China china (Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó), officially the People's Republic of China

Civil War and the People's Republic
Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
Further information: Chinese Soviet Republic; Proclamation of the People's Republic of China; Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan; Taiwan, China; and Cultural Revolution
Before the existence of the People's Republic, the CCP had declared several areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet), a predecessor state to the PRC, in November 1931 in Ruijin, Jiangxi. The Jiangxi Soviet was wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934 and was relocated to Yan'an in Shaanxi where the Long March concluded in 1935.^{[106][failed verification]} It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. Afterwards, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the Kuomintang retreating offshore to Taiwan, reducing its territory to only Taiwan, Hainan, and their surrounding islands.
The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China was held at 3:00 pm on October 1, 1949. The picture above shows Mao Zedong's announcement of the founding of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square.^[107]
On 1 October 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China at the new nation's founding ceremony and inaugural military parade in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.^[108] In 1950, the People's Liberation Army captured Hainan from the ROC^[109] and annexed Tibet.^[110] However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s.^[111]
The government consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement, which included the execution of between 1 and 2 million landlords.^[112] China developed an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons.^[113] The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974.^[114] However, the Great Leap Forward, an idealistic massive industrialization project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961, mostly from starvation.^[115][116] In 1964, China's first atomic bomb exploded successfully.^[117] In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council.^[118] This UN action also created the problem of the political status of Taiwan and the Two Chinas issue.