COUNTRY OVERVIEW Provided by Wikipedia.com

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in Asia as well as the world's most populous state, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The PRC is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities , two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and claims sovereignty over the Republic of China (island of Taiwan) off the southeast coast of the mainland.
Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second largest state by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. 

China is a cradle of civilization, with its known history beginning with an ancient civilization – one of the world's earliest – that flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties. Since 221 BCE, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the state has expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. 

The Republic of China (ROC) replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the People's Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the ROC government relocated to Taiwan with its present capital in Taipei. Both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China.

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LASTING IMPRESSIONS

I never thought I would find myself in China but low and behold I stepped of the plane to find myself in the largest city in the world and the country's capital, Beijing. It is home to nearly 30 million people. Again, I was struck by how different these Asian countries really are from one another (Korea, Japan, China). While there are definite similarities the general atmosphere and cultural landscape seem to vary wildly. The most prominent feature of China for me was its communist government which on the surface, seems to have much greater immediate influence in everyday things like the the banking and social sectors of life. While China's economy was officially transitioned to an open market in 1978 and is currently the fastest growing in the world a number of the banks have titles such as "The National Bank of China" or "State Bank of China". Furthermore, the level of government propaganda and military presence was very high.

Walking through Tiananmen Square, 2016.

One could frequently find Chinese Soldiers and police standing at attention in what seemed to be random areas or marching in small formations down the sidewalk. It appeared to be a very clear show of force throughout the capital, even in cultural districts where there were no government buildings. It was also common for people to take pictures of you. There was very little diversity for such an incredibly populated city although this is similar across all the Asian countries I have visited.

We were advised upon our arrival that taking pictures of police and military personnel was prohibited and I didn't feel like testing the waters so I didn't capture too many good images. The police set up a bunch of trailers like the one pictured above throughout the city.
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Regardless of its communist government the country offered endless new experiences and was a challenging but interesting place to visit. Please see my Beijing page for the complete rundown of the trip including a marathon on the Great Wall.