How do the values of the ruling Chinese Communist Party translate into daily life? The Party bases its legitimacy on delivering both stability and the conditions for prosperity. But stability is under threat as economic boom is leaving millions at the margin. Government officials are increasingly seen as profiteers, rather than public servants, and public trust in the Party is waning. This episode features Party meetings, military patrols along China's border with Kazakhstan and footage of officials in Tibet trying to impose authority at the grass roots. But in Shadong province - just south of Beijing - a village election takes place.

One woman in China kills herself every four minutes. With the highest female suicide rate in the world, China's women talk candidly about the pressures on them, particularly those left to tend homes and look after children in rural areas while husbands and sons are working towards the "economic miracle" in the cities. Film makers follow a migrant couple returning for a visit to their village home… and the children they have not seen for a year. They also explore the plight of unwanted baby girls, the discrimination suffered by Xinjiang's Muslim women, and the younger generation of women who are taking control of their lives in search of an education, a career and a love marriage.

China is trying to feed 20% of the world's population on 7% of the world's arable land. And a third of the world uses water from China's rivers. Rapid industrialisation and climate change, however, have led to bad air, polluted rivers and drought. And rather than clamping down on polluters, local government often protects local industries. Along the Huai river's main tributary, 50,000 people suffer from cancer and in one village alone, 118 people have died. In this episode we see shocking images from "cancer villages", and hear from green activists, Party officials, academics and scientists as they wrestle with environmental damage.

Democracy is stirring in China... closely monitored by the Beijing government. Religious freedom is limited in an atheist state, and some groups - Buddhist, Muslim, Christian - are controlled. Extraordinary footage illustrates increasing social unrest, in both villages and cities, as China's people demand their rights. In Taishi village, residents sought to use the law to impeach and remove its corrupt leaders. Praised by the leading Party newspaper in China one minute, the village was overrun with police and militia the next. Frank interviews with Chinese people from Tibetan temples to law courts and labour camps, all grapple with the issue of how to make China fair as well as prosperous.

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.

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.

More than 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 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.

The walls comprising the Great Wall of China follow the mountainous contours of China�s northern frontier, stretching from the gulf of Bo Hai in the east to Gansu Province in the west. In some stretches, the walls' builders placed watchtowers between which alarm signals could be passed in case of attack. Along the top of the walls, the builders created space for soldiers to march.

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. Although China remains a poor country by world standards, the economy has grown dramatically as a result of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.

Tiananmen Square is a large, open area adjacent to Beijing�s Forbidden City, the former home of the Chinese emperors. In the 1950s the square was enlarged to accommodate large public parades and ceremonies. Important structures on the square include the Museum of China's History and Revolution, the Monument to the Heroes of the People, and the Hall of the People where the national legislature of China meets. In the center of the square is the tomb of Mao Zedong, the founder of the Chinese communist government. 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 later negotiated the transfer of Macaoïs administration from Portugal to China. Macao, too, was guaranteed a special degree of autonomy.

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