China is the world's most populous country, with a continuous culture stretching back nearly 4,000 years.
Many of the elements that make up the foundation of the modern world originated in China, including paper, gunpowder, credit banking, the compass and paper money.
After stagnating for two decades under the early communist rule from 1950 to late 1970s, China now has the world's fastest-growing economy and is undergoing what has been described as a second industrial revolution.

OVERVIEW
Facts/Leaders/Media

In the early 1980s it dismantled collective farming and allowed private enterprise again. Now it is one of the world's top exporters and is attracting record amounts of foreign investment.

Having gained admission to the World Trade Organization, China will benefit from increased access to foreign markets but in return will have to expose itself to competition from abroad.
This is expected to spur private enterprise and hasten the demise of state-run industries, but some Chinese fear it will come at heavy social costs such as unemployment and instability.

The fast-growing economy has fuelled the demand for energy. China is the largest oil consumer after the US, and the world's biggest producer and consumer of coal. There has been a massive investment in hydro-power, including the $25 billion Three Gorges Dam project.

Wealth Gap
The economic disparity between urban China and the rural hinterlands is among the largest in the world. Many impoverished rural dwellers are flocking to the country's eastern cities.
Other pressing problems include corruption, which affects every level of society, and the growing rate of HIV infection. A downside of the economic boom has been environmental degradation; China is home to many of the world's most-polluted cities.
The rate of economic change hasn't been matched by political reform, with the Communist Party - the world's biggest political party - retaining its monopoly on power and maintaining control over the people. The authorities still crack down on signs of opposition and send outspoken dissidents to labour camps.

FACTS

-Population: 1.3 billion (UN, 2005)
-Capital: Beijing
-Area: 9.6 million sq km (3.7 million sq miles)
-Official Language: Mandarin Chinese
-Major religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism
-Life expectancy: 70 years (M), 73 years (F) (UN)
-Monetary unit: 1 Renminbi (yuan) (Y)
-Main exports: Manufactured goods, including textiles, garments, electronics, and other
-GNI per capita: US $1,290 (World Bank, 2005)
-Internet domain: .cn
-International dialling code: +86

LEADERS
Head of state: President Hu Jintao

President Hu Jintao is said to be cautious and intelligent man

Mr. Hu has made the fight against corruption a priority; he has promised to promote good governance, saying the fate of socialism is at stake. But he has rejected Western-style political reforms, warning that they would lead China down a "blind alley".
Hu Jintao was born in Anhui province in 1942, according to his official biography. He studied hydroelectric engineering at university in Beijing and worked in the Ministry of Water Conservancy and Power after he graduated.
A committed Communist Party member since 1964, his party career took off in the late 1970s. In the 1980s he served as party chief in Guizhou and Tibet, where he oversaw crackdowns on pro-independence protests. In 1992 Mr. Hu became the youngest member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party's main decision-making body.
He is thought to enjoy dancing and table tennis, and has been described as a cautious, intelligent man who possesses remarkable powers of memory.
Vice-president: Zeng Qinghong
-Prime minister: Wen Jiabao
-Foreign minister: Li Zhaoxing
-National People's Congress chairman: Wu Bangguo

MEDIA
China's media are controlled, in comparison with that of the western countries. The opening-up of the industry has extended to distribution and advertising, not so much to editorial content.
Ordinary readers have access to foreign English publications as well television stations, mostly in hotels and western-run shopping malls.
Fears that the media in Hong Kong would lose their independence when the territory reverted to Chinese control in 1997 have generally not been borne out. Hong Kong still has editorially-dynamic media, but worries about interference remain.
The press report on corruption and inefficiency among officials, but the media as a whole avoid criticism of the Communist Party's monopoly on power. Each city has its own newspaper, usually published by the local government, as well as a local Communist Party daily.

With more than one billion viewers, television is a popular source for news and the sector is competitive, especially in urban areas. China is also becoming a major market for pay-TV; it is forecast to have 128 million subscribers by 2010. State-run Chinese Central TV, provincial and municipal stations offer a total of around 2,100 channels.
The availability of non-domestic TV is limited. Agreements are in place which allows selected channels - including stations run by AOL Time Warner, News Corp and the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV - to transmit via cable in Guangdong province. In exchange, Chinese Central TV's English-language network is made available to satellite TV viewers in the US and UK.
Beijing says it will only allow relays of foreign broadcasts which do not threaten "national security" or "political stability". Of late, it has been reining in the activities and investments of foreign media groups. The media regulator - the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television - has informed local stations that foreign-made TV programmes ought to be approved before broadcast.
The internet scene in China is thriving, though controlled. The number of internet users passed the 100 million mark in 2005.

The Government Press
-People's Daily (Remin Ribao)
-China Youth Daily (Zhongguo Qingnian Bao)
-China Daily (English edition)
-People's Liberation Army Daily (Jiefangjun Bao)
-China Economic Times (Zhongguo Jingji Shibao
-Legal Daily (Fazhi Ribao)
-Workers' Daily (Gongren Ribao)
-Farmers' Daily (Nongmin Ribao)
-Southern Daily (Nanfang Ribao), Guangzhou (or Canton)

Television
-Chinese Central TV (CCTV) - national broadcaster, networks include English-language CCTV-9

Radio
-China National Radio
-China Radio International - external broadcaster, programmes in more than 40 languages
News agencies
-New China News Agency (Xinhua)
-China News Service (Zhongguo Xinwen She), aiming mainly at overseas Chinese