Editing History of China (section)

==Modern China==
<!--[[Republican China]] redirects here-->
[[File:1903 emperors-2.JPG|thumb|180px|right|{{center|Rulers of the world at the beginning of the 20th century}}]]

===Republic of China (since 1912)===
{{Main|1911 Revolution|History of the Republic of China|Republic of China (1912–1949)|Taiwan}}
{{See also|History of Taiwan|History of Taiwan (1945–present)|Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan}}

[[File:Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Flag of the [[First Guangzhou uprising]]]]
[[File:Xinhai Revolution in Shanghai.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Nanjing Road]] during [[Xinhai Revolution]], 1911]]
The [[Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1912)|provisional government of the Republic of China]] was formed in [[Nanjing]] on 12 March 1912. Sun Yat-sen became [[President of the Republic of China]], but he turned power over to [[Yuan Shikai]], who commanded the [[New Army]]. Over the next few years, Yuan proceeded to abolish the national and provincial assemblies, and declared himself as the emperor of [[Empire of China (1915–1916)|Empire of China]] in late 1915, in the style of an [[absolute monarchy]]. Yuan's imperial ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates; faced with the rapidly growing prospect of violent rebellion, he abdicated in March 1916 and died of natural causes in June.

{{multiple image
| align             = left
| image1            = Sunyatsen1.jpg
| width1            = 100
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = [[Sun Yat-sen]], the intellectual leader of the Revolution
| image2            = Yuan Shikai2.jpg
| width2            = 95
| alt2              = 
| caption2          = [[Yuan Shikai]], the first official president of the Republic of China
| footer            = 
}}

Yuan's death in 1916 left a power vacuum; the republican government (that had been nearly brought to its knees by his policies) was all but shattered. This opened the way for the [[Warlord Era]], during which much of China was ruled by shifting coalitions of competing provincial military leaders and the [[Beiyang government]], ushering in a short-lived period of uncertainty. Intellectuals, disappointed in the failure of the Republic, launched the [[New Culture Movement]].

[[File:Beijing students protesting the Treaty of Versailles (May 4, 1919).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Beijing college students rallied during the [[May Fourth Movement]], dissatisfied with Article 156 of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] for China ([[Shandong Problem]]).]]

In 1919, the [[May Fourth Movement]] began as a response to the pro-Japanese terms imposed on China by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] following World War I. It quickly became a nationwide protest movement. The protests were a moral success as the cabinet fell and China refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which had awarded German holdings of [[Shandong]] to Japan. Memory of the mistreatment at Versailles fuels resentment into the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Foot |first=Rosemary |date=2019 |title=Remembering the past to secure the present: Versailles legacies in a resurgent China |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]] |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=143–160|doi=10.1093/ia/iiy211 }}</ref>

Political and intellectual ferment waxed strong throughout the 1920s and 1930s. According to Patricia Ebrey:
:"Nationalism, patriotism, progress, science, democracy, and freedom were the goals; imperialism, feudalism, warlordism, autocracy, patriarchy, and blind adherence to tradition were the enemies. Intellectuals struggled with how to be strong and modern and yet Chinese, how to preserve China as a political entity in the world of competing nations."{{sfn|Ebrey|1999|p=271}}

[[File:Flag of China (1912–1928).svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Flag of the Republic of China from 1912 to 1928]]
[[File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg|alt=Blue Sky White Sun Wholly Red Earth|thumb|upright=0.8|Flag of the Republic of China from 1928 to now]]

In the 1920s Sun Yat-sen established a revolutionary base in Guangzhou and set out to unite the fragmented nation. He welcomed assistance from the [[Soviet Union]] (itself fresh from Lenin's Communist takeover) and he entered into an alliance with the fledgling [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). After Sun's death from cancer in 1925, one of his protégés, [[Chiang Kai-shek]], seized control of the [[Kuomintang|Nationalist Party]] (KMT) and succeeded in bringing most of south and central China under its rule in the [[Northern Expedition]] (1926–1927). Having defeated the warlords in the south and central China by [[National Revolutionary Army|military force]], Chiang was able to secure the nominal allegiance of the warlords in the North and establish the [[Nationalist government]] in Nanjing. In 1927, Chiang turned on the CCP and relentlessly purged the Communists elements in his [[National Revolutionary Army|NRA]]. In 1934, driven from their mountain bases such as the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]], the CCP forces embarked on the [[Long March]] across China's most desolate terrain to the northwest, a feat transformed into legend, where they established a guerrilla base at [[Yan'an]] in Shaanxi. During the Long March, the communists reorganised under a new leader, [[Mao Zedong]] (Mao Tse-tung).

{{multiple image
| align = left
| perrow = 2/2/2
| total_width = 300
| caption_align = center
| title = [[World War II]]<br/>([[Second Sino-Japanese War]])
| image1 = 轟炸重慶.jpg
| caption1 = [[Bombing of Chongqing]] in 1940
| image2 =Taierzhuang.jpg
| caption2 = Chinese soldiers in house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Tai'erzhuang
| image3 = Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces in Battle of Shanghai 1937.jpg
| caption3 = The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Special Naval Landing Forces troops in gas masks prepare for an advance in the rubble of Shanghai, China.
| image4 = Jiangjieshi-declare.jpg
| caption4 = Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek announced the Kuomintang policy of resistance against Japan at Lushan on 10 July 1937, three days after the [[Marco Polo Bridge Incident|Seventy-seven Incident]].
}}
The bitter [[Chinese Civil War]] between the Nationalists and the Communists continued, openly or clandestinely, through the 14-year-long Japanese occupation of various parts of the country (1931–1945). The two Chinese parties nominally formed a United Front to oppose the Japanese in 1937, during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (1937–1945), which became a part of [[World War II]], although this alliance was tenuous at best and disagreements, sometimes violent, between the forces were still common. Japanese forces committed numerous [[Japanese war crimes|war atrocities]] against the civilian population, including biological warfare (see [[Unit 731]]) and the [[Three Alls Policy]] (''Sankō Sakusen''), namely being: "Kill All, Burn All and Loot All".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fairbank |first1=John King |author-link= John King Fairbank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBDC2cqb6I0C&pg=PA320 |title=China: A New History |last2=Goldman |first2=Merle |author2-link=Merle Goldman |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0674018280 |edition=2nd |page=320}}</ref> During the war, China was recognized as one of the Allied "[[Four Policemen|Big Four]]" in the [[Declaration by United Nations]], as a tribute to its enduring struggle against the invading Japanese.<ref>{{multiref2|{{cite book|title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1946–1947|date=1947|publisher=United Nations|location=Lake Success, NY|oclc=243471225|page=3|chapter-url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/searchers/yearbook/page.jsp?volume=1946-47&page=38|access-date=25 April 2015|chapter=The Moscow Declaration on general security}}|{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un/preparatory-years|title=1942 Declaration by United Nations|publisher=United Nations|access-date=20 June 2015}} }}</ref> China was one of the four major [[Allies of World War II]], and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war.<ref>{{ multiref2|{{cite book |last1=Hoopes|first1=Townsend|first2=Douglas|last2=Brinkley |title=FDR and the Creation of the U.N.|publisher=Yale University Press|date= 1997}}|{{cite book|first=John Lewis|last=Gaddis|title=The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd|url-access=registration|year=1972|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-12239-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd/page/24 24]–25}} }}</ref>

Following the defeat of Japan in 1945, the war between the Nationalist government forces and the CCP resumed, after failed attempts at reconciliation and a negotiated settlement. By 1949, the CCP had established control over most of the country. [[Odd Arne Westad]] says the Communists won the Civil War because they made fewer military mistakes than Chiang, and because in his search for a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonised too many interest groups in China. Furthermore, his party was weakened in the war against the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Communists told different groups, such as peasants, exactly what they wanted to hear, and cloaked themselves in the cover of Chinese Nationalism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |title=Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750 |date=2012 |page=291 |author-link=Odd Arne Westad}}</ref> During the civil war both the Nationalists and Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants killed by both sides.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rummel |first=Rudolph |title=Death by Government |date=1994}}</ref> These included deaths from forced conscription and massacres.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Valentino |first=Benjamin A. |title=Final solutions: mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century |date=2005 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |page=88}}</ref>

The Nationalists were slowly routed towards the South. When the Nationalist government forces were defeated by CCP forces in mainland China in 1949, the Nationalist government fled to [[Taiwan]] with its forces, along with Chiang and a large number of their supporters; the Nationalist government had taken effective control of Taiwan at the end of WWII as part of the overall Japanese surrender, when Japanese troops in Taiwan surrendered to the Republic of China troops there.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 September 1945 |title=Surrender Order of the Imperial General Headquarters of Japan |url=http://www.taiwandocuments.org/ghq.htm}}, "(a) The senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air, and auxiliary forces within China (excluding Manchuria), [[Formosa]], and [[French Indochina]] north of 16 degrees north latitude shall surrender to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek."</ref>

Until the early 1970s the ROC was recognised as the [[China and the United Nations|sole legitimate government of China]] by the United Nations, the United States and most Western nations, refusing to recognise the PRC on account of its status as a communist nation during the Cold War. This changed in 1971 when the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758|PRC was seated in the United Nations]], replacing the ROC. The KMT ruled Taiwan under martial law until 1987, with the stated goal of being vigilant against Communist infiltration and preparing to retake mainland China. Therefore, political dissent was not tolerated during that period, and crackdowns against dissidents were common.

In the 1990s the ROC underwent a major democratic reform, beginning with the 1991 resignation of the members of the [[Legislative Yuan]] and [[National Assembly]] elected in 1947. These groups were originally created to represent mainland China constituencies. Also lifted were the restrictions on the use of Taiwanese languages in the broadcast media and in schools. In 1996, the ROC held [[1996 Taiwanese presidential election|its first direct presidential election]], and the incumbent president, KMT candidate [[Lee Teng-hui]], was elected. In 2000, the KMT status as the ruling party ended when the DPP took power, only to regain its status in the [[2008 Taiwan presidential election|2008 election]] by [[Ma Ying-jeou]].

Due to the controversial nature of [[Political status of Taiwan|Taiwan's political status]], the ROC is currently recognised by [[Foreign relations of Taiwan|merely 12 UN member states and the Holy See]] {{as of|lc=y|2024}} as the legitimate government of "China".

===People's Republic of China (since 1949)===
{{Main|History of the People's Republic of China|China}}
{{See also|Proclamation of the People's Republic of China}}
[[File:Guèrra Civila Chinesa (1946-1950).png|thumb|240px|Map of the [[Chinese Civil War]]]]
Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the KMT pulling out of the mainland, with the government relocating to [[Taipei]] and maintaining control only over a few islands. The CCP was left in control of [[mainland China]]. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China.<ref name="Ref_c">[http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/documents/mao490921.htm The Chinese people have stood up]. UCLA Center for East Asian Studies. Retrieved 16 April 2006. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906133423/http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/documents/mao490921.htm |date=6 September 2015 }}</ref> "Communist China" and "Red China" were two common names for the PRC.<ref name="Ref_d">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Joseph |title=The A to Z of the Cold War |last2=Davis |first2=Simon |date=2005 |volume=Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest volume 8 no. 28|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-5384-3 |series=A to Z guides }}</ref>

The PRC was shaped by a [[List of campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party|series of campaigns]] and [[Five-year plans of the People's Republic of China|five-year plans]]. The [[Great Leap Forward]], a radical campaign that encompassed numerous attempted economic and social reforms, resulted in tens of millions of deaths.<ref name="Akbar2010">{{Cite news |last=Akbar |first=Arifa |date=17 September 2010 |title=Mao's Great Leap Forward 'killed 45 million in four years' |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html |access-date=30 October 2010}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2024}} Mao's government carried out mass executions of landowners, instituted [[collectivisation]] and implemented the [[Laogai]] camp system. Execution, deaths from forced labor and other atrocities resulted in millions of deaths under Mao. In 1966 Mao and his allies launched the [[Cultural Revolution]], which continued 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.

Following the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and motivated by concerns of invasion by either the Soviet Union or the United States, China initiated the [[Third Front (China)|Third Front campaign]] to develop national defense and industrial infrastructure in its rugged interior.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last1=Marquis |first1=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Marquis |url= |title=Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise |last2=Qiao |first2=Kunyuan |date=2022 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26883-6 |location=New Haven |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k |jstor=j.ctv3006z6k |oclc=1348572572 |s2cid=253067190}}</ref>{{Rp|page=44}} Through its distribution of infrastructure, industry, and human capital around the country, the Third Front created favorable conditions for subsequent market development and private enterprise.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=177}}

In 1972, at the peak of the Sino-Soviet split, Mao and [[Zhou Enlai]] met U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]] in Beijing to establish relations with the US. In the same year, the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758|PRC was admitted to the United Nations]] in place of the Republic of China, with permanent membership of the Security Council.

A power struggle followed Mao's death in 1976. The [[Gang of Four]] were arrested and blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, marking the end of a turbulent political era in China. [[Deng Xiaoping]] outmaneuvered Mao's anointed successor chairman [[Hua Guofeng]], and gradually emerged as the ''de facto'' leader over the next few years.

Deng Xiaoping was the [[Paramount Leader]] of China from 1978 to 1992, although he never became the head of the party or state, and his influence within the Party led the country to [[Chinese economic reform|significant economic reforms]]. The CCP subsequently loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives and the [[People's commune|communes]] were disbanded with many peasants receiving multiple land leases, which greatly increased incentives and agricultural production. In addition, there were many free market areas opened. The most successful free market area was Shenzhen. It is located in Guangdong and the property tax free area still exists today. 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 by some<ref name="Ref_e">{{Cite book |last1=Hart-Landsberg |first1=Martin |url=https://archive.org/details/chinasocialismma00mart |title=China and Socialism: Market Reforms and Class Struggle |last2=Burkett |first2=Paul |date=2010 |publisher=Monthly Review Press |isbn=978-1-58367-123-8 |access-date=30 October 2008 |url-access=registration}}</ref> as [[market socialism]], and officially by the CCP as [[Socialism with Chinese characteristics]]. The PRC adopted its current [[constitution of the People's Republic of China|constitution]] on 4 December 1982.

In 1989 the death of former general secretary [[Hu Yaobang]] helped to spark the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre|Tiananmen Square protests]] of that year, 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 [[People's Liberation Army|Army]] troops and vehicles entered and forcibly cleared the square, resulting in [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests#Death toll|considerable numbers of fatalities]]. This event was widely reported, and brought worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the communist government.<ref name="Ref_f">{{Cite book |last=Youngs |first=R. |title=The European Union and the Promotion of Democracy |date=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-924979-4}}.</ref><ref name="Ref_g">{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=J. M. |title=A Concise History of Hong Kong |date=2007 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0-7425-3422-3}}.</ref>

CCP general secretary and PRC president [[Jiang Zemin]] and PRC premier [[Zhu Rongji]], both former mayors of Shanghai, led post-Tiananmen PRC in the 1990s. Under Jiang and Zhu's ten years of administration, the PRC's economic performance pulled an estimated 150&nbsp;million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 11.2%.<ref name="Ref_i">{{Cite news |date=1 March 2000 |title=China's Average Economic Growth in 90s Ranked 1st in World |work=People's Daily |url=http://english.people.com.cn/english/200003/01/eng20000301X115.html}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=October 2021}} The country formally joined the [[World Trade Organization]] in 2001. By [[Handover of Hong Kong|1997]] and [[Transfer of sovereignty over Macau|1999]], former European colonies of [[British Hong Kong]] and [[Portuguese Macau]] became the Hong Kong and Macau [[special administrative regions of China|special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China]], respectively.

Although the PRC needed economic growth to spur its development, the government began to worry that rapid economic growth was degrading the country's natural resources and environment. Another concern was that certain sectors of society were not sufficiently benefiting from the PRC's economic development; one example of this was the wide gap between urban and rural areas in terms of development and prevalence of updated infrastructure. As a result, under former CCP general secretary and President [[Hu Jintao]] and Premier [[Wen Jiabao]], the PRC initiated policies to address issues of equitable distribution of resources, but the outcome was not known {{As of|2014|lc=y}}.<ref name="Ref_j">{{Cite news |title=China worried over pace of growth |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4913622.stm |access-date=16 April 2006}}</ref> More than 40&nbsp;million farmers were displaced from their land,<ref name="Ref_k">{{Cite journal |date=January 2006 |title=China: Migrants, Students, Taiwan |url=http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=3166_0_3_0 |journal=Migration News |volume=13 |issue=1}}</ref> usually for economic development, contributing to 87,000 demonstrations and riots across China in 2005.<ref name="Ref_l">{{Cite news |date=28 January 2006 |title=In Face of Rural Unrest, China Rolls Out Reforms |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/27/AR2006012701588.html}}</ref> For much of the PRC's population, living standards improved very substantially and freedom increased, but political controls remained tight and rural areas poor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Antony |date=11 April 2006 |title=''Frontline'': ''The Tank Man'' transcript |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/etc/transcript.html |access-date=12 July 2008 |website=Frontline |publisher=PBS}}</ref>

According to the [[U.S. Department of Defense]], as many as 3 million [[Uyghurs]] and members of other [[Islam in China|Muslim]] minority groups are being held in China's [[Xinjiang internment camps|internment camps]] which are located in the [[Xinjiang]] region and which Western news reports often label as "concentration camps".<ref>{{cite news 
| last = Chan | first = Tara Francis 
|title=As the U.S. Targets China's 'Concentration Camps', Xinjiang's Human Rights Crisis is Only Getting Worse |url=https://www.newsweek.com/xinjiang-uyghur-crisis-muslim-china-1398782 |work=Newsweek |date=22 May 2019}}{{pb}}{{cite news 
| first = Lateshia | last = Beachum
|title=Uighurs and their supporters decry Chinese 'concentration camps', 'genocide' after Xinjiang documents leaked |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/17/uighurs-their-supporters-decry-chinese-concentration-camps-genocide-after-xinjiang-documents-leaked/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=17 November 2019}}</ref> The camps were established in late 2010s under [[Xi Jinping]]'s [[Xi Jinping Administration|administration]].<ref name=":1b"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Keeffe |first1=Kate |last2=Ferek |first2=Katy Stech |date=14 November 2019 |title=Stop Calling China's Xi Jinping 'President', U.S. Panel Says |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/stop-calling-chinas-xi-jinping-president-u-s-panel-says-11573740000 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] says that they have been used to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017 as part of a [[people's war on terror]], a policy announced in 2014.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/10/china-free-xinjiang-political-education-detainees |title=China: Free Xinjiang 'Political Education' Detainees |date=10 September 2017 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="fp-gulag">{{Cite news |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/28/a-summer-vacation-in-chinas-muslim-gulag/ |title=A Summer Vacation in China's Muslim Gulag |date=28 February 2018 |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |access-date=28 February 2018}}</ref><ref name=":1b">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html|title='Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims|last1=Ramzy|first1=Austin|date=16 November 2019|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=16 November 2019|last2=Buckley|first2=Chris|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The use of these centers appears to have ended in 2019 following international pressure.<ref name="Dou-2022">{{Cite news |date=2022-09-23 |title=As crackdown eases, China's Xinjiang faces long road to rehabilitation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/23/china-xinjiang-crackdown-uyghurs-surveillance/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en}}</ref> Academic [[Kerry Brown (historian)|Kerry Brown]] attributes their closures beginning in late 2019 to the expense required to operate them.<ref name=":1022">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kerry |author-link=Kerry Brown (historian) |title=China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One |date=2023 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-26724-4 |location=London}}</ref>{{Rp|page=138}} China has repeatedly denied this, asserting that the West has never been able to produce reliably-sourced satellite footage of any such detainment or resulting detention of minority groups. Although no comprehensive independent surveys of such centres have been performed as of June 2024, spot checks by journalists have found such sites converted or abandoned.<ref name="Dou-2022" /> In 2022, a Washington Post reporter checked a dozen sites previously identified as reeducation centres and found "[m]ost of them appeared to be empty or converted, with several sites labeled as coronavirus quarantine facilities, teachers' schools and vocational schools."<ref name="Dou-2022" /> In 2023, [[Amnesty International]] said that they were "witnessing more and more arbitrary detention", but that detained individuals were being moved from the camps into the [[Penal system in China|formal prison system]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Willemyns |first=Alex |date=September 19, 2023 |title=Uyghur event in NY goes ahead despite Beijing's warning |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/china-transnational-repression-09192023172318.html |access-date=2023-09-21 |website=[[Radio Free Asia]] |language=en}}</ref>

The novel coronavirus [[SARS-CoV-2]], which causes the disease [[COVID-19]], was first detected in [[Wuhan]], Hubei in 2019 and led to a [[COVID-19 pandemic|global pandemic]], causing the majority of the world to enter a period of lockdown for at least a year following.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:PLA Enters Peking.jpg|The [[People's Liberation Army]] enters Beijing in the [[Pingjin Campaign]]
File:China 10th Anniversary Parade in Beijing 01.jpg|People's Republic of China 10th Anniversary Parade in Beijing
File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg|alt=Blue Sky White Sun Wholly Red Earth|The flag of the People's Republic of China since 1949.
</gallery>