What does B C mean in time A D?

Anno Domini is sometimes referred to as the Common Era (C.E. or CE). This term is often preferred by those who desire a term unrelated to religious conceptions of time. For example, Cunningham and Starr (1998) write that "B.C.E./C.E. ... do not presuppose faith in Christ and hence are more appropriate for interfaith dialog than the conventional B.C./A.D." The People's Republic of China, founded in 1949, adopted Western years, calling that era gōngyuán, 公元, which literally means Common Era.