160-674: Oliver Quek (Group Chief Operating Officer) Tan Shao Yen (Group Chief Innovation Officer) Vincent Loh (CEO, CPG International) Yeang Hoong Goon (CEO, CPG Consultants) Alan Goh (CEO, CPG Facilities Management) Architecture Design Green Design Infrastructure Engineering Environmental Engineering Transportation Engineering Civil and Structural Engineering Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Quantity Surveying Landscape and Interior Design Facilities Management Project Management CPG Facilities Management Pte Ltd PM Link Pte Ltd Construction Professionals Pte Ltd CPG Signature Pte Ltd VIA+ Design Pte Ltd CPG Corporation
320-577: A failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties , Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age. The Tang dynasty retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road, which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa , and made the capital Chang'an a cosmopolitan urban center. However, it
480-580: A Yemeni ruler of Rasulids . The bark of fig trees, as the main source of papermaking in this recipe, went through frequent cycles of soaking, beating and drying. The process took 12 days to produce 100 sheets of high-quality paper. During the pulping stage, the beaten fibres were transformed into different sizes of Kubba (cubes) which they were used as standard scales to manufacture a certain number of sheets. The dimensions were determined based on three citrus fruit: limun (lemon), utrunja (orange) and narenja (Tangerine). A summarized version of this detailed process
640-401: A climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops. In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland. China is one of 17 megadiverse countries , lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms :
800-532: A cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the modern Han Chinese . The Han expanded the empire's territory considerably , with military campaigns reaching Central Asia, Mongolia , Korea , and Yunnan , and the recovery of Guangdong and northern Vietnam from Nanyue . Han involvement in Central Asia and Sogdia helped establish the land route of the Silk Road , replacing
960-634: A disputed land border with India and Bhutan . China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas , such as the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands . The People's Republic of China is a one-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics , which
1120-730: A far-reaching popular uprising (the May Fourth Movement ). In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings known collectively as the Northern Expedition . The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of
1280-508: A fine bamboo screen-mould treated with insecticidal dye for permanence was used in papermaking. After printing was popularized during the Song dynasty the demand for paper grew substantially. The supply of bark could not keep up with the demand for paper, resulting in the invention of new kinds of paper using bamboo during the Song dynasty. In the year 1101, 1.5 million sheets of paper were sent to
1440-518: A flap that wrapped the book up when not in use. As paper was less reactive to humidity, the heavy boards were not needed. Since the First Crusade in 1096, paper manufacturing in Damascus had been interrupted by wars, but its production continued in two other centres. Egypt continued with the thicker paper, while Iran became the center of the thinner papers. Papermaking was diffused across
1600-475: A high density of plant species including numerous rare endemics. Tropical and seasonal rainforests , though confined to Yunnan and Hainan , contain a quarter of all the animal and plant species found in China. China has over 10,000 recorded species of fungi . In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization. Regulations such as
1760-497: A major focus, special economic zones (SEZs) were created. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and some closed. This marked China's transition away from planned economy. China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, there were protests such those in Tiananmen Square , and then throughout the entire nation. Zhao Ziyang was put under house arrest for his sympathies to
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#17327726133151920-648: A mill near Dartford in Kent . During this time, paper making spread to Austria by 1469, to Poland by 1491, to Russia by 1576, to the Netherlands by 1586, to Denmark by 1596, and to Sweden by 1612. Arab prisoners who settled in a town called Borgo Saraceno in the Italian Province of Ferrara introduced Fabriano artisans in the Province of Ancona the technique of making paper by hand. At
2080-404: A permanent navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade. Between the 10th and 11th century CE, the population of China doubled to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism , in response to
2240-513: A result, individual collections of literary works increased in the following centuries. Textual culture seems to have been more developed in the south by the early 5th century, with individuals owning collections of several thousand scrolls. In the north an entire palace collection might have been only a few thousand scrolls in total. By the early 6th century, scholars in both the north and south were capable of citing upwards of 400 sources in commentaries on older works. A small compilation text from
2400-551: A street which was lined with more than 100 paper and booksellers' shops. In 1035 a Persian traveler, Nasir Khusraw , visiting markets in Cairo noted that vegetables, spices and hardware were wrapped in paper for the customers. In the 12th century one street named "Kutubiyyin" or book sellers Morocco as it contained more than 100 bookshops. The expansion of public and private libraries and illustrated books within Islamic lands
2560-482: A word derived from Arabic rizma (bundle, bale). During the 8th century, paper started to replace parchment as the primary writing material for administrative uses in Baghdad, the capital of Abbasids . According to Ibn Khaldun , a renowned Muslim historiographer, parchment was rare, and a great increase in the number of correspondents throughout Islamic territories, resulted in an order issued by Al-Fadl ibn Yahya ,
2720-457: Is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances . The Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism ," and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics
2880-664: Is "China" ( 中国 ; 中國 ; Zhōngguó ), from zhōng ('central') and guó ('state'), a term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne . It was used in official documents as an synonym for the state under the Qing . The name Zhongguo is also translated as 'Middle Kingdom' in English. China is sometimes referred to as " mainland China " or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from
3040-763: Is an infrastructure, building management, and consultancy services company in the Asia Pacific. CPG Corporation is part of the former Public Works Department of Singapore ; the company provides architecture and engineering consultancy to project and construction management. It is headquartered in Singapore, with 12 overseas offices in China , India , Vietnam , the Philippines , and the United Arab Emirates . The Public Works and Convicts Department
3200-458: Is as below. Each individual phase was repeated several times. Near Eastern paper is mainly characterized by sizing with a variety of starches such as rice, katira (gum tragacanth ), wheat, and white sorghum . Rice and white sorghum were more widely used. Paper usually was placed on a hard surface and a smooth device called mohreh was used to rub the starch against the paper until it became perfectly shiny. The laborious process of papermaking
3360-856: Is bounded by the Bohai , Yellow , East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe . The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N , and longitudes 73° and 135° E . The geographical center of China is marked by the Center of the Country Monument at 35°50′40.9″N 103°27′7.5″E / 35.844694°N 103.452083°E / 35.844694; 103.452083 ( Geographical center of China ) . China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast territory. In
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#17327726133153520-585: Is commonly agreed that pre-modern China's population experienced two growth spurts, one during the Northern Song period (960–1127), and other during the Qing period (around 1700–1830). By the High Qing era China was possibly the most commercialized country in the world, and imperial China experienced a second commercial revolution by the end of the 18th century. On the other hand, the centralized autocracy
3680-679: Is dated to 105 CE. The innovation is a type of paper made of mulberry and other bast fibres along with fishing nets , old rags, and hemp waste which reduced the cost of paper production, which prior to this, and later, in the West, depended solely on rags. During the Shang (1600–1050 BCE) and Zhou (1050–256 BCE) dynasties of ancient China , documents were ordinarily written on bone or bamboo (on tablets or on bamboo strips sewn and rolled together into scrolls), making them very heavy, awkward to use, and hard to transport. The light material of silk
3840-513: Is evidenced by the Indian talapatra binding methods that were adopted by Chinese monasteries such as at Tunhuang for preparing sutra books from paper. Most of the earliest surviving sutra books in Tibetan monasteries are on Chinese paper strips held together with Indian manuscript binding methods. Further, the analysis of the woodblock book covers of these historic manuscripts has confirmed that it
4000-461: Is home to a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as moose and Asian black bear , along with over 120 bird species. The understory of moist conifer forests may contain thickets of bamboo . In higher montane stands of juniper and yew , the bamboo is replaced by rhododendrons . Subtropical forests, which are predominate in central and southern China, support
4160-451: Is protected by law, and as of 2005 , the country has over 2,349 nature reserves , covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area. Most wild animals have been eliminated from the core agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west. The Baiji was confirmed extinct on 12 December 2006. China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants, and
4320-540: Is reasonable to presume that paper manufacturing reached Sindh (now part of south Pakistan) before 11th-century with the start of Arab rule in Sindh. Fragments of Arabic manuscripts found in the Sindhi city ruins of Mansura , which was destroyed circa 1030, confirm the use of paper in Sindh. Amir Khusrau of Delhi Sultanate mentions paper-making operations in 1289. In the 15th century, Chinese traveler Ma Huan praised
4480-530: Is the country's capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center . China is considered one of the cradles of civilization : the first human inhabitants in the region arrived during the Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd centuries BCE saw a breakdown in
4640-451: Is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters . The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou , who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries BCE, though the centralized authority of Son of Heaven was slowly eroded by fengjian lords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou and continually waged war with each other during the 300-year Spring and Autumn period . By
4800-401: Is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party." The PRC officially terms itself as a democracy , using terms such as "socialist consultative democracy", and " whole-process people's democracy ". However, the country is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship , with among the heaviest restrictions worldwide in many areas, most notably against freedom of
4960-559: Is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization , with $ 546 billion invested in 2022; it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects. Long heavily relying on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years, with their share increasing from 26.3 percent in 2016 to 31.9 percent in 2022. In 2023, 60.5% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in
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5120-504: Is traceable to around 12th-century. According to the historical trade-related archives such as Cairo Geniza found in the synagogues of the Middle East, Jewish merchants – such as Ben Yiju originally from Tunisia who moved to India – imported large quantities of paper into ports of Gujarat, Malabar coast and other parts of India by the 11th-century to partly offset the goods they exported from India. According to Irfan Habib, it
5280-702: The Encyclopædia Britannica , to 9,596,961 km (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook , and The World Factbook . China has the longest combined land border in the world , measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) and its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin . China borders 14 nations and covers
5440-456: The 18th CCP National Congress in 2012. Shortly after his ascension to power, Xi launched a vast anti-corruption crackdown , that prosecuted more than 2 million officials by 2022. During his tenure , Xi has consolidated power unseen since the initiation of economic and political reforms. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to
5600-778: The Cultural Revolution , sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. After Mao's death, the Gang of Four was arrested by Hua Guofeng and held responsible for the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution
5760-636: The Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China. Afterwards, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the ROC government retreated offshore to Taiwan . On 1 October 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed
5920-550: The Muslim conquest of Transoxiana . Bloom argues that based on differences in Chinese and Central Asian papermaking techniques and materials, the story of Chinese papermakers directly introducing paper to Central Asia is probably metaphorical. Chinese paper was mostly made of bast fibers while Islamic paper was primarily made of waste material like rags. The paper-making innovations in Central Asia may be pre-Islamic, probably aided by
6080-568: The Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879 , in which between 9 and 13 million people died. The Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan in 1898 to establish a modern constitutional monarchy , but these plans were thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi . The ill-fated anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 further weakened the dynasty. Although Cixi sponsored a program of reforms known as the late Qing reforms ,
6240-620: The Palearctic and the Indomalayan . By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia . The country is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity ; its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the convention in 2010. China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest in
6400-744: The RCEP . It is a member of the BRICS , the G20 , APEC , the SCO , and the East Asia Summit . Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is the world's largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP , the second-largest economy by nominal GDP , and the second-wealthiest country , albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy , human rights and religious freedom . The country has been one of
6560-573: The Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era , which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of the rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against
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6720-729: The Republic of China or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions . Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China 2.25 million years ago. The hominid fossils of Peking Man , a Homo erectus who used fire , have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago . The fossilized teeth of Homo sapiens (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in Fuyan Cave . Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 6600 BCE, at Damaidi around 6000 BCE, Dadiwan from 5800 to 5400 BCE, and Banpo dating from
6880-470: The Silk Road , and the building of the Great Wall , Chinese culture flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties . After decades of Qing China on the decline, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and
7040-678: The Song dynasty (960–1279) the government produced the world's first known paper-printed money, or banknote ( see Jiaozi and Huizi ). Paper money was bestowed as gifts to government officials in special paper envelopes . During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the first well-documented European in Medieval China , the Venetian merchant Marco Polo remarked how the Chinese burned paper effigies shaped as male and female servants, camels, horses, suits of clothing and armor while cremating
7200-476: The State Council , China's cabinet, composed of four vice premiers, state councilors , and the heads of ministries and commissions. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body that is critical in China's " united front " system, which aims to gather non-CCP voices to support the CCP. Similar to the people's congresses, CPPCC's exist at various division, with
7360-723: The Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council ; the UN representative for China was changed from the ROC to the PRC in 1971. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB , the Silk Road Fund , the New Development Bank , and
7520-505: The Turpan Depression . China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons , which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist. A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts , particularly
7680-621: The World Trade Organization in 2001. At the 16th CCP National Congress in 2002, Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang as the general secretary. Under Hu, China maintained its high rate of economic growth, overtaking the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. However, the growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment, and caused major social displacement. Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader at
7840-719: The Xi , Mekong , Brahmaputra and Amur . To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154 m) in
8000-426: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911–1912 ended the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China . Puyi , the last Emperor, abdicated in 1912 . On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president. In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai , a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China . In
8160-422: The campaigns against Western Xia by Genghis Khan , who also invaded Jin territories . In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty , which conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew
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#17327726133158320-438: The fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter , as well as the second-largest importer . China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget . It is a great power , and has been described as an emerging superpower . China is known for its cuisine and culture, and has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites ,
8480-399: The second-highest number of any country . The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese , Malay , and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna , used in ancient India . "China" appears in Richard Eden 's 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of
8640-422: The 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 km (9,000 mi) long and
8800-454: The 11th century. Papyrus was used in Egypt as early as the third millennium before Christ, and was made from the inner bark of the papyrus plant ( Cyperus papyrus ). The bark was split into pieces which were placed crosswise in several layers with an adhesive between them, and then pressed and dried into a thin sheet which was polished for writing." Scholars of both East and West have sometimes taken it for granted that paper and papyrus were of
8960-409: The 16th century. A Persian geography book written by an unknown author in the 10th century, Hodud al-Alam , is the oldest known manuscripts mentioning papermaking industry in Samarkand . The writer stated that the city was famous for paper manufacturing and the product was exported to many other cities as a high-quality item. Samarkand kept its reputation for papermaking over few centuries even once
9120-440: The 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development. China has the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India , with approximately 1 million deaths. Although China ranks as the highest CO 2 emitting country, it only emits 8 tons of CO 2 per capita , significantly lower than developed countries such as
9280-406: The 2010s. In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement , which, according to Climate Action Tracker , would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2–0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker". China
9440-406: The 20th century with the advent of plastic manufacture, some plastic "paper" was introduced, as well as paper-plastic laminates, paper-metal laminates, and papers infused or coated with different substances to produce special properties. The word "paper" is etymologically derived from papyrus , Ancient Greek for the Cyperus papyrus plant. Papyrus is a thick, paper-like material produced from
9600-575: The 5th century but the Buddhist monk Damjing 's trip to Japan in 610 is often cited as the official beginning of papermaking there. Paper was used in Central Asia by the 8th century but its origin is not clear. According to the 11th century Persian historian, Al-Thaʽālibī , Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas in 751 introduced paper manufacturing to Samarkand . However, there are no contemporary Arab sources for this battle. A Chinese prisoner, Du Huan, who later returned to China reported weavers, painters, goldsmiths, and silversmiths among
9760-405: The 5th millennium BCE. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (7th millennium BCE) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system. According to traditional Chinese historiography , the Xia dynasty was established during the late 3rd millennium BCE, marking the beginning of the dynastic cycle that was understood to underpin China's entire political history. In the modern era,
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#17327726133159920-407: The 7th century included citations to over 1,400 works. The personal nature of texts was remarked upon by a late 6th century imperial librarian. According to him, the possession of and familiarity with a few hundred scrolls was what it took to be socially accepted as an educated man. According to Endymion Wilkinson, one consequence of the rise of paper in China was that "it rapidly began to surpass
10080-452: The Abbasid's Grand Vizier , for the manufacture of paper to replace parchment. There are records of paper being made at Gilgit in Pakistan by the sixth century, in Samarkand by 751, in Baghdad by 793, in Egypt by 900, and in Fes , Morocco around 1100, in Syria e.g. Damascus, and Aleppo, in Andalusia around 12th century, in Persia e.g. Maragheh by 13th century, Isfahan by 14th century, Ghazvin and Kerman, in India e.g. Dowlat Abad by
10240-416: The British under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking , the first of what have been termed as the " unequal treaties ". The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula , as well as the cession of Taiwan to Japan . The Qing dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion ,
10400-440: The Buddhist merchants and monks of China and Central Asia. The Islamic civilization helped spread paper and paper-making into the Middle East after the 8th-century. By 981, paper had spread to Armenian and Georgian monasteries in the Caucasus . It arrived into Europe centuries later, and then to many other parts of the world. A historical remnant of this legacy is the continued use of the word "ream" to count bundles of paper,
10560-400: The CCP. The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of upholding CCP leadership. The president is elected by the NPC. The presidency is the ceremonial state representative, but not the constitutional head of state. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CCP and the chairman of
10720-399: The CPG Corporation group of companies was transferred from Downer EDI, Australia, to China Architecture Design and Research Group . China China , officially the People's Republic of China ( PRC ), is a country in East Asia . With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans
10880-514: The Cambridge University 40,000 in 1715. After 1700, libraries in North America also began to overtake those of China, and toward the end of the century, Thomas Jefferson 's private collection numbered 4,889 titles in 6,487 volumes. The European advantage only increased further into the 19th century as national collections in Europe and America exceeded a million volumes while a few private collections, such as that of Lord Acton, reached 70,000. European book production began to catch up with China after
11040-413: The Central Military Commission , making him China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the Armed Forces. The premier is the head of government , with Li Qiang being the incumbent. The premier is officially nominated by the president and then elected by the NPC, and has generally been either the second- or third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). The premier presides over
11200-450: The Gobi Desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms , prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Japan and Korea. Water quality, erosion , and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in
11360-668: The Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people. According to academics, in order to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045. With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025, and by 2030 they will return to 2022 levels. However, such pathway still leads to three-degree temperature rise. Official government statistics about Chinese agricultural productivity are considered unreliable, due to exaggeration of production at subsidiary government levels. Much of China has
11520-606: The Islamic world, from where it travelled further toward west into Europe . Paper manufacture was introduced to India in the 13th century by Arab merchants, where it almost wholly replaced traditional writing materials. The evidence of paper use on the Indian subcontinent appears first in the second half of the 7th century. Its use is mentioned by 7th– and 8th-century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim memoirs as well as some Indian Buddhists , as Kakali and Śaya – likely Indian transliteration of Chinese Zhǐ (tsie). Yijing wrote about
11680-716: The KMT-led Nationalist government . Following the country's invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP and KMT formed the Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as the war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming
11840-768: The Kuomintang and the CCP. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died. An estimated 40,000 to 300,000 Chinese were massacred in Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation. China, along with the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union , were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in the Declaration by United Nations . Along with
12000-633: The Mediterranean empires in book production." During the Tang dynasty, China became the world leader in book production. In addition the gradual spread of woodblock printing from the late Tang and Song further boosted their lead ahead of the rest of the world. From the fourth century CE to about 1500, the biggest library collections in China were three to four times larger than the largest collections in Europe. The imperial government book collections in
12160-805: The National Committee of the CPPCC being chaired by Wang Huning , fourth-ranking member of the PSC. History of paper#Paper in China Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made from a combination of milled plant and textile fibres. The first paper-like plant-based writing sheet was papyrus in Egypt, but the first true papermaking process was documented in China during the Eastern Han period (25–220 AD), traditionally attributed to
12320-648: The PRC initially allied closely with the Soviet Union , the relations between the two communist nations gradually deteriorated , leading China to develop an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons . The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974. However, the Great Leap Forward , an idealistic massive industrialization project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961, mostly from starvation. In 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched
12480-1002: The People program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. The Kuomintang briefly allied with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Northern Expedition, though the alliance broke down in 1927 after Chiang violently suppressed the CCP and other leftists in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . The CCP declared areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) in November 1931 in Ruijin , Jiangxi . The Jiangxi Soviet
12640-586: The People's Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan . The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China . Following the implementation of land reforms , further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and
12800-535: The People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square , Beijing . In 1950, the PRC captured Hainan from the ROC and annexed Tibet . However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s. The CCP consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement , which included the state-tolerated executions of between 1 and 2 million landlords by peasants and former tenants. Though
12960-573: The Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa . Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn ( چین ), which in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna ( चीन ). Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata (5th century BCE) and the Laws of Manu (2nd century BCE). In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from
13120-619: The Sultan deferred delivering the promised clothes, he instead proposed taking the papers stored in the Sultan's library as his present. In another account, the hospitality of a minister in Baghdad, Ibn Al-Forat, had been described by his generosity in freely giving away papers to his guests or visitors. A wide range of papers with distinctive properties and varying places of origin were manufactured and utilised across Islamic domains. Papers were typically named based on several criteria: Bast ( hemp and flax ), cotton, and old rags and ropes were
13280-538: The Tang dynasty, rattan paper declined because it required specific growing areas, was slow in growth, and had a long regeneration cycle. The most prestigious kind of bark paper was known as Chengxintang Paper, which emerged during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was only used for imperial purposes. Ouyang Xiu described it as shiny, elaborate, smooth, and elastic. In the Eastern Jin period
13440-427: The Tang numbered about 5,000 to 6,000 titles (89,000 juan ) in 721. The Song imperial collections at their height in the early twelfth century may have risen to 4,000 to 5,000 titles. These are indeed impressive numbers, but the imperial libraries were exceptional in China and their use was highly restricted. Only very few libraries in the Tang and Song held more than one or two thousand titles (a size not even matched by
13600-488: The United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6). Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest . The country has significant water pollution problems; only 89.4% of China's national surface water was graded suitable for human consumption by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2023. China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in
13760-496: The Xia is the earliest for which there are both contemporary written records and undisputed archaeological evidence. The Shang ruled much of the Yellow River valley until the 11th century BCE, with the earliest hard evidence dated c. 1300 BCE . The oracle bone script , attested from c. 1250 BCE but generally assumed to be considerably older, represents the oldest known form of written Chinese , and
13920-513: The Xia's historicity came under increasing scrutiny, in part due to the earliest known attestation of the Xia being written millennia after the date given for their collapse. In 1958, archaeologists discovered sites belonging to the Erlitou culture that existed during the early Bronze Age ; they have since been characterized as the remains of the historical Xia, but this conception is often rejected. The Shang dynasty that traditionally succeeded
14080-681: The Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor . Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa. In
14240-451: The authority of the Zhou dynasty , accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature , philosophy , and historiography . In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor , ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the Qin , Han , Tang , Yuan , Ming , and Qing . With the invention of gunpowder and paper , the establishment of
14400-820: The bulk of East Asia, bordering Vietnam , Laos , and Myanmar in Southeast Asia; India , Bhutan , Nepal , Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia; Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia , and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia . It is narrowly separated from Bangladesh and Thailand to the southwest and south, and has several maritime neighbors such as Japan , Philippines , Malaysia , and Indonesia . China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them. China currently has
14560-450: The capital. Open, it stretches; closed, it rolls up. it can be contracted or expanded; hidden away or displayed. Among the earliest known uses of paper was padding and wrapping delicate bronze mirrors according to archaeological evidence dating to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han from the 2nd century BCE. Padding doubled as both protection for the object as well as the user in cases where poisonous "medicine" were involved, as mentioned in
14720-578: The court official Cai Lun . This plant-puree conglomerate produced by pulp mills and paper mills was used for writing, drawing, and money. During the 8th century, Chinese paper making spread to the Islamic world , replacing papyrus. By the 11th century, papermaking was brought to Europe, where it replaced animal-skin-based parchment and wood panels. By the 13th century, papermaking was refined with paper mills using waterwheels in Spain. Later improvements to
14880-575: The curious Chinese tradition of toilet paper in 851, writing: "... [the Chinese] do not wash themselves with water when they have done their necessities; but they only wipe themselves with paper". During the Tang dynasty (618–907) paper was folded and sewn into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea . In the same period, it was written that tea was served from baskets with multi-colored paper cups and paper napkins of different size and shape. During
15040-510: The dead during funerary rites . According to Timothy Hugh Barrett, paper played a pivotal role in early Chinese written culture, and a "strong reading culture seems to have developed quickly after its introduction, despite political fragmentation." Indeed, the introduction of paper had immense consequences for the book world. It meant books would no longer have to be circulated in small sections or bundles, but in their entirety. Books could now be carried by hand rather than transported by cart. As
15200-686: The domain of written Persian ("Persographia") in large parts of Eurasia . The oldest known paper document in Europe is the Mozarab Missal of Silos from the 11th century, probably using paper made in the Islamic part of the Iberian Peninsula . They used hemp and linen rags as a source of fiber. The first recorded paper mill in the Iberian Peninsula was in Xàtiva in 1056. Papermaking reached Europe as early as 1085 in Toledo and
15360-610: The earlier path over the Himalayas to India. Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world. Despite the Han's initial decentralization and the official abandonment of the Qin philosophy of Legalism in favor of Confucianism , Qin's legalist institutions and policies continued to be employed by the Han government and its successors. After the end of the Han dynasty , a period of strife known as Three Kingdoms followed, at
15520-537: The early Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming critiqued and expanded Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations . The scholar-official stratum became a supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and defense against Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Later Jin incursions led to an exhausted treasury. In 1644, Beijing
15680-737: The east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains , while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include
15840-656: The end of which Wei was swiftly overthrown by the Jin dynasty . The Jin fell to civil war upon the ascension of a developmentally disabled emperor ; the Five Barbarians then rebelled and ruled northern China as the Sixteen States . The Xianbei unified them as the Northern Wei , whose Emperor Xiaowen reversed his predecessors' apartheid policies and enforced a drastic sinification on his subjects . In
16000-411: The equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land . With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions : 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four municipalities , and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions . Beijing
16160-473: The face of popular condemnation and opposition from his own Beiyang Army , he was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic in 1916. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory. During this period , China participated in World War I and saw
16320-555: The failed Taiping Rebellion that ravaged southern China in the 1850s and 1860s and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in the northwest. The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by a series of military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s. In the 19th century, the great Chinese diaspora began. Losses due to emigration were added to by conflicts and catastrophes such as
16480-399: The first. The two layers are then pounded together using a mallet to make a sheet. The result is very strong, but has an uneven surface, especially at the edges of the strips. When used in scrolls, repeated rolling and unrolling causes the strips to come apart again, typically along vertical lines. This effect can be seen in many ancient papyrus documents. Paper contrasts with papyrus in that
16640-572: The form of Chinese paper. According to Jonathan Bloom – a scholar of Islamic and Asian Art with a focus on paper and printing, the connection between Chinese prisoners and the introduction of paper in Central Asia is "unlikely to be factual". Archaeological evidence shows that paper was already known and used in Samarkand decades before 751 CE. Seventy-six texts in Sogdian , Arabic , and Chinese have also been found near Panjakent , likely predating
16800-532: The fuller's mills to drive a series of three wooden hammers per trough. The hammers were raised by their heads by cams fixed to a waterwheel's axle made from a large tree trunk. In the Americas, archaeological evidence indicates that a similar bark-paper writing material was used by the Maya no later than the 5th century CE. Called amatl or amate , it was in widespread use among Mesoamerican cultures until
16960-510: The growth of Buddhism during the Tang, and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of complexity. However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jin dynasty . In 1127, Emperor Huizong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the Jin–Song wars . The remnants of the Song retreated to southern China . The Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with
17120-459: The industry spread across other Islamic areas. For instance, it is said that some ministers in Egypt preferred ordering their required paper to Samarkand from which the paper was transported all the way to Egypt. In Baghdad, particular neighborhoods were allocated to paper manufacturing and in Bazaar paper merchants and sellers owned distinct sectors being called Paper Market or Suq al-Warraqin ,
17280-400: The informal paramount leader . The current general secretary is Xi Jinping , who took office on 15 November 2012. At the local level, the secretary of the CCP committee of a subdivision outranks the local government level; CCP committee secretary of a provincial division outranks the governor while the CCP committee secretary of a city outranks the mayor. The government in China is under
17440-405: The introduction of the mechanical printing press in the mid fifteenth century. Reliable figures of the number of imprints of each edition are as hard to find in Europe as they are in China, but one result of the spread of printing in Europe was that public and private libraries were able to build up their collections and for the first time in over a thousand years they began to match and then overtake
17600-409: The largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022. China is the third-largest country in the world by land area after Russia , and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area. China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km (3,696,100 sq mi) according to
17760-520: The largest libraries in China. Paper became central to the three arts of China – poetry, painting, and calligraphy. In later times paper constituted one of the 'Four Treasures of the Scholar's Studio,' alongside the brush, the ink, and the inkstone. After its origin in central China , the production and use of paper spread steadily. It is clear that paper was used at Dunhuang by 150 CE, in Loulan in
17920-515: The major input materials for producing the pulp. Sometimes a mixture of materials was also used for pulp making, such as cotton and hemp, or flax and hemp. Other uncommon primary materials such as fig tree bark are also reported in some manuscripts. Very few sources have mentioned the methods, phases and applied tools in the papermaking process though. A painting from an illustrated book in Persian has depicted different stages and required tools of
18080-561: The manuscript collections of the grandest of the great cathedral libraries in Europe). However, despite the initial advantage afforded to China by the paper medium, by the 9th century its spread and development in the Middle East had closed the gap between the two regions. Between the 9th to early 12th centuries, libraries in Cairo, Baghdad, and Cordoba held collections larger than even the ones in China, and dwarfed those in Europe. From about 1500
18240-566: The maturation of paper making and printing in Southern Europe also had an effect in closing the gap with the Chinese. The Venetian Domenico Grimani 's collection numbered 15,000 volumes by the time of his death in 1523. After 1600, European collections completely overtook those in China. The Bibliotheca Augusta numbered 60,000 volumes in 1649 and surged to 120,000 in 1666. In the 1720s the Bibliothèque du Roi numbered 80,000 books and
18400-587: The modern-day province of Xinjiang by 200, and in Turpan by 399. Paper was concurrently introduced in Japan sometime between the years 280 and 610. Paper spread to Vietnam in the 3rd century, to Korea in the 4th century, and to Japan in the 5th century. The paper of Korea was famed for being glossy white and was especially prized for painting and calligraphy. It was among the items commonly sent to China as tribute. The Koreans spread paper to Japan possibly as early as
18560-660: The multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in Chinese government. According to the CCP constitution , its highest body is the National Congress held every five years. The National Congress elects the Central Committee , who then elects the party's Politburo , Politburo Standing Committee and the general secretary ( party leader ), the top leadership of the country. The general secretary holds ultimate power and authority over party and state and serves as
18720-619: The name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Although use in Indian sources precedes this dynasty, this derivation is still given in various sources. The origin of the Sanskrit word is a matter of debate. Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state. The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" ( simplified Chinese : 中华人民共和国 ; traditional Chinese : 中華人民共和國 ; pinyin : Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó ). The shorter form
18880-476: The official history of the period. Although paper was used for writing by the 3rd century CE, paper continued to be used for wrapping (and other) purposes. Toilet paper was used in China from around the late 6th century. In 589, the Chinese scholar-official Yan Zhitui (531–591) wrote: "Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from Five Classics or the names of sages , I dare not use for toilet purposes". An Arab traveler who visited China wrote of
19040-472: The other three great powers, China was one of the four major Allies of World War II , and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, including the Penghu , was handed over to Chinese control ; however, the validity of this handover is controversial. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between
19200-472: The paper during its forming process. The Fabriano used glue obtained by boiling scrolls or scraps of animal skin to size the paper; it is suggested that this technique was recommended by the local tanneries . The introduction of the first European watermarks in Fabriano was linked to applying metal wires on a cover laid against the mould which was used for forming the paper. They adapted the waterwheels from
19360-478: The papermaking process came in 19th century Europe with the invention of wood-based papers. Although there were precursors such as papyrus in the Mediterranean world and amate in the pre-Columbian Americas , these are not considered true paper. Nor is true parchment considered paper: used principally for writing, parchment is heavily prepared animal skin that predates paper and possibly papyrus. In
19520-470: The pith of the Cyperus papyrus plant which was used in ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean societies for writing long before paper was used in China. Papyrus is prepared by cutting off thin ribbon-like strips of the pith (interior) of the Cyperus papyrus plant and then laying out the strips side-by-side to make a sheet. A second layer is then placed on top, with the strips running perpendicular to
19680-564: The plant material is broken down through maceration or disintegration before the paper is pressed. This produces a much more even surface and no natural weak direction in the material which falls apart over time. Unlike paper, papyrus is created by pressing, matting, and pounding the Cyperus papyrus plant, which only grew in Egypt and Sicily, and drying it to create the end product. The words 'papyrus' and its derivative, 'paper', have often been used interchangeably despite referring to different products created through different methods. Although it
19840-452: The practice of pounding and stirring rags in water, after which the matted fibres were collected on a mat. The bark of paper mulberry was particularly valued and high quality paper was developed in the late Han period using the bark of tán (檀; sandalwood ). Although bark paper emerged during the Han dynasty, the predominant material used for paper was hemp until the Tang dynasty when rattan and mulberry bark paper gradually prevailed. After
20000-499: The practice of priests and laypeople in India printing Buddha image on silk or paper, and worshipping these images. Elsewhere in his memoir, I-Ching wrote that Indians use paper to make hats, to reinforce their umbrellas and for sanitation. Xuangzang mentions carrying 520 manuscripts from India back to China in 644 CE, but it is unclear if any of these were on paper. Thin sheets of birch bark and specially treated palm-leaves remained
20160-672: The preferred writing surface for literary works through late medieval period in most of India. The earliest Sanskrit paper manuscript found is a paper copy of the Shatapatha Brahmana in Kashmir , dated to 1089, while the earliest Sanskrit paper manuscripts in Gujarat are dated between 1180 and 1224. Some of oldest surviving paper manuscripts have been found in Jain temples of Gujarat and Rajasthan, and paper use by Jain scribes
20320-417: The press , freedom of assembly , free formation of social organizations , freedom of religion and free access to the Internet . China has consistently been ranked amongst the lowest as an "authoritarian regime" by the Economist Intelligence Unit 's Democracy Index , ranking at 148th out of 167 countries in 2023. Other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for
20480-443: The prisoners taken, but no papermakers. According to Al-Nadim, a writer in Baghdad during the 10th century, Chinese craftsmen made paper in Khorasan : Then there is the Khurasani paper made of flax, which some say appeared in the days of the Umayyads, while others say it was during the Abbasid regime. Some say that it was an ancient product and others say that it is recent. It is stated that craftsmen from China made it in Khurasan in
20640-417: The protests and was replaced by Jiang Zemin . Jiang continued economic reforms, closing many SOEs and trimming down " iron rice bowl " (life-tenure positions). China's economy grew sevenfold during this time. British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau returned to China in 1997 and 1999 , respectively, as special administrative regions under the principle of one country, two systems . The country joined
20800-591: The quality of paper in Bengal, describing it as white paper that is made from "bark of a tree" and is as "glossy and smooth as deer's skin". The use of tree bark as a raw material for paper suggests that the paper manufacturing in the eastern states of India may have come directly from China, rather than Sultanates formed by West Asian or Central Asian conquests. Paper technology likely arrived in India from China through Tibet and Nepal around mid-7th century, when Buddhist monks freely traveled, exchanged ideas and goods between Tibet and Buddhist centers in India. This exchange
20960-485: The same nature; they have confused them as identical, and so have questioned the Chinese origin of papermaking. This confusion resulted partly from the derivation of the word paper , papier , or papel from papyrus and partly from ignorance about the nature of paper itself. Papyrus is made by lamination of natural plants, while paper is manufactured from fibres whose properties have been changed by maceration or disintegration. Archaeological evidence of papermaking predates
21120-563: The sole control of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members. The National People's Congress (NPC), with nearly 3,000-members, is constitutionally the " highest organ of state power ", though it has been also described as a " rubber stamp " body. The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee , around 150 members elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months. Elections are indirect and not pluralistic, with nominations at all levels being controlled by
21280-495: The south, the general Liu Yu secured the abdication of the Jin in favor of the Liu Song . The various successors of these states became known as the Northern and Southern dynasties , with the two areas finally reunited by the Sui in 581. The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and imperial examination system, constructed the Grand Canal , and patronized Buddhism . However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and
21440-443: The standardization of Chinese characters, measurements , road widths, and currency . His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi , Guangdong , and Northern Vietnam . The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death. Following widespread revolts during which the imperial library was burned , the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, creating
21600-534: The subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split , the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States . Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist planned economy towards an increasingly capitalist market economy , spurring significant economic growth. The corresponding movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after
21760-458: The time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries BCE, there were seven major powerful states left. The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the state of Qin conquered the other six states, reunited China and established the dominant order of autocracy . King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Qin dynasty , becoming the first emperor of a unified China. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms, notably
21920-446: The time they were renowned for their wool-weaving and manufacture of cloth. Fabriano papermakers considered the process of making paper by hand an art form and were able to refine the process to successfully compete with parchment which was the primary medium for writing at the time. They developed the application of stamping hammers to reduce rags to pulp for making paper, sizing paper by means of animal glue , and creating watermarks in
22080-520: The traditional attribution given to Cai Lun , an imperial eunuch official of the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE), thus the exact date or inventor of paper cannot be deduced. The earliest extant paper fragment was unearthed at Fangmatan in Gansu province, and was likely part of a map, dated to 179–141 BCE. Fragments of paper have also been found at Dunhuang dated to 65 BCE and at Yumen pass, dated to 8 BCE. The invention traditionally attributed to Cai Lun, recorded hundreds of years after it took place,
22240-485: The traditional workflow. The painting has distinguished two major phases of the papermaking process: A manuscript from the 13th century has also elaborated the process of papermaking. This text shows how papermakers were undertaking multiple steps to produce high-quality paper. This papermaking instruction or recipe is a chapter under the title of al-kâghad al-baladî (local paper) from the manuscript of al-Mukhtara'fî funûn min al-ṣunan attributed to al-Malik al-Muẓaffar ,
22400-446: The trip hammer is not known to have been used in Chinese papermaking until after its use in Muslim papermaking. By the 9th century, Muslims were using paper regularly, although for important works like copies of the revered Qur'an , vellum was still preferred. Advances in book production and bookbinding were introduced. In Muslim countries they made books lighter—sewn with silk and bound with leather-covered paste boards; they had
22560-411: The use of trip hammers (human- or animal-powered) in the production of paper, replacing the traditional Chinese mortar and pestle method. In turn, the trip hammer method was later employed by the Chinese. Historically, trip hammers were often powered by a water wheel, and are known to have been used in China as long ago as 40 BCE or maybe even as far back as the Zhou dynasty (1050 BCE–221 BCE), though
22720-418: The various Turkic languages . Through the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans the Persian kaghaz entered the languages of the region through Ottoman Turkish ( كاغد ), including Serbian , where it generated the word for "documentation" (ćage). Historian Nile Green explains that the increased access to paper had a role in the expansion of Persian into bureaucratic and in turn literary activities, that is,
22880-485: The world), 1,221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh). Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, one of the world's largest population of humans. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction , due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and traditional Chinese medicine . Endangered wildlife
23040-428: The world), 13.2% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.4% from wind (largest), 6.2% from solar energy (largest), 4.6% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3.3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.2% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 31% of China's energy came from renewable energy sources. Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been
23200-453: Was wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi . It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria . Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a theater of World War II . The war forced an uneasy alliance between
23360-406: Was also fragile, sensitive to moisture, and restricted to a scroll format of no more than 30–35 feet. By the end of the 9th century, paper had become more popular than papyrus in the Muslim World. In Asia and Africa, paper displaced papyrus as the primary writing material by the mid-10th century. In Europe, papyrus co-existed with parchment for several hundred years until it largely disappeared by
23520-406: Was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng . The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty , then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui , overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912,
23680-417: Was devastated and weakened by the An Lushan rebellion in the 8th century. In 907, the Tang disintegrated completely when the local military governors became ungovernable. The Song dynasty ended the separatist situation in 960, leading to a balance of power between the Song and the Liao dynasty . The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish
23840-411: Was firmly established in Xàtiva , Spain by 1150. During the 13th century mills were established in Amalfi , Fabriano , and Treviso , Italy , and other Italian towns by 1340. Papermaking then spread further northwards, with evidence of paper being made in Troyes , France by 1348, in Holland sometime around 1340–1350, and in Nuremberg , Germany by 1390 in a mill set up by Ulman Stromer . This
24000-409: Was formed in 1833 after George Drumgoole Coleman became the first superintendent. The department was formally established as the Public Works Department of Singapore (PWD) in 1946. Under Temasek Holdings , it was incorporated in 1999 and renamed to PWD Corporation before again being renamed to CPG Corporation in 2002. A year later, it became part of the Downer EDI Group . In 2012, the ownership of
24160-462: Was in use by the ancient Chinese military more than 100 years before Cai, in 8 BCE, and possibly much earlier as the map fragment found at the Fangmatan tomb site dates from the early 2nd century BCE. It therefore would appear that "Cai Lun's contribution was to improve this skill systematically and scientifically, fix a recipe for papermaking". Cai Lun's biography in the Twenty-Four Histories says: The production process may have originated from
24320-403: Was just about the time when the woodcut printmaking technique was transferred from fabric to paper in the old master print and popular prints . There was a paper mill in Switzerland by 1432 and the first mill in England was set up by John Tate around 1490 near Hertford , but the first commercially successful paper mill in Britain did not occur before 1588 when John Spilman set up
24480-432: Was made of tropical wood indigenous to India, not Tibet. The Persian word for paper, kaghaz is a borrowing from Sogdian kʾɣδʾ, itself in turn possibly borrowed from Chinese (紙). Kaghaz was loaned into numerous other languages, including Arabic ( كاغد )—an early development which shaped the spelling of the Persian word itself — Bengali (কাগজ), Georgian (ქაღალდი), Kurdish , Marathi (कागद), Nepali , Telugu , and
24640-439: Was one of the notable outcomes of the drastic increase in the availability of paper. However, paper was still an upmarket good given the remarkable required inputs, e.g. primary materials and labours, to produce the item in the absence of advanced mechanical machinery. In one account Ibn al-Bawwab , a Persian calligrapher and illuminator, had been promised by the Sultan to be given precious garments in response to his services. When
24800-408: Was rebuked, with millions rehabilitated. Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted large-scale political and economic reforms , together with the " Eight Elders ", most senior and influential members of the party. The government loosened its control and the communes were gradually disbanded. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized. While foreign trade became
24960-620: Was refined and machinery was designed for bulk manufacturing of paper. Production began in Baghdad, where a method was invented to make a thicker sheet of paper, which helped transform papermaking from an art into a major industry. The use of water-powered pulp mills for preparing the pulp material used in papermaking dates back to Samarkand in the 8th century. The use of human/animal-powered paper mills has also been identified in Abbasid -era Baghdad during 794–795, though this should not be confused with later water-powered paper mills (see Paper mills section below). The Muslims also introduced
25120-436: Was sometimes used as a recording medium, but was normally too expensive to consider. The Han dynasty Chinese court official Cai Lun (c. 50–121 CE) is credited as the inventor of a method of papermaking (inspired by wasps and bees) using rags and other plant fibers in 105 CE. However, the discovery of specimens bearing written Chinese characters in 2006 at Fangmatan in north-east China's Gansu Province suggests that paper
25280-492: Was strengthened in part to suppress anti-Qing sentiment with the policy of valuing agriculture and restraining commerce, like the Haijin during the early Qing period and ideological control as represented by the literary inquisition , causing some social and technological stagnation. In the mid-19th century, the Opium Wars with Britain and France forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to
25440-422: Was the last imperial dynasty of China. The Ming-Qing transition (1618–1683) cost 25 million lives, but the Qing appeared to have restored China's imperial power and inaugurated another flowering of the arts. After the Southern Ming ended, the further conquest of the Dzungar Khanate added Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang to the empire. Meanwhile, China's population growth resumed and shortly began to accelerate. It
25600-420: Was used to great effect in Greece and Rome, papyrus has several downsides compared to paper. It was geographically limited by the Cyperus papyrus plant, which was primarily grown in Egypt. The Arabs tried to grow the plant north of Baghdad in the 830s but failed. While not especially expensive, it was more laborious to create papyrus with an even surface, and paper was more abundant and affordable than papyrus. It
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