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China (Pinyin: Zhongg鷒) is an ancient cultural and geographic entity in continental East Asia with some offshore islands which since 1949 has been divided between the People's Republic of China (governing Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau) and the Republic of China (governing Taiwan and several outlying Fujianese islands). The term "China" can narrowly mean China proper, or, more usually and inclusively, China proper and Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang. In the western news media, "China" is commonly used synonymously with the People's Republic of China or mainland China, while "Taiwan" is used to refer to the Republic of China. The historical capitals of China were mostly in the east. The four most commonly designated capitals are Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'an, and Luoyang. Official languages once included Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu. The English word China and prefix Sino- probably came from "Qin" (pronounced halfway between "Chin" and "Tsin"). It passed through many languages along the Silk Road before it finally reached Europe.

[From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. View Live Article and its History.]