China

China (中国, Chūgoku) is a main character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. He is part of the Allied Forces. In 2007 and early 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters and he received the name Wang Yao (王耀, Wanyao or Ouyou, 王耀, Wáng Yào)

Appearance
He has dark hair tied back into a ponytail, and is often shown wearing a deep green Chinese military uniform with a red armband (though it was colored tan in one colorspread). In other instances, he wears a green mandarin jacket with yellow pants, or a red one with white pants as shown in the Hetalia trading card game.

He has a scar on his back, a reminder of when Japan attacked him when they were younger, and a panda-shaped tattoo above his buttocks.

Personality and Interests
One of the apparent oldest nations, he happens to be extremely superstitious, but not at all religious. He tries to act as an older brother to the other Asian nations, but fails to be treated as one. He tends to end his sentences with the suffix "-aru" (a Japanese stereotype of Chinese accents), though sometimes he ends them with "-ahen" (opium) when conversing with England. He has a companion named "Shinatty-chan", an old man in a Hello Kitty knockoff costume.

He is shown to be a lover of cuisine, and is said to nag if food has a certain pattern of tastes. On one occasion in the WWII-set strips, he winds up arriving late to a meeting and explains that he always puts his food as his first priority.

China appears to have a love of cute things, particularly cartoon characters, Hello Kitty, and pandas, and he is frequently seen carrying one. He is also very artistic, as he is skilled at not only painting beautiful human beings full-scale, but also on something as small as a strand of hair (as seen in a strip in the web-comic); his artistic abilities don't, however, apply across the board, as his anime drawings are quite poor compared to Japan's and Korea's.

Overall he appears to be a cheerful character, though he can occassionally slip into moments of melancholy when reflecting on how much the world has changed in all the years he's been around. He's also been shown to be easily annoyed and prone to snapping, particularly when it comes to Korea.

Japan
Main Article: Japan

After discovering the new nation (who appeared to be a child all on his own), China took him in and raised him as a younger brother, though Japan denied being related to him when asked about it. Japan eventually wound up betraying China when he decided to initiate a war, and attacked him with a katana (leaving a scar on his back). Since that war, the two remained on opposing sides as enemies, and China became distressed as to how war changed his "brother".

Hong Kong
Main Article: Hong Kong

Little has been revealed about their relationship. Hong Kong was raised by China before he became British territory. The two were eventually reunited when England's control ceased. In The Summary of the Plot until Now, China is seen telling Hong Kong to stop drawing explicit art, saying that he will have to mosiac it all out. Hong Kong replies, "I'm kinda sorry. And I won't do it again. Maybe."

South Korea
Main Article: Korea

China is constantly annoyed by Korea's claims that he invented others' work, and his claim that both him and Japan should consider him to be their older brother. Korea also happens to have an obsession with China, wanting to be acknowledged by him. He also once showed the belief that China's breasts belonged to him like Japan's.

Russia
Main Article: Russia

Despite the close relationship the two have had throughout their history, China is very suspicious and fearful of his northern neighbor, especially after the Sino-Soviet Split. In return, Russia has been shown to stalk China, especially when disguised in a panda suit, and takes a special interest in him.

In The Anime
China first appears in Episode 01, at the world meeting. As the others argue, he attempts to break up the fight by offering them snacks (that they refuse).

China's raising of Japan is spotlighted in Episode 16, which details their past history, though the betrayal aspect was left out of the anime adaptation.

Though his hair tends to be colored black in most artwork for the manga, China's character design in the anime gives him ash brown hair, as well as adding haircurls to his ponytail.

Name
The Western order for his name is Yao Wang, while the Eastern order is Wang Yao.

Wang is a common Chinese surname that means "king", while Yao is a common given name that means "brightly shining". A common rendering of his first name in fandom is Wong. Another alternate spelling of his name (that quickly fell out of use) was Wong Hwei. According to an old blog post by Himaruya, his name can be rendered in Japanese and in English as either Wang Yao or Wang Yue.

Trivia

 * In his earliest webcomic profile, China was represented by the Guomindang flag of China. In his profiles from 2007 and on, Hidekaz Himaruya quickly switched the flag out for the People's Republic Of China one. However, the historically accurate flag for the WWII-set strips would be the flag for the Republic Of China (later used for Taiwan).
 * His original birthday (October 10th) corresponded with the date of formation of the Republic Of China. However, in later profiles, his birthday was stated as "Unknown". In a Chinese printing of volume 2, his birthday is given as October 1st (the formation of the People's Republic Of China), though the same printing is controversial for changing Taiwan's profile to state that she is a "part of China" (the stance that both Republics of China take).
 * He is immortal, which explains his great age of 4000 years. Some Chinese fans will modify his age to 5000, as it is considered to be a more accurate age for "China".
 * A rejected design for China showed that Himaruya originally considered having him wear glasses. One version of this early design appears in a scan of a notebook page featuring it along with an early male Korea and a Thailand. In the design, China also wears his hair down. A second doodle of the rejected concept would later appear in the special edition booklet for volume 3, where Yao was depicted with short hair and the glasses. In notes, Himaruya wrote that the character was originally supposed to be colder and calculating, as well as appearing to be older.