bridges and tunnels. China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. Auto sales in 2009 exceeded 13.6 million[333] and reach 40 million by 2020.[334] A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents,[335] with poorly enforced traffic laws cited as a possible cause—in 2011 alone, around 62,000 Chinese died in road accidents.[336] In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2012, there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China.[337] Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport is the second largest airport terminal in the world China's railways, which are state-owned, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006.[338][339] As of 2013, the country had 103,144 km (64,091 mi) of railways, the third longest network in the world.[340] All provinces and regions are connected to the rail network except Macau. The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when the world's largest annual human migration takes place.[339] In 2013, Chinese railways delivered 2.106 billion passenger trips, generating 1,059.56 billion passenger-kilometers and carried 3.967 billion tons of freight, generating 2,917.4 billion cargo tons-kilometers.[340] China's high-speed rail (HSR) system, built entirely since the early 2000s, had 11,028 kilometres (6,852 miles) of track in 2013 and was the longest HSR network in the world.[341] The network includes the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, the single longest HSR line in the world, and the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which has three of longest railroad bridges in the world.[342] The HSR track network is set to reach approximately 16,000 km (9,900 mi) by 2020.[343] The Shanghai Maglev Train, which reaches 431 km/h (268 mph), is the fastest commercial train service in the world.[344] The Shanghai Maglev Train As of May 2014, 20 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation, with a dozen more to join them by 2020.[345] The Shanghai Metro, Beijing Subway, Guangzhou Metro, Hong Kong MTR and Shenzhen Metro are among the longest and busiest in the world. China's indigenous bullet train CRH380A There were 182 commercial airports in China in 2012. With 82 new airports planned to open by 2015, more than two-thirds of the airports under construction worldwide in 2013 were in China,[346] and Boeing expects that China's fleet of active commercial aircraft in China will grow from 1,910 in 2011 to 5,980 in 2031.[346] With rapid expansion in civil aviation, the largest airports in China have also joined the ranks of the busiest in the world. In 2013, Beijing's Capital Airport ranked second in the world by passenger traffic (it was 26th in 2002). Since 2010, the Hong Kong International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport have ranked first and third in air cargo tonnage. Some 80% of China's airspace remains restricted for military use, and Chinese airlines made up eight of the 10 worst-performing Asian airlines in terms of delays.[347] China has over 2,000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping. In 2012, the Ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian ranked in the top in the world in in container traffic and cargo tonnage .[348] The Port of Shanghai's deep water harbour on Yangshan Island in the Hangzhou Bay became the world's busiest container port in 2010 Demographics Main article: Demographics of China A 2009 population density map of the People's Republic of China. The eastern coastal provinces are much more densely populated than the western interior The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China as approximately 1,370,536,875. About 16.60% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 70.14% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% were over 60 years old.[349] The population growth rate for 2013 is estimated to be 0.46%.[350] Although a middle-income country by Western standards, China's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty since 1978. Today, about 10% of the Chinese population lives below the poverty line of US$1 per day, down from 64% in 1978. Urban unemployment in China reportedly declined to 4% by the end of 2007.[351] At present, urban unemployment rate of China is about 4.1%.[352][353] With a population of over 1.3 billion and dwindling natural resources, the government of China is very concerned about its population growth rate and has attempted since 1979, with mixed results,[354] to implement a strict family planning policy, known as the "one-child policy." Before 2013, this policy sought to restrict families to one child each, with exceptions for ethnic minorities and a degree of flexibility in rural areas. A major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child.[355] China's family planning minister indicated in 2008 that the one-child policy would be maintained until at least 2020.[356] The one-child policy is resisted, particularly in rural areas, primarily because of the need for agricultural labour and a traditional preference for boys. Families who breach the policy often lie during the census.[357] Data from the 2010 census implies that the total fertility rate may now be around 1.4.[358] Population of China from 1949 to 2008 The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may be contributing to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth.[359][360] According to the 2010 census, the sex ration at birth was 118.06 boys for every 100 girls,[361] which is beyond the normal range of around 105 boys for every 100 girls.[362] The 2010 census found that males accounted for 51.27 percent of the total population.[361] However, China's sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.82 percent of the total population.[361] Ethnic groups Main articles: List of ethnic groups in China, Ethnic minorities in China and Ethnic groups in Chinese history China officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Han Chinese, who constitute about 91.51% of the total population.[9] The Han Chinese – the world's largest single ethnic group[363] – outnumber other ethnic groups in every provincial-level division except Tibet and Xinjiang.[364] Ethnic minorities account for about 8.49% of the population of China, according to the 2010 census.[9] Compared with the 2000 population census, the Han population increased by 66,537,177 persons, or 5.74%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined increased by 7,362,627 persons, or 6.92%.[9] The 2010 census recorded a total of 593,832 foreign citizens living in China. The largest such groups were from South Korea (120,750), the United States (71,493) and Japan (66,159).[365] Languages Main articles: Languages of China and List of endangered languages in China 1990 map of Chinese ethnolinguistic groups There are as many as 292 living languages in China.[366] The languages most commonly spoken belong to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which contains Mandarin (spoken natively by 70% of the population),[367] and other Chinese languages: Wu (including Shanghainese), Yue (including Cantonese and Taishanese), Min (including Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan, and Hakka. Languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch, including Tibetan, Qiang, Naxi and Yi, are spoken are spoken across the Tibetan and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages in southwest China include Zhuang, Thai, Dong and Sui of the Tai-Kadai family, Miao and Yao of the Hmong–Mien family, and Wa of the Austroasiatic family. Across northeastern and northwestern China, minority ethnic groups speak Altaic languages including Manchu, Mongolian and several Turkic languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Salar and Western Yugur. Korean is spoken natively along the border with North Korea. Sarikoli, the language of Tajiks in western Xinjiang, is an Indo-European language. Taiwanese aborigines, including a small population on the mainland, speak Austronesian languages.[368] Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.[369] Chinese characters have been used as the written script for the Sinitic languages for thousands of years. They allow speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese languages and dialects to communicate with each other through writing. In 1956, the government introduced simplified characters, which have supplanted the older traditional characters in mainland China. Chinese characters are romanized using the Pinyin system. Tibetan uses an alphabet based on an Indic script. Uyghur is most commonly written in a Perseo-Arabic script. The Mongolian script used in China and the Manchu script are both derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet. Modern Zhuang uses the Latin alphabet. Urbanization See also: List of cities in China, List of cities in China by population and Metropolitan regions of China China has urbanized significantly in the past few decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1990 to 46% in 2007.[370] It is estimated that China's urban population will reach one billion by 2030.[370] As of 2012, there are more than 262 million migrant workers in China.[371] Most of them are from rural areas and seek work in the cities. China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million,[372] including the seven megacities (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Wuhan.[373][374][375] By 2025, it is estimated that the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[370] The figures in the table below are from the 2010 census,[3] and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[376] the figures below include only long-term residents. * v * t * e Largest cities or towns of China Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010) Rank Name Province Pop. Rank Name Province Pop. Shanghai Shanghai Beijing Beijing 1 Shanghai Shanghai 22,315,426 11 Hong Kong Hong Kong 7,055,071 Chongqing Chongqing Tianjin Tianjin 2 Beijing Beijing 18,827,000 12 Harbin Heilongjiang 6,704,573 3 Chongqing Chongqing 15,294,255 13 Xi'an Shaanxi 6,501,189 4 Tianjin Tianjin 11,090,314 14 Shenyang Liaoning 6,255,921 5 Guangzhou Guangdong 11,070,654 15 Hangzhou Zhejiang 6,242,000 6 Shenzhen Guangdong 10,357,938 16 Suzhou Jiangsu 5,349,093 7 Wuhan Hubei 9,785,392 17 Jinan Shandong 4,336,100 8 Dongguan Guangdong 8,220,937 18 Zhengzhou Henan 4,253,627 9 Chengdu Sichuan 7,677,122 19 Dalian Liaoning 4,087,733 10 Nanjing Jiangsu 7,165,828 20 Qingdao Shandong 3,718,800 Education Main articles: Education in the People's Republic of China and List of universities in China Beijing's Tsinghua University, one of the top-ranked universities in China[377] Since 1986, compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years.[378] In 2010, about 82.5 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school.[379] The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. In 2010, 27 percent of secondary school graduates are enrolled in higher education.[380] Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level.[381] In February 2006, the government pledged to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees.[382] Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$250 billion in 2011.[383] However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, only totalled ¥3,204.[384] Free compulsory education in China consists of primary school and junior secondary school between the ages of 6 and 15. In 2011, around 81.4% of Chinese have received secondary education.[385] By 2007, there were 396,567 primary schools, 94,116 secondary schools, and 2,236 higher education institutions in China.[386] As of 2010[update], 94% of the population over age 15 are literate,[387] compared to only 20% in 1950.[388] In 2009, Chinese students from Shanghai achieved the world's best results in mathematics, science and literacy, as tested by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic performance.[389] Health Main article: Health in China See also: Pharmaceutical industry in China Chart showing the rise of China's Human Development Index from 1970 to 2010 The Ministry of Health, together with its counterparts in the provincial health bureaux, oversees the health needs of the Chinese population.[390] An emphasis on public health and preventive medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign. After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly due to better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared along with the People's Communes. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a 3-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion.[391] By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China's population having basic health insurance coverage.[392] In 2011, China was estimated to be the world's third-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals, but its population has suffered from the development and distribution of counterfeit medications.[393] Life expectancy at birth in China is 75 years,[394] and the infant mortality rate is 12 per thousand.[395] Both have improved significantly since the 1950s.[p] Rates of stunting, a condition caused by malnutrition, have declined from 33.1% in 1990 to 9.9% in 2010.[398] Despite significant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities, China has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution,[399] hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers,[400] and an increase in obesity among urban youths.[401][402] China's large population and densely populated cities have led to serious disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of SARS, although this has since been largely contained.[403] In 2010, air pollution caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China.[404] Religion Main article: Religion in China The Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai, built in 598 CE, was the founding site of the Tiantai branch of Chinese Buddhism Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations that lack official approval can be subject to state persecution.[205][405] Estimates of religious demographics in China vary. A 2007 survey found that 31.4 percent of Chinese above the age of 16 were religious,[406] while a 2006 study found that 46% of the Chinese population were religious.[407] Over the millennia, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. China's San Jiao ("three doctrines" or "three religions") include Confucianism,[q] Buddhism, and Taoism, and historically have had a significant impact in shaping Chinese culture.[409][410] Elements of these three belief systems are often incorporated into popular or folk religious traditions.[411] A 2008 survey of rural villagers in six provinces found that more than two-thirds of self-proclaimed religious believers (or 31.09% of all sample villagers) do not or cannot clearly identify their faith ... These people believe that there are supernatural powers that dominate or strongly influence the fate of human beings, and they think their fates can be changed through offering sacrifices to gods or ancestors. These beliefs and practices are often deeply rooted in traditional Chinese cultures and customs of local communities.[407] A 2007 survey by the Horizon Research Consultancy Group found that individuals who self-identify as Buddhists made up 11–16% of China's adult population, while Christians comprised around 3–4%, and Muslims comprised approximately 1%.[412] Some of the ethnic minorities of China practice unique ethnic religions – Dongbaism is the traditional religion of the Nakhi people, Moism that of the Zhuang people, and Ruism that of the Qiang people. The traditional indigenous religion of Tibet is Bِn, while most Tibetans follow Tibetan Buddhism, a form of Vajrayana.[413] Culture Main articles: Chinese culture and Culture of the People's Republic of China A traditional Peking opera being performed Beijing's Forbidden City, showing its classical Chinese architectural style Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism and conservative philosophies. For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han Dynasty.[414] The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective.[23] Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today.[415] The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the traditional imperial order, but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and culture of obedience to the state. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRC in 1949 as a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim that the Communist Party's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, where many aspects of traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounced as "regressive and harmful" or "vestiges of feudalism". Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, art, literature, and performing arts like Peking opera,[416] were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at the time. Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted; only 34 foreign films a year are allowed to be shown in Chinese cinemas.[417] Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous | |
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