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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 color spread). 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 birthmark above his left buttock.
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 some of the other Asian nations but often fails to be treated as one; possibly because those nations either know they are not related, do not see him as a brother figure, or don't acknowledge it. Somewhat like America, he likes to be in charge or have what he wants and tries to use his position as the oldest present nation to have that authority but does not get it to the level he wishes. 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 would only use "aru" when speaking Japanese. 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. Unlike Japan, he does not wish to share recipes as he states they should stay in their country of origin.
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 occasionally 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. When he falls into a sort of anger induced fit, he can sometimes be destructive, and it will take America's enhanced strength to keep him contained.
Relationships
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.
America: China appears to be on relatively good terms with America although he can sometimes be annoyed by some of the younger countries antics.
England: Having been under Britain's control for a while, China was often annoyed and frustrated at having been treated like a servant and personal cook by England. Despite this, he did show some concern when Britain would get into fights with France but would also comment how he hoped the two would wipe each other out.
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". In more modern times, he continues to act as an older brother figure to Japan but appears to keep his "sibling" antics dialed down a bit.
Hong Kong: Little has been revealed about their relationship. Hong Kong was raised by China before he became British territory for a hundred years. 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 mosaic it all out. Hong Kong replies, "I'm kinda sorry. And I won't do it again. Maybe." Also, Hong Kong refers China as teacher (sensei, or xiānshēng in the English manga).
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.
Taiwan: Little has been revealed about their relationship. In Asian and Western Festivals, Taiwan, like Hong Kong, refers to China as 'teacher.' However, she also talks back to him frequently and does not mind his bossiness but does prefer Japan.
In The Anime
China in Episode 09.
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 hair curls 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.
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 about/over 4000 years. Some Chinese fans will modify his age to 5000, as it is considered to be a more accurate age for "China".
At different time periods in the history in the series, he states himself to be "over four thousand years old.".
Early China as seen in vol3.
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.
Notes
↑He has been alive since at least the Xia Dynasty(2070–1600 BCE), according to a 2015 post on Himaruya's blog (Japanese; English), where he was depicted as a young child during that era. However, it is unknown when exactly he was born or if/how long he had been alive prior to the Xia Dynasty.
↑This is how his name is written in pinyin, but it can also be written without the accent marks.
↑Himaruya once listed his age as "4000" (here), but that obviously is not his physical age.
↑China's birthday was specifically listed as "Unknown" in his Axis Powers Volume 2 bio.
↑When he speaks, he usually says watashi, but this kanji is different from the kanji for watashi (私). The 我 kanji refers to the pronoun "ware", but it is also the character for the formal Chinese pronoun for I, "wǒ".
↑All four of these cats are named after famous rival warlords from the Han Dynasty. Click here, here, here, and here for more information.
↑It should be noted that this character's name comes from combining "kitty" with "shina", which is an older Japanese word for China that began to be used and seen as a derogatory slur during the Sino-Japanese Wars. Click here for more information. Due to the often derogatory nature of this word, in the Chinese part of the fandom this character is referred to as Gitty-chan.
↑What exactly is meant by "Cat of the Day company"/"日的猫公司か" is uncertain.
↑A flower that is very highly valued in China, often considered one of the national flowers. Click here for more information.
↑A traditional handmade Chinese dessert similar to cotton candy, made of sugar maltose or corn syrup, peanuts, desiccated coconut, white sesame seeds, and glutinous rice flour. It is known as 龍鬚糖/lóng xū táng in Mandarin. Click here for more information.
References
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. May 2007. "Old Blog 2007/05". Japanese. English.
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. July 13, 2008. ""俺の家と一か月 [My House and One Month]"". Japanese. English.
