While they have one of the only man made structures that can be seen from outer space in the Great Wall of China they have also had the samurai warriors as well as being the oldest state in the world. But the more recent history is what I am interested in things such as the modern state. The development of the modern state started around World War I when china sided with the allies. At this point they were still Republican China, which was in power from 1911 to 1949. They had been on the side of the Americans during World War I but when they were double crossed by the Allies who broke a promise to return German concessions that were in china. This quickly got the Americans on the bad side of the Chinese government. In 1937 Japan invaded the costal cities of china resulting in full fledged war. (www.asterious.com)It didn't take long for the Japanese to take over most of the costal cities and where on there way inland when World War II broke out in 1939. Japan and China was not affected in the begging because in early stages of World War II the fighting was in Europe and Japan didn't have a part in it. However, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 they Japanese had to relocate troops to fight the Americans putting a hold on the war with China.(www.asterious.com) The destruction was already done however with over 20 million Chinese dying at the hands of the Japanese soldieries. .
The People's Republic of China took control in 1949 and in 1950 china went to war with South Korea to save the North Koreans from getting wiped off the map. (www.asterious.com). The Korean War was over by 1953 and technically china and South Korea are still at war but the fighting has been over since 1953. In the 1960's and 1970's development was halted by bad decisions from the leadership of the country. Horrible agriculture choices resulted in the deaths of 30 million people. As china moved in to the 1980's things didn't get much better however in 1984 they did make an agreement to receive Hong Kong from the United Kingdom.