The Year 2008 (Brown Rat) is the 4705th Chinese year.
The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4705th year on February 4th, 2008. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Brown Rat is the 25th Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since 4705 = (60 *78) + 25, therefore this Brown Rat Year is the 4705th Chinese Year.

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Zhong Guo
(China, the middle Kingdom) in traditional Chinese Characters

China's Dynasties

Background:
For centuries China has stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences. In the first half of the 20th century, China was beset by major famines, civil unrest, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people.
After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping gradually introduced market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Output quadrupled in the next 20 years and China now has the world's second largest GDP. Political controls remain tight even while economic controls continue to weaken. (Source: CIA - The World Factbook)

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ISO Country Code : cn

Local Time = UTC +8h
(China extends across five times zones, but the country uses a single time zone.)

Government:
Type: Communist party-led state
Constitution: 4 December 1982.
Head of state: President Hu Jintao
Independence: Unification under the Qin (Ch'in) Dynasty 221 BC;
Qing (Ch'ing or Manchu) Dynasty replaced by a republic on 12 February 1912;
People's Republic est. 1 October 1949.