China is the most powerful single nation-state on the planet. It has the world's largest economy, one of the largest populations (1.48 billion), and a mature Fourth Wave technology that boasts some of the world's finest genetic engineers. China possesses a large colony on Mars and smaller colonies elsewhere in the system. Perhaps more importantly, it is internally stable with a strong sense of national destiny.
China is still 'officially' Communist, but in name only. The country is still a one-party state with extensive government involvement in business, but it is 'market socialism' in which the government's main role is ensuring various basic social services and long-term economic planning. The nation's government officials are primarily business leaders, and their goal is to create a world safe for China, rather than a Chinese world. Chinese authoritarianism is not so much aimed at suppressing internal dissent as in ensuring stable, measured adoption of new technology and new memes. In the early 21st century, China suffered badly from differences between its advanced southern provinces and the less developed interior, and from social problems such as a shortage of women. Today's China works carefully to correct and avoid these and similar problems. Rust China on Mars can be seen as a socioeconomic laboratory that is easily quarantined.
Much of China's success has come from its early support of biotechnology (beginning with GMO crops.) Human cloning, parahuman genotypes, and bioroid manufacture all became important elements of the Chinese economy. The government and Chinese corporations offer incentives for parents to raise parahuman children and adopt bioroids where beneficial. This biotech emphasis carries over to the Chinese space program. Vehicles and environmental systems tend to be of old but reliable design, while Chinese astronauts and colonists are often genetically modified or (as bioroids) built for their jobs. The approach seems to work, and has made China an industrial powerhouse even without widespread adoption of cutting-edge Fifth Wave technology or potentially destabilizing sapient AIs, which are rare and tightly controlled.
However, China is a huge nation, and the above generalizations are hazardous. Some regions of China have barely entered the Third Wave information society, while others (notably Taiwan and parts of southern China) are emergent Fifth Wave powerhouses whose skylines are dominated by towering arcologies and whose wealthy entrepreneurs sport the newest brain implants and nanomods.
China has close relationships with Israel, Iran, Pakistan, and Chile, and is relatively friendly with the Islamic Caliphate. These are not alliances per se, but rather semi-permanent shared interests that together form a 'China Bloc.' On Earth, China's major rivals are the TSA, the PRA, and India, and it has a cool relationship with Russia. It is both a friendly rival and partner of the European Union and United States on Earth, but regards America as a strategic competitor on Mars and in the Deep Beyond. The Chinese felt humiliated by the 'high-handed' action of the U.S.'s He-3 embargo and their susceptibility to it. Beijing has resolved to close this window of vulnerability.
Population: 1.45 billion.
Gross Domestic Product: $62.3 trillion (2155).
Government Type: Authoritarian technocracy with some democratic features. Certain autonomous regions practice open democracy on a local level.
Typical Control Rating: CR 5, but the autonomous zones are at CR 2, and economic regulation is at CR 2 throughout the country.
The People's Republic of China includes several autonomous zones which have special privileges under national law. The local governments in these regions have almost complete freedom in matters of economic administration and citizens' civil rights. In these zones (certain arcologies, Rust China, the Taiwan Autonomous Zone, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Macau Special Administrative Region), the standard of living is higher than the national average.