The plum blossom, Prunus mei, was officially designated by the ROC Executive Yuan to be the national flower on July 21, 1964. The plum blossom, which has shades of pink and white and gives off a delicate fragrance, has great symbolic value for the Chinese people because of its resilience during the harsh winter.

The son of Chinese Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, he was exiled to rural Yanchuan County as a teenager following his father's purge during the Cultural Revolution, and lived in a yaodong in the village of Liangjiahe, where he joined the CCP and worked as the local party secretary. After studying chemical engineering at Tsinghua University as a "Worker-Peasant-Soldier student", Xi rose through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces. Xi was Governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, before becoming Governor and Party Secretary of neighbouring Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007. Following dismissal of the Party Secretary of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to replace him for a brief period in 2007. He subsequently joined the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the CCP and served as first secretary of the Central Secretariat in October 2007. In 2008, he was designated as Hu Jintao's presumed successor as paramount leader; to that end, Xi was appointed Vice President of the PRC and Vice Chairman of the CMC. He officially received the title of "leadership core" from the CCP in 2016. Xi has also been a member of the PSC since 2007. In 2018, he abolished presidential term limits.

Xi is the first CCP General Secretary born after the establishment of the PRC. Since assuming power, Xi has introduced far-ranging measures to enforce party discipline and to impose internal unity. His anti-corruption campaign led to the downfall of prominent incumbent and retired CCP officials, including a former member of the PSC. He has also enacted or promoted a more assertive foreign policy, particularly with regard to China–Japan relations, China's claims in the South China Sea, and its advocacy for free tradeand globalization. He has sought to expand China's African and Eurasian influence through the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi has often been described as a dictator or an authoritarian leader by political and academic observers,^[9] citing an increase of censorship and mass surveillance, a deterioration in human rights including the internment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, the cult of personality developing around him,^[10] and the removal of term limits for the leadership under his tenure.^[a] Xi's political thoughts have been incorporated into the partyand national constitutions.^[25][26][27] As the central figure of the fifth generation of leadership of the PRC, Xi has significantly centralised institutional power by taking on a wide range of leadership positions, including chairing the newly formed National Security Commission, as well as new steering committees on economic and social reforms, military restructuring and modernization, and the Internet.^[28]

On 11 November 2021, the CCP declared Xi's ideology the "essence of Chinese culture".^[29] This is the third fundamental resolution of the CCP since its inception. The first resolution was adopted in 1945 to increase and ratify the power of Mao Zedong, and the second was adopted under Deng Xiaoping. The decision to issue one under Xi symbolically raises him to the same level of prestige as Mao and Deng.^[29]

0.000095Singapore Dollar

Scientific name: Cassia fistula

Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae

Family: Fabaceae

Order: Fabales

Kingdom: Plantae

China emerged as one of the world's first civilizations in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. China was one of the world's foremost economic powersfor most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century. For millennia, China's political system was based on absolute hereditary monarchies, or dynasties, beginning with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE. Since then, China has expanded, fractured, and re-unified numerous times. In the 3rd century BCE, the Qin reunited core China and established the first Chinese empire. The succeeding Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) saw some of the most advanced technology at that time, including papermaking and the compass, along with agricultural and medical improvements. The invention of gunpowder and movable type in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127) completed the Four Great Inventions. Tang culture spread widely in Asia, as the new Silk Road brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa. The Qing dynasty, China's last dynasty, which formed the territorial basis for modern China, suffered heavy losses to foreign imperialism in the 19th century.

The Chinese monarchy collapsed in 1912 with the Xinhai Revolution, when the Republic of China (ROC) replaced the Qing dynasty. China was invaded by the Empire of Japanduring World War II. The Civil War resulted in a division of territory in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the People's Republic of China on the mainland while the Kuomintang-led ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan.^[k]Both claim to be the sole legitimate government of China, although the United Nationshas recognized the PRC as the sole representation since 1971. China conducted a series of economic reforms since 1978, and entered into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

China is currently governed as a unitary one-party socialist republic by the CCP. China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a founding member of several multilateral and regional cooperation organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the New Development Bank, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the RCEP, and is a member of the BRICS, the G8+5, the G20, the APEC, and the East Asia Summit. It ranks among the lowest in international measurements of civil liberties, government transparency, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. Chinese authorities have been criticized by political dissidents and human rights activists for widespread human rights abuses, including political repression, mass censorship, mass surveillance of their citizens and violent suppression of protests.

China is the world's largest economy by GDP at purchasing power parity, second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the world's second wealthiest country by total wealth. The country has the fastest growing major economy and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter. China is a recognized nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and second-largest defense budget.

Afghanistan has a history of more than six thousand years, with many historical sights and attractions, among these are the more than two thousand year old famous Buddha Statues, the tomb of Hazrate Ali (the son in law of Prophet Mohammed p.b.u.h and the fourth caliph of Islam) in Mazar-e Sharif, the beautiful city of Balkh (also known as the Mother City of all Cities), the lakes of Band-e Amir, the deep lapis lazuli blue of the waters are a shocking contrast to the plain colours of the surrounding mountains.

Afghanistan has also been of great strategic importance for invading armies, from Genghis Khan to Alexander the Great. All these armies have left astonishing trails behind, trails that have been forgotten due to decades of war but are yet to be discovered. The Government is working to rebuild the war torn infrastructure of Afghanistan, a major project to develop transport links and a nationwide telecommunication link between Kabul and the other provinces has being established.

Furthermore, to assist the Tourism Industry of Afghanistan, the Government strongly encourages and offers its full support to the private sector to invest into the Tourism Industry. With ever increasing global tourism, the Afghan Tourist Industry has tremendous potential to become profitable. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan is willing to support any attempt that will further develop the tourism industry of Afghanistan.

The yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán or simplified Chinese: 圆; traditional Chinese: 圓; pinyin: yuán) is the basic unit of the renminbi, but the word is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts. One yuan divides into 10 jiao (Chinese: 角; pinyin: jiǎo), and a jiao in turn divides into 10 fen (Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn). The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of China.^[3]

ARG (Palace)
Amir Abdur Rahman (1880-1901) built this citadel to replace the Bala Hissar palaces. Within the Arg are the Salam Khana (Hall of Salutation) and the Dilkosha Palace (Heart’s Delight). Presently, it houses the Presidential Offices and Mohammad Zahir Shah, the former Monarch’s Residence.

OLD CITY WALLS :
The ancient walls of Kabul begin at Bala Hissar. They are 7 meters high, 3meters thick and assigned to the Hephthalite period (5 th Century A.D.).