A sex worker undresses at a rented house near the Xining Railway Station on A Chinese statue dating back to the early featuring a man making love. The Chinese government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian and corporatist , [] with heavy restrictions in many areas, most notably against free access to the Internet , freedom of the press , freedom of assembly , the right to have children , free formation of social organizations and freedom of religion.
Since , the main body of the Chinese constitution declares that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party CCP. The President is the titular head of state , elected by the National People's Congress. The Premier is the head of government , presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers and the heads of ministries and commissions.
There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are now held at the village and town levels. In , Xi called on the communist party to further tighten its grip on the country, to uphold the unity of the party leadership, and achieve the "Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation". The People's Republic of China is divided into 22 provinces , five autonomous regions each with a designated minority group , and four municipalities βcollectively referred to as " mainland China "βas well as the special administrative regions SARs of Hong Kong and Macau.
The PRC has diplomatic relations with countries and maintains embassies in Its legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest and most populous state with limited recognition. Under its interpretation of the One-China policy , Beijing has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the government of the Republic of China.
Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan, [] especially in the matter of armament sales. Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai 's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence , and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. China became the world's largest trading nation in , as measured by the sum of imports and exports.
