China the most populous country of the world, is officially known as the People’s Republic of China (with the exception of the other state known as the Republic of China which currently governs the island of Taiwan). In economic or business contexts, “the Greater China region” informally means Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The region has been home to a long-standing civilization comprising successive states and cultures dating back more than 6,000 years. Imperial China was one of the world’s most technologically advanced civilizations for centuries. It is home to the four greatest inventions of the human civilization— paper, compass, gunpowder and printing — which eventually spread to the rest of the world.
Until the 20th century, China largely remained a coherent empire governed by scholar-officials. In 1912, the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing, fell to the nationalists under the charismatic leadership of Sun Yat-sen. In 1949 the communists declared the People’s Republic.