Assignment Asia (China, Philippines, India, Pakistan)

China,The Total Area Of China | Population Characteristics | The One Child Policy | Population Density | Ethnic Groups | Language | Religion | Education | Class and Social Structure | Way Of Life | Social Issues | Social Services | Arts and Culture | Economy,Labor | Government | Currency and Banking | History | Republic Of China | World War II | China In The 1990's | China In The 21st Century |

Pakistan

Pakistan |

Pakistan,History | Politics | Population | Languages | Religions | Geography and Climate | Education | Society and Culture | Tourism |

China

Officially the People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo), country in East Asia, the world’s largest country by population and one of the largest by area, measuring about the same size as the United States. The Chinese call their country Zhongguo, which means “Central Country” or “Middle Kingdom.” The name China was given to it by foreigners and is probably based on a corruption of Qin (pronounced “chin”), a Chinese dynasty that ruled during the 3rd century BC.

Agriculture

China proper centers on the agricultural regions drained by three major rivers—the Huang He (Yellow River) in the north, the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) in central China, and the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) in the south. The country’s varied terrain includes vast deserts, towering mountains, high plateaus, and broad plains. Beijing, located in the north, is China’s capital and its cultural, economic, and communications center. Shanghai, located near the Yangtze, is the most populous urban center, the largest industrial and commercial city, and mainland China’s leading port.

Population

One-fifth of the world’s population—1.3 billion people—live in China. More than 90 percent of these are ethnic Han Chinese, but China also recognizes 55 national minorities, including Tibetans, Mongols, Uighurs, Zhuang, Miao, Yi, and many smaller groups. Even among the ethnic Han, there are regional linguistic differences. Although a common language called Putonghua is taught in schools and used by the mass media, local spoken languages are often mutually incomprehensible. However, the logographic writing system, which uses characters that represent syllables or words rather than pronunciation, makes it possible for all Chinese dialects to be written in the same way; this greatly aids communication across China.

In ancient times, China was East Asia’s dominant civilization. Other societies—notably the Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese—were strongly influenced by China, adopting features of Chinese art, food, material culture, philosophy, government, technology, and written language. For many centuries, especially from the 7th through the 14th century AD, China had the world’s most advanced civilization. Inventions such as paper, printing, gunpowder, porcelain, silk, and the compass originated in China and then spread to other parts of the world.

China’s political strength became threatened when European empires expanded into East Asia. Macao, a small territory on China’s southeastern coast, came under Portuguese control in the mid-16th century, and Hong Kong, nearby, became a British dependency in the 1840s. In the 19th century, internal revolts and foreign encroachment weakened China’s last dynasty, the Qing, which was finally overthrown by Chinese Nationalists in 1911. Over the course of several decades, the country was torn apart by warlords, Japanese invasion, and a civil war between the Communists and the Nationalist regime of the Kuomintang, which established the Republic of China in 1928.

In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland. The Kuomintang fled to the island province of Taiwan, where it reestablished the Nationalist government. The Nationalist government controlled only Taiwan and a few outlying islands but initially retained wide international recognition as the rightful government of all of China. Today, most countries recognize the PRC on the mainland as the official government of China. However, Taiwan and mainland China remain separated by different administrations and economies. Therefore, Taiwan is treated separately in Encarta Encyclopedia. In general, statistics in this article apply only to the area under the control of the PRC.

After coming to power in 1949, the Communist government began placing agriculture and industry under state control. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, the government implemented economic reforms that reversed some of the earlier policies and encouraged foreign investment. As a result of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese economy grew almost 10 percent a year from 1980 to 2005, making it one of the largest economies in the world in the early 21st century.

In 1997 Hong Kong was transferred from Britain to China under an agreement that gave the region considerable autonomy. Portugal recognized Macao as Chinese territory in the late 1970s and negotiated the transfer of Macao’s administration from Portugal to China in 1999. Macao, too, was guaranteed a special degree of autonomy.

The Total Area of China

According to a Chinese geographic classification scheme, the country may be divided into seven large natural regions: Northeast China, North China, Subtropical East Central China, Tropical South China, Inner Mongolian Grassland, Northwest China, and the Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan).

About 20 percent of the world’s population lives in China. Of the country’s inhabitants, about 92 percent are ethnic Han Chinese. The Han are descendants of people who settled the plains and plateaus of northern and central China more than 5,000 years ago, and of people in southern China who were absorbed by the northerners more than 2,000 years ago and gradually adopted a shared culture with them. The remaining 8 percent of China’s population consist of minority nationalities, such as Tibetans and Mongols. Most of the minority nationalities are concentrated in the sparsely settled areas of western and southwestern China.

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Population Characteristics

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power in 1949, the government took a census to assess the human resources available for the first five-year plan, the state’s comprehensive economic and social development plan. The census, compiled in 1953, counted a population of 582,600,000. A second census, taken in 1964, showed an increase to 694,580,000. The third census, in 1982, revealed a population of 1,008,180,000, making China the first nation with a population of more than 1 billion. By 2006 China’s estimated population was 1,313,973,700.

While China’s population continues to grow, the growth rate has slowed in step with declining fertility and birth rates. The fertility rate (the average number of children born to each woman during her lifetime) declined from 6.2 in the early 1950s to 1.7 in 2006. The birth rate declined from about 45 births per 1,000 people in 1953 to an estimated 13 in 2006, and the death rate dropped from 22 per 1,000 people to an estimated 7. As a result, the annual growth rate declined from about 2.25 percent in 1953 to 0.59 percent in 2006. Nevertheless, at that rate China’s population still grows by millions of people each year. The most serious challenge created by such a large annual population increase is employing the millions of young people who enter the workforce each year. Although China’s economy has grown rapidly, especially since the early 1990s, it has not been able to provide enough good opportunities for all new workers, many of whom have only minimal education and skills.

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The One Child Policy

A consequence of the one-child program has been a higher than normal ratio of males to females. Some families use new methods to identify the sex of unborn fetuses and abort female fetuses in order to ensure the birth of a male. In addition, reports of female infanticide in China have been numerous. The reasons for the preference for boys are complex but lie partly in established cultural traditions. Sons carry on the family name and are responsible for performing ritual obligations of ancestor worship. Perhaps more important, however, sons are expected to care for their parents in old age. Typically, daughters care for their husband’s parents rather than for their own. This care is of concern particularly in rural areas, where the majority of Chinese still live, because the state supplies few, if any, pension benefits in these areas. Consequently, parents who have only one child prefer to have a son to ensure a more comfortable retirement. In 2006 there were 106 males for every 100 females in China. These statistics also reflect other factors, such as lifespan differences between genders; therefore, a more revealing statistic is the ratio of males to females at birth. In China in 2006, the sex ratio was 1.12 males born for each female. By comparison, the rate in Canada was 1.05 males for each female.

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Population Density

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Ethnic Groups

Historically, the Chinese sought to expand their territory through the agricultural colonization of adjacent territory. This strategy involved sending military units and farming families to settle an area. Areas so occupied were eventually integrated into the Chinese state. Local non-Han peoples either adopted the culture and language of the Han, were pushed into marginal areas unsuited for sedentary farming, or were otherwise eliminated. This worked effectively for the Han in areas that were suitable for intensive farming, but it was less effective in the high, dry, cold interior. This interior region, comprising about 60 percent of China’s present land area, remained largely unsettled by the Han until the mid-20th century. Over the centuries some ethnic groups acculturated and integrated into Han society more easily than others. Some, such as the Vietnamese and the Koreans, resisted acculturation. These groups established and maintained their own separate national identities and territories, although they maintained close cultural and other links to the Han.

China’s Communist government has encouraged ethnic Han to settle in the minority-occupied frontier areas. In addition, Han administrators have been sent into all ethnic minority areas to provide leadership and to secure management of the nation’s territory. As part of this policy, the Chinese government has seized territory from the traditional homelands of minority groups and reassigned it administratively to a neighboring Chinese province. Ethnic Tibetans, for example, live mainly in the Tibet Autonomous Region but also in Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces. China’s policies have provided some benefits for the minority groups, including better medicine and nutrition and improved economic development.

Since 1949 China has identified 55 ethnic nationalities, which range in size from several thousand to several million members. Among the larger nationalities are the Zhuang, Hui, Uygur, Mongols, and Tibetans. Taken together, China’s minority peoples account for about 8 percent of the country’s total population. The minorities are growing more rapidly than the Han because they generally have higher birth rates. In addition, some peoples formerly counted among the Han have since been recognized as unique minority groups.

The identification of a minority nationality is based partly on the historical distinction between Han and non-Han. Factors considered include a group’s traditional location in the outlying territories, a different language, unique religious practices, or a distinctive way of life, such as being herders rather than sedentary farmers. Some groups’ physical appearance is very similar to or even indistinguishable from the Han, but they have other special distinctions. For example, Hui people are essentially Han Chinese in all aspects except that they practice Islam.

The Han Chinese have long had familiar but sometimes troubled relations with neighboring ethnic peoples, especially with those under Han administrative and territorial control. Most foreign governments and international organizations understand the security concerns in China’s sensitive frontier regions, where many of these peoples are found. However, China often is condemned for its heavy-handed and sometimes brutal treatment of minority nationalities. Perhaps the best-known occurrence of China’s controversial approach to dealing with minority nationalities is the Chinese military occupation of Tibet in the 1950s. This occupation was followed by an uprising of Tibetans, which the military suppressed. The events in Tibet forced the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee China in 1959, and he has remained in exile ever since. As a result of the widely published events in Tibet, and particularly the Dalai Lama’s plight, China faced wide international condemnation. The 20th century also saw sporadic outbursts of violence and uprisings among the Uygur peoples of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, many of whom have strongly resented the control imposed on them by Han military and civil officials. Many Uygurs practice traditional oasis agriculture in the Tarim Basin and have not benefited from the industrialization and rapid economic growth that has come with Han settlement of Xinjiang. As China’s economy continues to grow and the country continues to emerge as a global power, it may come under greater pressure to provide fair and equitable treatment to minority nationalities and to allow them a larger measure of autonomy and cultural protection.

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Language

Most Chinese speak one of the Mandarin dialects. Putonghua (“standard speech”), the standard form of Mandarin spoken in Beijing, is China’s official spoken language. Putonghua is spoken by an estimated 70 percent of the population, mainly in northern and central China. It is sometimes known to Westerners as Mandarin. In addition to the Mandarin dialects, there are six other Chinese dialect groups, spoken mainly in southern and southeastern China. They include the Wu dialects, spoken in the Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang area; the Yue dialects (also known as Cantonese), spoken in Hong Kong and Guangzhou; and the Kejia (Hakka) dialects, spoken in southern Fujian and also in Taiwan and by many people of Chinese descent around the world. This linguistic fragmentation, particularly in southeastern China, has provided the basis for strong regional identity and some ethnic variation within the larger Han community.

Although the Chinese dialects are mutually unintelligible in their spoken forms, they share a common written form. The Chinese written language has existed for more than 3,000 years and has been standardized for more than 2,000 years. It has served as an important social cement, tying together the peoples of northern, central, and southern China. It also has provided an essential element of culture shared by the Han people.

One of the most ambitious efforts of the Chinese Communist government since 1949 has been the modification of the Chinese language. As a means of standardizing the language used by the Han, in 1956 the government declared the dialect of Putonghua the country’s common spoken language. The government also has made efforts to modify the written language. The use of simplified characters—traditional characters written with fewer strokes, or in a type of shorthand—has increased steadily. This simplification is designed to facilitate the government’s goal of increasing literacy. In 1977 the Chinese made a formal request to the United Nations (UN) to have the pinyin (phonetic spelling) method of romanization used to transliterate Chinese place names. The pinyin method was created by the Chinese in the late 1950s and has been steadily modified.

China’s minority people have their own spoken languages, which include Mongolian, Tibetan, Miao (Hmong), Yi, Uygur, and Kazakh. Formerly, many of the minority languages did not have a written form. However, the government has encouraged the development of written scripts for these languages, using pinyin. China’s minority groups are encouraged to maintain traditions that promote knowledge of their ethnolinguistic heritage. Although Putonghua is taught in schools throughout China, it is sometimes taught as a second language. See also Chinese Language.

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Religion

After gaining control in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party officially eliminated organized religion. The CCP’s move received little resistance because Confucianism is largely secular and because most Chinese adhered to aspects of all three major faiths; thus they lacked strong allegiance to any single religion. Most temples, churches, and schools of Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity were converted to secular purposes. Only with the constitution of 1978 was official support again given for the promulgation of formal religion in China. The constitution also stated that the Chinese people had the right to hold no religious beliefs and “to propagate atheism.” The constitution of 1982, the most recent constitution, allows citizens freedom of religious belief and protects legitimate religious activities as defined by the state.

Since 1982 many temples, churches, and mosques in China have reopened. Also, officially sanctioned Christian groups in the cities and Buddhist sects in the cities and the countryside have become more active. An underground Christian movement has also emerged. However, as these Christian groups lie outside the official sanction of legitimate religious activities, they are seen as illegal and thus have been prosecuted by the government. Practicing Christians in China include Roman Catholics and members of various Protestant groups.

Even before the constitutional changes, ethnic Chinese Muslims, or Hui, as well as other Muslim minority peoples such as the Uygur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz, continued their faith in Islam. Although Muslims now may practice their religion more openly, the government is suspicious of their religious activities because Islam is associated with ethnic minorities who have resisted Han control, such as the Uygurs of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In Tibet, the Chinese government has restricted the practice of Tibetan Buddhism, for instance by limiting the number of clergy and religious buildings in the region. See also Tibet: Religion.

In the early 1990s a man named Hongzhi Li organized a quasi-religious movement called Falun Gong. Falun Gong is based on concepts from traditional Chinese breathing and exercise therapy combined with ideas from Daoism and Buddhism. The movement, which has been remarkably popular in China, disclaims any political goals. It sees itself as simply a loosely organized group of individuals interested in promoting good health and individual powers through exercise and exemplary personal habits. In April 1999 more than 10,000 of Falun Gong’s members gathered in Beijing. The gathering so alarmed China’s Communist Party leadership that the movement was outlawed. Since then, members of Falun Gong have been arrested and prosecuted.

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Education

Class and Social Structure

Confucian doctrine sought to develop a framework for a stable and harmonious society. In this framework, mutual responsibilities and obligations were defined between ruler and subjects, husband and wife, parents and children, father and eldest son, and eldest son and other siblings. If the roles were carried out properly, society would function in a well-ordered manner. China was defined as a male-centered society in which the family name passed down through the male line. The eldest son was charged with performing important annual rituals that involved reverence for deceased ancestors and parents. Veneration for ancestors was an important part of Chinese family life, and every Chinese home had, and typically still has, a small shrine for ancestors.

Beyond family life, Chinese social order traditionally was defined in terms of a few main social groupings. The emperor and his attendants were at the top of the social order. Below him was the imperial bureaucracy, staffed at all levels—court, province, prefecture, and county—with elite scholar officials. Through these officials, backed by the army and other imperial policing authorities, the imperial government administered the state and imposed its authority and control when challenged. Farmers, soldiers, merchants, and artisans were below the bureaucrats. This general social order persisted until the imperial system was overthrown in 1911, although over time the position of merchants had improved. By the 20th century, a number of families with commercial and industrial interests had amassed great fortunes. Their wealth permitted them the luxury of educating their children, and through this means, their families’ status advanced in the traditional hierarchy.

When the Chinese Communists gained power in 1949, the social hierarchy changed dramatically. Poor peasant farmers and people who had joined the Communist army during the revolution were held in esteem within the party, which exercised great influence over society. Landlords and educated elites often were punished, and many lost their land and other properties. In rural areas there were many executions and other punishments for landlord families.

A peasant background continues to be important for advancement within the party hierarchy. However, the value of education as a means of developing skills and strong qualifications has emerged once again as the best path to social advancement. Since the 1970s individuals from elite backgrounds have been allowed to compete for educational advancement as China has sought to use more fully its human resources. In some cases, former factory owners have been allowed to reestablish their businesses, and in this manner China has allowed a small measure of rehabilitation of its elite governing classes from the past. But China remains a Communist state and political system, and as long as it continues as such, elites are likely to be viewed with suspicion by other members of society.

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Way of Life

However, in the years following the death of Chairman Mao in 1976, China’s leaders gradually modified the strict policies of socialist guidance of the economy, and the role of the party in everyday life began to diminish. This shift reflected an increasing understanding among party leaders that the socialist approach was not succeeding. They recognized that it had not provided a better life for the Chinese people and was stifling economic growth. The shift has been particularly evident in the countryside. Reforms in the rural economy have led to a virtual privatization of rural land, with peasants acquiring long-term leases that amount virtually to private ownership. Many peasants are now responsible for earning their own livelihoods and supporting their families. The state’s role in their daily lives has clearly diminished, although it has not disappeared.

Despite the far-reaching changes in rural areas, country life remains attuned to the seasons and focused on nearby towns and cities for commerce and entertainment. In the rural areas surrounding large urban areas, the pace of life has intensified as farmers have geared their agricultural production to the growing demands of urban consumers. Moreover, much of China’s urban industrial development has flowed to the adjacent rural areas. In these areas land is readily available at lower prices, and the rules concerning release of noxious fumes, liquids, and solids are looser and often not enforced. The inhabitants of these rural areas peripheral to cities have greater opportunities for employment off the farms, often in industrial or service jobs that are not even related to the farm economy. Residents of these areas have been increasingly drawn into a quasi-urban lifestyle, with all of its attendant pleasures and challenges.

Traditional rural family life has been changed by the dynamism of the nearby cities and their evolving economies. New employment opportunities often attract the male head of household, who may later be followed by other members of the farm family. Such employment offers new opportunities but also new challenges. Uncertainty about the long-term prospects for employment off the farm often makes farmers reluctant to let go of their land and farms. When peasants leave the farm under such circumstances, they often leave the farming to those at home who have little interest and enthusiasm for the work, which may be viewed as difficult and tiresome. Under these conditions, the quality of the farm may decline, and the productivity of both land and people may begin to diminish. Nevertheless, the off-farm jobs enhance prospects for social as well as economic change. The new jobs bring rural Chinese into contact with urban dwellers who have different values and different ways of doing things.

Farther from the cities, in the more remote areas of the interior, the traditional rural way of life is generally more prominent. In these areas, opportunities for new off-farm jobs are limited. Yet even in these locations, many peasants have grown dissatisfied with local conditions. They have migrated to other provinces and distant cities in search of more profitable employment and relief from poverty and the routines of village life. Such migrations are not easy, however. The peasants are allowed to leave their villages only as temporary migrants to provide needed labor services in those urban jobs that are the most undesirable, difficult, and dirty. These include jobs in construction, transportation, and domestic service. Migrants must provide for their own lodging, food, and other needs. They are not entitled to the many privileges and subsidies afforded urban citizens employed in the state-supported sector of the economy—such as health care and good schooling for their children. Yet these transients continue to leave rural areas for the cities with dreams of either becoming permanent city dwellers or earning their fortunes and returning to their native villages with new wealth and power. Some have indeed done well. However, the reality for most of these transients is a difficult life of hard work and a second-class status, in cities far from their native villages.

In the cities, the power of the CCP and its governing apparatuses of state power are more obvious and controlling. Most people in cities are employed in state-operated commercial and industrial enterprises. Workers in these enterprises must adhere to state-mandated social rules, as well as employment rules, as the state controls virtually all aspects of life. Access to housing, health care, and education depend on following state-mandated guidelines of proper social conduct, such as the one-child per family policy. In the 1990s the state initiated an effort to privatize urban housing. By the close of the 20th century, many state-supported employees were able to purchase apartments through various state-supported credit arrangements.

At the same time, city life offers many opportunities that are not available in the countryside. City dwellers enjoy the benefits associated with higher incomes and enhanced cultural, commercial, and educational opportunities. China’s large cities in the eastern coastal provinces offer many of the amenities and opportunities associated with cities in the West. Among these are department stores containing the latest fashions, and lodging and restaurant facilities in hotels of world-class standards. In addition to outstanding local and non-local Chinese cuisine, European, Japanese, Indian, and American fare is available. American fast food, such as McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, is widely available.

In and around China’s great cities are found the evolving lifestyles of the newly rich, those with strong connections in government and commerce who can accumulate substantial wealth. Members of this class are often eager to flaunt their new wealth. They buy fine clothing and accessories and fancy automobiles, and even purchase large, single-family dwellings near new private schools. Fancy restaurants, discos, and nightclubs are trendy venues for the newly rich to show off their wealth and status and enjoy a sophisticated lifestyle. The children of these urbanites are the ones most likely to go abroad for foreign study and learn foreign languages. Such education will permit them rapid entry into the business and professional circles of China’s increasingly globalized economy and society. While this newly wealthy population is comparatively small, it signifies the rapidly growing disparity in income levels between rich and poor in China’s cities.

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Social Issues

A related and serious problem is the large extent of government corruption in China, which aggravates the disparities in income. Government approvals are required for everything from changes in residence to permits for building factories to exporting commodities. Therefore, government officials responsible for granting those approvals wield a great deal of power. Many bureaucrats abuse their power and expect money in return for routine approval of permits. Sometimes, payments to corrupt officials can involve very large sums of money. Government efforts to curb these practices have been generally ineffective.

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Social Services

Health care in China has improved dramatically since the economic reforms began. In 1949 the average life expectancy in China was 45 years. By 2006 the average had risen to 73 years (71 years for men and 74 years for women). During the same period the number of medical doctors increased greatly. Despite an overall rapid population increase, in 2004 China had 1 physician for every 609 inhabitants, as opposed to 1 for every 27,000 in 1949. Clinics typically are found at the village and district levels, and hospitals, in most cases, at the city and county levels.

In the period from 1949 to 1974, a paramedical corps of so-called barefoot doctors played an important role in bringing health services to rural people. These personnel were trained in hygiene, preventive medicine, and routine treatment of common diseases. They serviced rural areas where both Chinese and Western-style doctors were scarce. For millions of peasants, barefoot doctors were their first encounter with anyone trained in health services. In recent years, rural incomes have increased and the rural economy has been virtually privatized. These developments have enabled peasants to use local clinics for less serious illnesses and to use hospitals in neighboring towns and cities for more serious illnesses. Typically, a fee is involved, although the costs for such medical assistance is modest compared to such costs in the United States. Another development in health services has been the renewed interest in traditional Chinese medicine, such as local herbal medication, folk medicine, and acupuncture. In rural areas, herbal medications may represent as much as four-fifths of the medication used.

China has launched mass campaigns in the health-care field. Efforts to promote child immunization, eradicate schistosomiasis, and diminish sexually transmitted infections have received widespread governmental promotion. Highly successful campaigns have been waged against infectious and parasite-borne diseases that were formerly widespread, such as tuberculosis, malaria, and filariasis (diseases caused by the filaria parasite). By the start of the 21st century, however, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) had become an increasing concern in China. In 2003 an estimated 840,000 Chinese people were infected with AIDS.

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Arts and Culture

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Economy

In 2004 China’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $1,931.7 billion. The size of the country’s economy makes China a significant economic power; despite this, it remains a low-income, developing country because it must support a huge population of 1.31 billion. In 2004 China’s per capita GDP was just $1,490. Industrial activity (manufacturing, mining, and construction) contributes the largest percentage of the country’s GDP, amounting to 46 percent in 2004. Transportation, commerce, and services together accounted for 41 percent. And agriculture, together with forestry and fishing, contributed 13 percent.

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Labor

Official unemployment in China was 4 percent in 2002. However, the real problem of unemployment and underemployment (employment that is less than regular, full-time employment) is much more serious. Many state-owned enterprises have more workers than are needed. To increase production efficiency, these enterprises have begun laying off many people. Furthermore, eliminating inefficient communal farming methods created a huge pool of unemployed and underemployed people in the countryside. Each winter since the reforms began, millions of peasants have traveled to cities in search of seasonal work. This has caused havoc in railroad transport and social problems in urban areas that have neither enough jobs nor housing to absorb these workers.

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Government

The CCP dominates policy making and policy execution through its members in the government. Within the state (governmental) structure, the highest organ in theory is the legislature, called the National People’s Congress (NPC). In practice, however, the most powerful state organ is the cabinet, called the State Council, which is headed by the premier.

China launched a period of economic reform in 1978. In the shift from a government-controlled planned economy to a so-called socialist market economy, specialized government agencies have been strengthened or newly established and have been given more operational independence. The National People’s Congress has adopted hundreds of laws aimed at providing a more predictable environment for economic activity, and in the course of this work it has expanded its professional staff and its own authority. State-owned enterprises have gained considerable autonomy and some have been privatized, while a new sector of private and collective enterprises has developed largely independent of direct state control. Local governments have gained greater authority to adapt national policy to local circumstances. They also have increased their shares of tax revenues at the expense of taxes remitted to the central government. In the midst of these changes, the CCP largely has withdrawn from managing the day-to-day details of government affairs, but it has continued to set major policy. Furthermore, through its members in the government, the CCP has restricted political activities that promote views contrary to the party’s objectives, in effect allowing no significant opposition to emerge.

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Currency and Banking

Post-1979 reforms to the banking sector include the strengthening of the role of the People's Bank of China and the establishment of new commercial banks. Many major foreign banks and insurance companies now have offices in China, and foreign participation in China’s banking, insurance, and financial services is expected to continue to rise.

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History

In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and established China’s current government. The Communists initiated many social and political changes. The most significant campaigns were the transition to a planned economy in the 1950s (see Communism: Centrally Planned Economy); the Cultural Revolution, in which students loyal to Communist leader Mao Zedong attacked intellectuals and party leaders, in the late 1960s; and the economic reform movement, begun in the late 1970s, that reintroduced aspects of a free-market economy and encouraged foreign investment.

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Republic of China

This period of political confusion was also one of intense intellectual excitement in China. Modern universities, started in the last years of the Qing, began to produce a new type of Chinese intellectual who was deeply concerned with China's fate and attracted to Western ideas, ranging from science and democracy to communism and anarchism. Thousands of young people went abroad to study in Japan, Europe, and North America. The journal New Youth, begun in the mid-1910s, called on young people to take up the cause of national salvation. Writers imitated Western forms of poetry and fiction, and started writing in the vernacular rather than the classical language that had formerly marked the educated person. Widely circulated periodicals brought this new language and new ideas to educated people throughout the country. One of the issues most strongly promoted was women’s rights. Such traditional practices as arranged marriage, concubinage, and the binding of girls’ feet to prevent normal growth (tiny feet were considered to enhance women’s beauty) were ridiculed as backward, and young women were encouraged to enroll in China’s many new schools for women.

China enjoyed a respite from Western pressure from 1914 to 1918, when European powers were preoccupied by World War I. Chinese industries expanded, and a few cities, especially Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Hankou (now part of Wuhan), became industrial centers. However, European powers’ preoccupation with the war at home also gave Japan an opportunity to try and gain a position of supremacy in China. In 1915 Japan presented China with the Twenty-one Demands, the terms of which would have reduced China to a virtual Japanese protectorate. Yuan Shikai's government yielded to a modified version of the demands, agreeing, among other concessions, to the transfer of the German holdings in Shandong to Japan.

After Yuan died in 1916, the central government in Beijing lost most of its power, and for the next decade power devolved to warlords and cliques of warlords. In 1917 China entered World War I on the side of the Allies (which included Britain, France, and the United States) in order to gain a seat at the peace table, hoping for a new chance to halt Japanese ambitions. China expected that the United States, with its Open Door Policy and commitment to the self-determination of all peoples, would offer its support. However, as part of the negotiation process at the peace conference in Versailles, France, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson withdrew U.S. support for China on the Shandong issue. The indignant Chinese delegation refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

Young people in China who looked to the West for political ideals were crushed by the decisions at Versailles. When news of the peace conference reached China on May 4, 1919, more than 3,000 students from Beijing universities assembled in the city to protest. The Beijing governor suppressed the demonstrators and arrested the student leaders, but these actions set off a wave of protests around the country in support of the Beijing students and their cause (see May Fourth Movement).

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World War II

By late 1938 Japan had seized control of most of northeast China, the Yangtze Valley as far inland as Hankou, and the area around Guangzhou on the southeastern coast. The KMT moved its capital and most of its military force inland to Chongqing in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Free China, as the KMT-ruled area was called, contained 60 percent of China’s population but only 5 percent of its industry, which hampered the war effort. In 1941 the United States entered World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Thereafter, American advisers and aid were flown to China from Burma, which enabled Chiang to establish a number of modern military divisions. However, the bulk of China’s 5 million military troops consisted of ill-trained, demoralized conscripts.

During the first few years after the Japanese invasion, some genuine cooperation took place between the CCP and the KMT. However, animosity between the groups remained, and the cooperation largely ended after the KMT attacked the CCP’s army in 1941. From then on, although both sides continued to resist Japan, they concentrated more on preparing for their eventual conflict with each other. The KMT imposed an economic blockade on the CCP base at Yan’an, making it impossible for the Communists to get weapons except by capturing them from the Japanese. Defeating Japan was left largely to the United States, which was fighting the war in the Pacific.

During the war period, the Communists made major gains in territory, military forces, and party membership. They infiltrated many of the rural areas behind Japanese lines, where they skillfully organized the peasantry and built up the ranks of the party and their army (known as the Red Army). The CCP grew from about 300,000 members in 1933 to 1.2 million members by 1945. While in Yan’an, Mao Zedong had time to read Marxist and Leninist works and began giving lectures at party schools in which he spelled out his versions of Chinese history and Marxist theory. Whereas neither Marx nor Lenin had seen significant revolutionary potential in peasants, Mao came to glorify peasants as the true masses. During these years, Mao also perfected methods of moral and intellectual instruction and party discipline, which involved close discussion of assigned texts, personal confessions, struggle sessions (meetings in which people were publicly criticized and punished for past offenses), and dramatic public humiliations.

The KMT emerged from the war in a weakened state. Severe inflation had begun in 1939, when the government, cut off from its main sources of income in Japanese-occupied eastern China, printed more currency to finance the mounting costs of wartime operations. Despite substantial U.S. economic aid, the inflationary trend worsened and official corruption increased. The financial problems also caused a loss of morale in the KMT armed forces and alienation of the civilian populace.

After Japan surrendered in 1945, bringing World War II to an end, both the CCP and the KMT were rearmed, the KMT by the United States and the Communists by the Soviet Union. The Soviets had accepted the surrender of Japanese troops in Manchuria and turned over large stockpiles of Japanese weapons and ammunition to the CCP.

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China in the 1990’s

Deng and Jiang’s reforms in the 1990s were particularly successful at stimulating economic growth, but they also created problems for the Communist leadership. China’s foreign debt began to increase rapidly, and growing consumer demand led to rising inflation. Uncontrolled industrial and agricultural growth caused environmental degradation in much of China. Moreover, there was pervasive corruption among party and government officials who profited from their power to grant permits and licenses and from their control over basic supplies needed by private businesses. The government attempted to combat the corruption, imprisoning a number of prominent party officials convicted of using their positions for personal gain.

During the late 1990s China’s international standing improved. In 1997 Hong Kong was transferred from British to Chinese control, and Macao followed in 1999, reverting from Portugal to China. The Chinese economy fared relatively well in a currency crisis that swept the region. In 1998 U.S. president Bill Clinton visited China and debated political issues on live television. In November 1999 China and the United States reached a trade agreement in which China agreed to significantly reduce obstacles to imported goods and foreign investments in exchange for U.S. support of China’s application for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). China also secured similar bilateral agreements with other countries to gain support for its entry in the trade organization. China formally became a member of the WTO in December 2001.

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China in the 21st Century

The new leadership immediately faced a public health crisis, working to contain the spread of a pneumonia-like illness that had emerged in the southern province of Guangdong in late 2002. By February 2003 new cases of the illness were reported in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a global alert. Scientists identified the illness as a new contagious disease of unknown cause, naming it severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). By the time WHO declared the SARS outbreak contained in July 2003, more than 8,000 cases had been reported in 32 countries, and the disease had caused 800 deaths. China’s initial failure to report the outbreak of a contagious disease attracted much international criticism, and even the Chinese news media exposed official efforts to conceal the outbreak.

Meanwhile, China pursued an ambitious space program, which had been the focus of accelerated development since late 2001. Signaling to the world its technological advancement, China launched a piloted spacecraft into Earth orbit in October 2003, becoming only the third nation to accomplish this feat. Astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times over a 21-hour period in the spacecraft Shenzhou 5 (Divine Vessel 5) before returning to Earth on October 16. The successful launch and orbit demonstrated China’s commitment to its space program, which also included plans for other space missions, including an unpiloted spaceflight to the Moon.

In March 2004 the legislature of China approved a constitutional amendment that provided the first legal protection of private property since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. In March 2005 the legislature passed a law authorizing the use of military force against Taiwan if its government moved toward a formal declaration of independence. The anti-secession law heightened cross-strait tensions. In late April 2005 the leader of the KMT (or Nationalist Party), Lien Chan, arrived from Taiwan to meet with CCP officials, marking the first visit by a KMT leader since the party withdrew to Taiwan at the end of China’s civil war in 1949.

In January 2006 China reported that its economy grew 9.9 percent in 2005, marking the third consecutive year of nearly 10 percent growth. This made China’s economy the world’s fourth largest, after the United States, Japan, and Germany.

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Pakistan History | Politics | Population | Languages | Religions | Geography and Climate | Education | Society and Culture | Tourism |

Pakistan

(Urdu: Pakistan), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia[5][6] (part of the Indian Subcontinent [7]) and is at a pivotal location[8][9][10][11] at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia.[12][13][14][15] It has a 1,046 kilometre (650 mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, the Republic of India in the east and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast.[16] Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor.

The region forming modern Pakistan encompassed the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and then, successively, recipient of ancient Vedic, Persian, Turco-Mongol, Indo-Greek and Islamic cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and/or settlement by the Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols, Sikhs and the British.[17] In addition to the Indian independence movement (led by Mahatma Gandhi of the Indian National Congress) which demanded an independent India, the Pakistan Movement (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah of the Muslim League) sought an independent state for the majority Muslim populations of the eastern and western regions of British India. In compulsion the British granted independence and also the creation of the Muslim majority state of Pakistan that comprised the provinces of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Balochistan and East Bengal. With the adoption of its constitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1971, a civil war in East Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. Pakistan's history has been characterized by periods of military rule and political instability. Pakistan is still a developing nation that faces problems of poverty and illiteracy.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia.[18][19][20] It also has the second largest Shia Muslim population in the world.[20] The country is listed among the Next Eleven economies, is a founding member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, G20 developing nations, Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the Economic Cooperation Organization. It is also a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, G33 developing countries, Group of 77 developing nations, major non-NATO ally of the United States and is a nuclear state.Back To Top

History

However, in the medieval period, while the eastern provinces of Punjab and Sindh grew aligned with Indo-Islamic civilisation, the western areas became culturally allied with the Iranian civilisation of Afghanistan and Iran.[25] The region served as crossroads of historic trade routes, including the Silk Road, and as a maritime entreport for the coastal trade between Mesopotamia and beyond up to Rome in the west and Malabar and beyond up to China in the east.

The Indus Valley Civilization collapsed in the middle of the second millennium BCE and was followed by the Vedic Civilisation, which also extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plains. Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Achaemenid Persian empire[26] around 543 BCE, Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great[27] in 326 BCE and the Mauryan empire there after. The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab from 184 BCE, and reached its greatest extent under Menander, establishing the Greco-Buddhist period with advances in trade and culture. The city of Taxila (Takshashila) became a major centre of learning in ancient times—the remains of the city, located to the west of Islamabad, are one of the country's major archaeological sites. The Rai Dynasty (c.489–632) of Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories. In 712 CE, the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim[28] conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab. The Pakistan government's official chronology states that "its foundation was laid" as a result of this conquest.[29] This Arab and Islamic victory would set the stage for several successive Muslim empires in South Asia, including the Ghaznavid Empire, the Ghorid Kingdom, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam.

From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a Dominion in the Commonwealth of Nations. It became a Republic in 1956, but the civilian rule was stalled by a coup d’état by General Ayub Khan, who was president during 1958–69, a period of internal instability and a second war with India in 1965. His successor, Yahya Khan (1969–71) had to deal with a devastating cyclone—which caused 500,000 deaths in East Pakistan—and also face a civil war in 1971. Economic grievances and political dissent in East Pakistan led to violent political tension and military repression that escalated into a civil war.[33] After nine months of guerrilla warfare between Pakistan Army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini militia backed by India, later Indian intervention escalated into the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and ultimately to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh.[34]

Civilian rule resumed in Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, until he was deposed and later sentenced to death in 1979 by General Zia-ul-Haq, who became the country's third military president. Ul-Haq introduced the Islamic Sharia legal code, which increased religious influences on the civil service and the military. With the death of President Zia in a plane crash in 1988, Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Over the next decade, she fought for power with Nawaz Sharif as the country's political and economic situation worsened. Pakistan got involved in the 1991 Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a U.S.-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia.[35] Military tensions in the Kargil conflict[36] with India were followed by a Pakistani military coup d'état in 1999[37] in which General Pervez Musharraf assumed vast executive powers. In 2001, Musharraf became President after the controversial resignation of Rafiq Tarar. After the 2002 parliamentary elections, Musharraf transferred executive powers to newly-elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who was succeeded in the 2004 prime-ministerial election by Shaukat Aziz. On 15 November 2007 the National Assembly completed its tenure and new elections were called. The exiled political leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were permitted to return to Pakistan. However, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto during the election campaign in December led to postponement of elections and nationwide riots. Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the most number of seats in the elections held in February 2008 and its member Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister.[38] On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharaff resigned from the presidency when faced with impeachment.[39] More than 3 million Pakistani civilians have been displaced by the conflict in North-West Pakistan between the government and Taliban militants.[40]Back To Top

Politics

Pakistan is an active member of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the latter of which Pakistan has used as a forum for Enlightened Moderation, a plan to promote a renaissance and enlightenment in the Muslim world.[42] Pakistan is also a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).[42] In the past, Pakistan has had mixed relations with the United States; in the early 1950s, Pakistan was the United States' "most allied ally in Asia"[45] and a member of both the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). During the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s Pakistan was a major U.S. ally. But relations soured in the 1990s, when sanctions were imposed by the U.S. over Pakistan's refusal to abandon its nuclear activities.[46] However, the 11 September 2001 attacks and the subsequent War on Terrorism led to an improvement in U.S.–Pakistan ties, especially after Pakistan ended its support of the Taliban regime in Kabul. This was evidenced by a major increase in American military aid, providing Pakistan $4 billion more in three years after the 9/11 attacks than before.[47] Since 2004, Pakistan has referred to as part of the Greater Middle East by the U.S.[48]

On 18 February 2008, Pakistan held its general elections after Benazir Bhutto's assassination postponed the original date of 8 January 2008.[49] The Pakistan Peoples Party won the majority of the votes and formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (N). They nominated and elected Yousaf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister of Pakistan.[50] On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharraf resigned as President of Pakistan amidst increasing calls for his impeachment.[51] In the presidential election that followed, Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan People's Party won by a landslide majority and became President of Pakistan.[52]

Pakistan is the only country, that does not recognize Republic of Armenia, as the country has a position of supporting Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. [2]. However, Armenia does recognize Pakistan.Back To Top

Population

The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. By population size, Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan. In the northern half, most of the population lives about an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha and Sheikhupura. In the past, the country's population had a relatively high growth rate that has, however, been moderated by declining fertility and birth rates. Dramatic social changes have led to rapid urbanization and the emergence of megacities. During 1990–2003, Pakistan sustained its historical lead as the most urbanized nation in South Asia, with city dwellers making up 34% of its population.[61] Pakistan has a multicultural and multi-ethnic society and hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world as well as a young population. Approximately 1.7 million Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan.[62] Nearly half of this population actually was born and grew up in Pakistan during the last 30 years, so they have never seen Afghanistan.[63][64] They are not counted in the national census, even the ones born in Pakistan, because they are still considered citizens of Afghanistan. About 8 million Muhajirs—then roughly one-fourth of the country’s population—arrived from India after the independence in 1947.[65]Back To Top

Languages

Pakistan is a multilingual country with more than sixty languages being spoken.[67] English is the official language of Pakistan and used in official business, government, and legal contacts,[24] while Urdu is the national language.

Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab. Pashto is the provincial language of NWFP. Sindhi is the provincial language of Sindh and Balochi is the provincial language of Balochistan.

Other languages include Aer, Badeshi, Bagri, Balti, Bateri, Bhaya, Brahui, Burushaski, Chilisso, Dameli, Dehwari, Dhatki, Domaaki, Farsi (Dari), Gawar-Bati, Ghera, Goaria, Gowro, Gujarati, Gujari, Gurgula, Hazaragi, Hindko (two varieties), Jadgali, Jandavra, Kabutra, Kachchi (Kutchi), Kalami, Kalasha, Kalkoti, Kamviri, Kashmiri, Kati, Khetrani, Khowar, Indus Kohistani, Koli (three varieties), Lasi, Loarki, Marwari, Memoni, Od, Ormuri, Pahari-Potwari, Pakistan Sign Language, Palula (Phalura), Sansi, Savi, Shina (two varieties), Torwali, Ushojo, Vaghri, Wakhi, Waneci, and Yidgha.[68] Some of these are endangered languages with a relatively small number of speakers and others have hundreds of thousands of speakers.

Most of the languages belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. The exceptions are Burushaski, which is a language isolate; Balti, which is Sino-TIbetan; and Brahui, which is Dravidian.Back To Top

Religion

Geography and Climate

Pakistan covers 340,403 square miles (881,640 km2),[74] approximately equaling the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. Its eastern regions are located on the Indian tectonic plate and the western and northern regions on the Iranian plateau and Eurasian landplate. Apart from the 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) Arabian Sea coastline, Pakistan's land borders total 6,774 kilometres—2,430 kilometres (1,509 mi) with Afghanistan to the northwest, 523 kilometres (325 mi) with China to the northeast, 2,912 kilometres (1,809 mi) with India to the east and 909 kilometres (565 mi) with Iran to the southwest.[24]

The northern and western highlands of Pakistan contain the towering Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges, which incorporate some of the world's highest peaks, including K2 (28,250 ft; 8,611 m) and Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft; 8,126 m). The Balochistan Plateau lies to the west, and the Thar Desert and an expanse of alluvial plains, the Punjab and Sind, lie to the east. The 1,000-mile-long (1,609-km) Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea.[75]

Pakistan has four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The onset and duration of these seasons vary somewhat according to location.[76] Rainfall can vary radically from year to year, and successive patterns of flooding and drought are also not uncommon.[77]

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Education

Pakistan also has a parallel secondary school education system in private schools, which is based upon the curriculum set and administered by the Cambridge International Examinations, in place of government exams. Some students choose to take the O level and A level[104] exams through the British Council.

There are currently 730 technical & vocational institutions in Pakistan.[105] The minimum qualifications to enter male vocational institutions, is the completion of grade 8. The programs are generally two to three years in length. The minimum qualifications to enter female vocational institutions, is the completion of grade 5.[106] All academic education institutions are the responsibility of the provincial governments. The federal government mostly assists in curriculum development, accreditation and some financing of research.

English medium education is to be extended, on a phased basis, to all schools across the country.[107] Through various educational reforms, by the year 2015, the ministry of education expects to attain 100% enrolment levels amongst primary school aged children, and a literacy rate of 86% amongst people aged over 10.[108]

Pakistan also has madrassahs that provide free education and also offer free boarding and lodging to students who come mainly from the poorer strata of society.[109] After criticism over terrorists using them for recruiting purposes, efforts have been made to regulate them.[110]Back To Top

Society and Culture

The variety of Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as the synchronisation of Qawwali and western music by the world renowned Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In addition Pakistan is home to many famous folk singers such as the late Alam Lohar, who is also well known in Indian Punjab. However, majority of Pakistanis listen to Indian music produced by Bollywood and other Indian film industries. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution centre for Afghan music abroad.[113] State-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation were the dominant media outlets, but there are now numerous private television channels. Various American, European, and Asian television channels and films are available to the majority of the Pakistani population via private Television Networks, cable, and satellite television. There are also small indigenous film industries based in Lahore and Peshawar (often referred to as Lollywood). And while Bollywood films have been banned from being played in public cinemas since 1965 they have remained popular in popular culture[114].

The architecture of the areas now constituting Pakistan can be designated to four distinct periods—pre-Islamic, Islamic, colonial and post-colonial. With the beginning of the Indus civilization around the middle of the 3rd millennium[115] B.C., an advanced urban culture developed for the first time in the region, with large structural facilities, some of which survive to this day.[116] Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Kot Diji belong to the pre-Islamic era settlements. The rise of Buddhism and the Persian and Greek influence led to the development of the Greco-Buddhist style, starting from the 1st century CE. The high point of this era was reached with the culmination of the Gandhara style. An example of Buddhist architecture is the ruins of the Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi in the northwest province. The arrival of Islam in today's Pakistan meant a sudden end of Buddhist architecture.[117] However, a smooth transition to predominantly picture less Islamic architecture occurred. The most important of the few completely discovered buildings of Persian style is the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan. During the Mughal era design elements of Islamic-Persian architecture were fused with and often produced playful forms of the Hindustani art. Lahore, occasional residence of Mughal rulers, exhibits a multiplicity of important buildings from the empire, among them the Badshahi mosque, the fortress of Lahore with the famous Alamgiri Gate, the colorful, still strongly Persian seeming Wazir Khan Mosque as well as numerous other mosques and mausoleums. Also the Shahjahan Mosque of Thatta in Sindh originates from the epoch of the Mughals. In the British colonial period, predominantly functional buildings of the Indo-European representative style developed from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components. Post-colonial national identity is expressed in modern structures like the Faisal Mosque, the Minar-e-Pakistan and the Mazar-e-Quaid.

The literature of Pakistan covers the literatures of languages spread throughout the country, namely Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto, Baluchi as well as English[118] in recent times and in the past often Persian as well. Prior to the 19th century, the literature mainly consisted of lyric poetry and religious, mystical and popular materials. During the colonial age the native literary figures, under the influence of the western literature of realism, took up increasingly different topics and telling forms. Today, short stories enjoy a special popularity.[119] The national poet of Pakistan, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, suggested the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. However, Iqbal had also wrote the Tarana-e-Hind which stated the belief of a strong united India. His book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is a major work of modern Islamic philosophy. The most well-known representative of the contemporary Urdu literature of Pakistan is Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Sufi poetry Shah Abdul Latif, Bulleh Shah and Khawaja Farid are also very popular in Pakistan.[120] Mirza Kalich Beg has been termed the father of modern Sindhi prose.[121]Back To Top

Tourism

The northern parts of Pakistan are the site of several historical fortresses, towers and other architecture. Including the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home to the Kalash, a small pre-Islamic Animist community.[125] Punjab is also the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River. The historic city of Lahore is considered Pakistan's cultural centre and has many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort.[126] The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) also helps promote tourism in the country.[127] However, tourism is still limited because of the lack of proper infrastructure and the worsening security situation in the country. The recent militancy in Pakistan's scenic sites, including Swat and NWFP, has given a massive blow to the tourism industry.[128] Much of the trouble is also being blamed on: the frail travel network, tourism regulatory framework, low prioritization of the tourism industry by the government, low effectiveness of marketing and a constricted tourism perception.[129]

Information Taken From Wikipedia

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