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JUST Response
country factsheets: CHINA
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
- Basic
facts
- Head
of state: Hu Jintao
- Prime
minister: Wen Jiabao
- Population:
1,300 million.
- Population
growth rate: 0.57%.
- Religions:
officially atheist; traditionally Daoist & Buddhist; Muslim
1%-2%, Christian 3%-4%.
- Economy:
world's 2nd largest after the US.
- Currency:
yuan (CNY) or Renminbi (RMB) - US$ 1 = CNY 8.28.
-
- Persistent problems
- World's highest level of executions.
- Severe restriction of freedom of
expression in the interests of "national security" and
"political stability."
- Imprisonment and execution without
fair trial or opportunity of appeal.
- Ill-treatment and torture of
prisoners.
- Repression, ill-treatment and
torture of spiritual and religious groups.
- Continuing imprisonment of Tibetans
and violation of their basic human rights.
- Estimated HIV/AIDS cases: 1 million.
-
- Recent human rights violations
- 1,639 death sentences and 726
executions attested in 2003 - true figures are thought to be far
higher.
- Lack of transparency and
accountability in the context of the spread of the SARS and
HIV/AIDS viruses.
- Injustices ensuing from the mass demolition
of houses in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.
- Further restrictions on the cultural
and religious rights of the mainly Muslim Uighur community in
Xinjiang.
-
- Important
dates
- 221
BC: Unification of China under the Qin dynasty following the
Warring States period.
- 1912:
Chinese Republic established.
- 1949:
Founding of the People's Republic of China.
- 1982:
Most recent formulation of the Chinese constitution.
[More information will be added at future
updates]
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