Etymology

Main article: Names of China

China

Chinese name

Simplified Chinese:

Traditional Chinese:

Literal meaning: [show]Transliterations

Middle Kingdom[27][28]

People's Republic of China

Alternative Chinese name

Simplified Chinese:

Traditional Chinese: [show]Transliterations

Mongolian name

Mongolian:

[show]Transliterations

Tibetan name

Tibetan:

[show]Transliterations

Uyghur name

Uyghur: [show]Transliterations

Zhuang name

Zhuang:

Cunghvaz Yinzminz Gunghozgoz

This article contains Chinesetext. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbolsinstead of Chinese characters.

The word "China" is derived from Persian Cin ( .)It is first recorded in 1516 in the journal of [29] Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The word appears in English in a translation published in [30] [31] 1555. The Persian word is, in turn, derived from the Sanskrit word Cna ( ), which was used as a name for China as early as AD 150. There are various scholarly theories regarding the origin of this word. The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini, is that "China" is derived from "Qin" (), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during theZhou Dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin Dynasty (221206 BC). The word Cna is used in two Hindu scriptures the Mahbhrata of the 5th century BC and the Laws of Manu of the 2nd century BC to refer to a [34][35] country located in the Tibetan-Burman borderlands east ofIndia. In China, common names for the country include Zhnggu (Chinese: ; literally "the Central State(s)") and Zhnghu (Chinese: ), although the country's official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern governments. The term Zhongguoappeared in various ancient texts, [36] such as the Classic of History of the 6th century BC, and in pre-imperial times it was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia from the barbarians. The term, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states in the central plain. It was only in the nineteenth century that the term emerged as the formal name of the country. The Chinese were not unique in regarding their country [37] as "central", since other civilizations had the same view.
[33] [32]

History
Main articles: History of China and Timeline of Chinese history

Prehistory

Main article: Chinese prehistory Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 250,000 and 2.24 million [38] years ago. A cave in Zhoukoudian(near present-day Beijing) exhibits fossils dated at between 300,000 [39][40][41] and 780,000 BC. The fossils are of Peking Man, an example ofHomo erectus who used fire. There [42] are also remains of Homo sapiens dating back to 18,00011,000 BC found at the Peking Man site.

Early dynastic rule

See also: Dynasties in Chinese history

Jade deer ornament dating from theShang Dynasty.

Chinese tradition names the first imperial dynasty Xia, but it was considered mythical until scientific [43] excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou in Henan Province in 1959. Archaeologists have since uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in locations cited as Xia's in ancient historical texts, but it is impossible to verify that these remains are of the Xia without written records from the period.

Some of the thousands of life-sizeTerracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, ca. 210 BC.

The Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural regions of the Chinese interior from incursions by nomadic pastoralists of the northern steppes.

The first Chinese dynasty that left historical records, the loosely feudal Shang (Yin), settled along the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century BC. The oracle bone script of the Shang Dynasty represents the oldest form of Chinese writing yet found, and the direct ancestor of the modern Chinese characters used throughout East Asia. The Shang were invaded from the west by the Zhou, who ruled from the 12th to the 5th century BC, until their centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many independent states eventually emerged out of the weakened Zhou state, and continually waged war with each other in the Spring and Autumn Period, only occasionally deferring to the Zhou king. By the time of the Warring States Period in the 5th3rd centuries BC, there [44] were seven powerful sovereign states, each with its own king, ministry and army.

Imperial China
The first unified Chinese state was established by Qin Shi Huang of the Qin state in 221 BC. Qin Shi Huang proclaimed himself the "First Emperor" (), and imposed many reforms throughout China, notably the forced standardization of the Chinese language, measurements, length of cart axles, and currency. The Qin Dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after Qin Shi Huang's death, as its [45][46] harsh legalist and authoritarian policies led to widespread rebellion. The subsequent Han Dynasty ruled China between 206 BC and 220 AD, and created a lasting Han [45][46] cultural identity among its populace that has endured to the present day. The Han Dynasty expanded the empire's territory considerably with military campaigns reaching Korea, Vietnam,Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped establish the Silk Road in Central Asia. China was [47] for a large part of the last two millennia the world's largest economy. However, in the later part of the Qing Dynasty, China's economic development began to slow and Europe's rapid development in the Industrial Revolution enabled it to surpass China. After the collapse of Han, another period of disunion followed, including the highly chivalric period of [48] the Three Kingdoms. Independent Chinese states of this period such as Wu opened diplomatic [49] relations with Japan, introducing the Chinese writing system there. In 580 AD, China was reunited [50] under the Sui. However, the Sui Dynasty declined following its defeat in the GoguryeoSui War (598 [51][52] 614). Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese technology and culture entered a golden [53] age. The Tang Empire was at its height of power until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Shi [54] Rebellion destroyed the prosperity of the empire. The Song Dynasty was the first government in world

history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing [55] navy. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size. This growth came about through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. Within its borders, the Northern Song Dynasty had a population of some 100 million people. The Song Dynasty was a culturally rich period for philosophy and the arts. Landscape art and portrait painting were brought to new levels of maturity and complexity after the Tang Dynasty, and social elites gathered to view art, share their own, and trade precious artworks. Philosophers such as Cheng Yi andChu Hsi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary, infused Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of classic texts that brought about the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

Detail from Along the River During the Qingming Festival, a 12th-century painting showing everyday life in the Song Dynasty's capital city, Bianjing (today's Kaifeng).

In 1271, the Mongol leader and fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, with the last remnant of the Song Dynasty falling to the Yuan in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120 million inhabitants; after the conquest was [56] completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million people.

Late dynastic rule

A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and founded the Ming [57] Dynasty. Under the Ming Dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during [58] this period that Zheng He led explorations throughout the world, reaching as far as Africa. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. During the Ming Dynasty, thinkers such as Wang Yangming further critiqued and expanded NeoConfucianism with concepts of individualism and innate morality that would have tremendous impact on later Japanese thought. Chosun Korea also became a nominal vassal state of Ming China, and adopted much of its Neo-Confucian bureaucratic structure. In 1644, Beijing was sacked by a coalition of rebel forces led by Li Zicheng, a minor Ming official who led the peasant revolt. The last Ming Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing Dynasty then allied with Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui and overthrew Li's shortlived Shun Dynasty, and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the [59] Qing Dynasty. In total, the Manchu conquest of China cost as many as 25 million lives.

The Qing Dynasty, which lasted until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty adopted a defensive posture towards European imperialism, even though it engaged in an imperialistic expansion of its own into Central Asia. At this time, China awoke to the significance of the rest of the world, the West in particular. As China opened up to foreign trade and missionary activity, opium produced by British India was forced onto Qing China. Two Opium Wars with Britain weakened the Emperor's control. Western imperialism proved to be disastrous for China: "The end of the Opium War marked the beginning of Western imperialism in China. Unequal treaties, imposed at the end of the war, forced China to relinquish Hong Kong, open new "Treaty Ports" to foreign trade, pay indemnities to her vanquishers, and allow foreigners to live and work on Chinese soil free of the jurisdiction of Chinese law (extraterritoriality). Over the years new wars with Western powers would expand these impositions on China's national sovereignty, culminating in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894- 95."
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A 19th-century painting depicting the Taiping Rebellionof 18501864.

The weakening of the Qing regime, and the apparent humiliation of the unequal treaties in the eyes of the Chinese people, led to increasing domestic disorder. In late 1850, southern China erupted in the Taiping Rebellion, a violent civil war which lasted until 1864. The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan, who was partly influenced by an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity. Hong believed himself to be the son of God and the younger brother of Jesus. Although the Qing forces were eventually victorious, the civil war was one of the bloodiest in human history, costing at least 20 million lives (more than the total number of fatalities in World War I), with some estimates of up to 40 million. Other costly rebellions followed the Taiping Rebellion, such as the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (185567), Nien Rebellion (18511868), Miao [61][62] Rebellion (185473), Panthay Rebellion (18561873) and the Dungan revolt (18621877). These rebellions each resulted in an estimated loss of several million lives, and had a devastating impact [63][64][65] on the fragile economy. The flow of British opium hastened the empire's decline. In the 19th century, the age of colonialism was at its height and the great Chinese Diaspora began; today, about 35 [66] million overseas Chinese live in Southeast Asia. Emigration rates were strengthened by domestic catastrophes such as the Northern Chinese Famine of 18761879, which claimed between 9 and 13 [67] [68] million lives in northern China. From 108 BC to 1911 AD, China experienced 1,828 famines, or one [69] per year, somewhere in the empire.

In the First Sino-Japanese War of 189495, which was fought over influence in Korea, Japanese troops defeated Qing forces.

While China was wracked by continuous war, Meiji Japan succeeded in rapidly modernizing its military, and set its sights on the conquest of Korea and Manchuria. At the request of the Korean emperor, the Qing government sent troops to aid in suppressing the Tonghak Rebellion in 1894. However, Japan also sent troops to Korea, leading to the First Sino-Japanese War, which resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula as well as the cession of Taiwan (including the Pescadores) to Japan. Following this series of defeats, a reform plan for the empire to become a modern Meijistyle constitutional monarchy was drafted by the Guangxu Emperor in 1898, but was opposed and stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who placed Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in a coup d'tat. Further destruction followed the ill-fated 1900 Boxer Rebellion against westerners in Beijing. By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun, and calls for reform and revolution were heard across the country. The 38-year-old Emperor Guangxu died under house arrest on 14 November 1908, suspiciously just a day before Cixi's own death. With the throne empty, he was succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his two-year-old nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor. Guangxu's consort became the Empress Dowager Longyu. In another coup d'etat, Yuan Shikai overthrew the last Qing emperor, and forced Longyu to sign the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. She died, childless, in 1913.

Republic of China (19121949)

Main articles: Republic of China (19121949) and History of the Republic of China

Sun Yat-sen, the father of modern China (seated on right), and Chiang Kai-shek, later President of theRepublic of China.

On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, heralding the end of Imperial China. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist Party) was proclaimed provisional president of the [71] republic. However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, who had ensured the defection of the entire Beiyang Army from the Qing Empire to the revolution. In 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Emperor of China, but was forced to abdicate and reestablish the republic in the face of popular condemnation, not only from the general population but also from among his own Beiyang [72] Army and its commanders. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally recognized but virtually powerless national government seated in Beijing. Regional warlords exercised actual control over [73][74] their respective territories. In the late 1920s, the nationalist Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings, [75][76] known collectively as the Northern Expedition. The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's San-min program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang, but the party was politically divided into [77][78] competing cliques. This political division made it difficult for Chiang to battle the Communists, which the Kuomintang had been warring against since 1927 in the Chinese Civil War. This war continued successfully for the Kuomintang, especially after the Communists retreated in the Long March, until [79][80] the Xi'an Incident and Japanese aggression forced Chiang to confront Imperial Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War (19371945), a part of World War II, forced an uneasy alliance between the Kuomintang and the Communists. The Japanese "three-all policy" in northern China"kill all, burn all and destroy all"led to numerous war atrocities being committed against the civilian population; in all, as [81][82] many as 20 million Chinese civilians were killed. An estimated 200,000 Chinese were massacred in [83] the city of Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation. Japan unconditionally surrendered to China in 1945. Taiwan, including the Pescadores, was put under the administrative control of the Republic of China, which immediately claimed sovereignty. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. In 1947, constitutional rule was established, but because of the ongoing unrest many provisions [84][85][86] of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China.

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People's Republic of China (1949present)

Main article: History of the People's Republic of China Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of mainland China, and the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing the ROC's territory to only Taiwan, Hainan, and their surrounding islands. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of [87] China, which was commonly known in the West as "Communist China" or "Red China" during the Cold [88] War. In 1950, the People's Liberation Army succeeded in capturing Hainan from the ROC, occupying Tibet, and defeating the majority of the remaining Kuomintang forces in Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces, though some Kuomintang holdouts survived until much later.

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Mao encouraged population growth, and under his leadership the Chinese population almost doubled [89] from around 550 million to over 900 million. However, Mao's Great Leap Forward, a large-scale economic and social reform project, resulted in an estimated 45 million deaths between 1958 and 1961, [90] mostly from starvation. Between 1 and 2 million landlords were executed as [91] "counterrevolutionaries." Mao's rule proved to be disastrous for China:

Somewhere between 20 and 40 million Chinese died of famine in China during Mao's Great Leap Forward because of misguided, stubbornly imposed rural socialist policies ... When Mao Zedong died in 1976, Chinese sources estimate that 20 percent of the population of China, some 200 million souls, were suffering from chronic malnutrition for no good reason [92] other than the failures of socialist agriculture and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, which would last until Mao's death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution, motivated by power struggles within the Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major upheaval in Chinese society. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. In that same year, for the first time, the number of countries recognizing the PRC surpassed those recognizing [93] the ROC in Taipei as the government of China. In February 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao and Zhou Enlai met Richard Nixon in Beijing. However, the U.S. did not officially recognise the PRC as China's sole legitimate government until 1 January 1979. After Mao's death in 1976 and the arrest of the Gang of Four, who were blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping quickly wrested power from Mao's anointed successorHua Guofeng. Although he never became the head of the party or state himself, Deng was in fact the Paramount Leader of China at that time, his influence within the Party led the country tosignificant economic reforms. The Communist Party subsequently loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives and the communes were disbanded with many peasants receiving multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production. This turn of events marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open market environment, a system termed [94] by some "market socialism"; the Communist Party of China officially describes it as "socialism with Chinese characteristics". China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. The death of pro-reform official Hu Yaobang helped to spark the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, during which students and others campaigned for several months, speaking out against corruption and in

favour of greater political reform, including democratic rights and freedom of speech. However, they were eventually put down on 4 June when PLA troops and vehicles entered and forcibly cleared the square, resulting in numerous casualties. This event was widely reported and brought worldwide condemnation [95][96] and sanctions against the government. The "Tank Man" incident in particular became famous.

The city of Shanghai has become a symbol of China's rapid economic expansion since the 1990s.

President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji, both former mayors of Shanghai, led the nation in the 1990s. Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of administration, China's economic performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross domestic product [97][98] growth rate of 11.2%. The country formally joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Although rapid economic growth has made the Chinese economy the world's second-largest, this growth [99] has also severely impacted the country's resources and environment. Another concern is that the benefits of economic development has not been distributed evenly, resulting in a wide development gap between urban and rural areas. As a result, under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese government initiated policies to address these issues of equitable distribution of resources, [100] though the outcome remains to be seen. More than 40 million farmers have been displaced from their [101] land, usually for economic development, contributing to the 87,000 demonstrations and riots across [102] [103] China in 2005. Living standards have improved significantly but political controls remain tight. In addition, preparations for a major Communist Party leadership change in late 2012 were marked by [104] factional disputes and political scandals, such as the fall from power of Chongqing official Bo Xilai.

Geography
Main article: Geography of the People's Republic of China See also: Geography of Taiwan

A composite satellite image showing the topography of China.

Longsheng Rice Terrace in Guangxi.

The Li River in Guangxi.

Political geography
The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area [14] after Russia and is either the third- or fourth-largest by total area, after Russia, Canada and, depending [105] on the definition of total area, the United States. China's total area is generally stated as being 2 [106] approximately 9,600,000 km (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 2 [107] 2 km (3,696,100 sq mi) according to the Encyclopdia Britannica, 9,596,961 km (3,705,407 sq mi) [108] 2 according to the UN Demographic Yearbook, to 9,596,961 km (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the CIA [109] 2 World Factbook, and 9,640,011 km (3,722,029 sq mi) including Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram [110] Tract, which are controlled by China and claimed by India. None of these figures include the 1,000 square kilometres (386.1 sq mi) of territory ceded to China by Tajikistan following the ratification of a [111] Sino-Tajik border agreement in January 2011. According to the Encyclopdia Britannica, the total area of the United States, at 9,522,055 2 km (3,676,486 sq mi), is slightly smaller than that of China. Meanwhile, the CIA World Factbook states that China's total area was greater than that of the United States until the coastal waters of the Great [112] Lakes was added to the United States' total area in 1996. China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River to the Gulf of Tonkin. China borders 14 nations, more than any other country except Russia, which also borders 14. China extends across much of East Asia, [113] bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Burma in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan in South Asia; Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; a small section of Russian Altai and Mongolia in Inner Asia; and the Russian Far East and North Korea in Northeast Asia. Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. The PRC and the Republic of China (Taiwan) make mutual claims over each other's territory and the frontier between areas under their respective control is closest near the islands of Kinmen and Matsu, off theFujian coast, but otherwise run through the Taiwan Strait. The PRC and ROC assert identical claims over the entirety of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, and the southern-most extent of these claims reach Zengmu Ansha (James Shoal), which would form a maritime frontier with Malaysia.

Landscape and climate

Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, in Tibet.

The South China Sea coast atHainan.

The territory of China lies between latitudes 18 and 54 N, and longitudes 73 and 135 E. China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast width. In the east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains, while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broadgrasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts thedeltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include the Xi, Mekong, Brahmaputra and Amur. To the west, major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas, and high plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mt. Everest (8848m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's fourthlowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (154m) in the Turpan Depression. A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts, particularly the Gobi [114][115] Desert, which is currently the world's fifth-largest desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms, prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Korea and Japan. According to China's environmental watchdog, Sepa, China is [116] losing a million acres (4,000 km) per year to desertification. Water quality, erosion, andpollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in the [117] Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people. China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons, which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from highlatitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist. The climate in China differs from region to region because of the country's highly complex topography.

Biodiversity
Main article: Wildlife of China

A giant panda photographed in Sichuan.

China is one of 17 megadiverse countries, lying in two of the world's major ecozones: the Palearctic and the Indomalaya. In the Palearctic zone, mammals such as the horse, camel, tapir, and jerboa can be found. Among the species found in the Indomalaya region are the Leopard Cat, bamboo rat, treeshrew, and various monkey and ape species. Some overlap exists between the two regions due to natural dispersal and migration; deer,antelope, bears, wolves, pigs, and numerous rodent species can all be found in China's diverse climatic and geological environments. The famous giant panda is found only in a limited area along the Yangtze River. China suffers from a continuing problem with trade in endangered species, although there are now laws to prohibit such activities. China also hosts a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as mooseand the Asian black bear, along with over 120 bird species. Moist conifer forests can have thickets of bamboo as an understorey, replaced byrhododendrons in higher montane stands of juniper and yew. Subtropical forests, which dominate central and southern China, support as many as 146,000 species of flora. Tropical and seasonal rainforests, though confined to Yunnan and Hainan Island, contain a quarter of all the plant and animal species found in China.

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Environmental issues
Main article: Environment in the People's Republic of China See also: Water resources of the People's Republic of China

Wind turbines in Xinjiang. TheDabancheng project is Asia's largest wind farm.

In recent decades, China has suffered from severe environmental deterioration and pollution. While regulations such as the 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, they are poorly enforced, as they are frequently disregarded by local communities and government officials in favour of rapid economic development.

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Environmental campaigners such as Ma Jun have warned of the danger that water pollution poses to [120] Chinese society. According to the ChineseMinistry of Water Resources, roughly 300 million Chinese do not have access to safe drinking water, and 40% of Chinas rivers have been polluted by industrial and [121] agricultural waste as of late 2011. This crisis is compounded by the perennial problem of water shortages, with 400 out of 600 surveyed Chinese cities reportedly short of drinking [122][123] water. Additionally, numerous major Chinese coastal cities, including Shanghai, are deemed to be [124] highly vulnerable to large-scale flooding. However, China is the world's leading investor in renewable energy technologies, with $34.6 billion [125][126] invested in 2009 alone. China produces morewind turbines and solar panels than any other [127] country, and renewable energy projects, such as solar water heating, are widely pursued at the local [128] level. By 2009, over 17% of China's energy was derived from renewable sources most [129] notably hydroelectric power plants, of which China has a total installed capacity of 197 GW. In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to invest four trillion yuan (US$618.55 billion) in water infrastructure projects over a ten-year period, and to complete construction of a flood prevention and anti[130] drought system by 2020.