China,[i] officially the People's Republic of China (PRC),[j] 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 the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land[k] across an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), making it the third-largest country by total land area.[l] The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions: 22 provinces,[m] five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions. Beijing 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 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 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.
Beijing,[a] previously romanized as Peking,[b] is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents,[11] it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city after Shanghai.[12] It is located in Northern China, and is governed as a municipality under the direct administration of the State Council with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.[13] Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province and neighbors Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster.[14] It is ranked as the 10th most important city in the world by Knight Frank.[15] Beijing is a global city and one of the world's leading centres for culture, diplomacy, politics, finance, business and economics, education, research, language, tourism, media, sport, science and technology and transportation and art. It is home to the headquarters of most of China's largest state-owned companies and houses the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world, as well as the world's four biggest financial institutions by total assets.[16] It is also a major hub for the national highway, expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks. For a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Capital International Airport was Asia's busiest airport (2009–2019) and the second busiest airport in the world (2010–2019).[17] In 2020, the Beijing subway was the fourth busiest and second longest in the world.[18] Beijing Daxing International Airport, Beijing's second international airport, is the largest single-structure airport terminal in the world.[19][20] The city has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable being the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Paralympics Games. In 2022, Beijing became the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics,[21] and also the Summer and Winter Paralympics
Hong Kong[e] is a special administrative region of China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities[f] in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world. Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.