China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia. China has one of the world's oldest people and continuous civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system, and is the source of many major inventions, called the "four great inventions of Ancient China": paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.