China () is a cultural region and ancient civilization in East Asia. China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia. The stalemate of the last Chinese Civil War following World War II has resulted in two political entities using the name China: the People's Republic of China (PRC), administering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau; and the Republic of China (ROC), administering Taiwan and its surrounding islands. See Political status of Taiwan.
China has the world's longest continuously used written language system. China is also the source of many of the world's great inventions, including the Four Great Inventions of ancient China: paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.
Name
China is called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese. The first character zhōng () means "middle" or "central," while guó (or ) means "country" or "state". The term can be literally translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "Central Kingdom." In ancient times the term referred to the "Central States" along the Yellow River valley.English and many other languages use various forms of the name "China" and the prefix "Sino-" or "Sin-". These forms are thought to be probably derived from the name of the Qin Dynasty that first unified the country (221-206 BCE). The Qin Dynasty unified the written language in China and gave the supreme ruler of China the title of "Emperor" instead of "King," thus the subsequent Silk Road traders might have identified themselves by that name.