| China is a cultural
region, an ancient civilization, and, depending
on perspective, a national or multinational entity
extending over a large area in East Asia.
China has one of the
world's oldest people and continuous civilizations,
consisting of states and cultures dating back
more than six millennia. It has the world's longest
continuously used written language system, and
is the source of many major inventions, such as
what the British scholar and biochemist Joseph
Needham called the "four great inventions of Ancient
China": paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.
Historically, China's cultural sphere has extended
across East Asia as a whole, with Chinese religion,
customs, and writing systems being adopted to
varying degrees by neighbors such as Japan, Korea
and Vietnam.
The
first evidence of human presence in the region
was found at the Zhoukoudian cave and is one of
the first known specimens of Homo Erectus, now
commonly known as the Peking Man, estimated to
have lived approximately from 300,000 to 550,000
years ago. Noticeably, it is also known that the
Peking Man was able to control and use Fire.
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The
last Chinese Civil War has resulted in two political
entities using the name China:
the
People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known as
China, has control over mainland China and the largely
self-governing territories of Hong Kong (since 1997)
and Macau (since 1999).
the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan,
has control over the islands of Taiwan, Pescadores,
Kinmen, and Matsu.
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