China is home to one of the largest civilizations in the world. There were several dynasties including the Han, Xing, and the Shang. The longest one was the Shang, which was 800 years. The shortest one was the Han, which was 200 years. One of the oldest martial arts in the world is Kung Fu which started in China in 230 B.C. In ancient China, they invented gunpowder, magnetic compass, and silk in the Han Dynasty. They were some of the first people to use jade, silk, bronze, and wood.
The national flag is a flag that has 5 stars and is red. Red is a symbol of communism.The red Ibis is the national bird of China. China is rural and urban country. China borders the Pacific Ocean, India, Burma, Mongolia and Russia. The population is 1,338,612,968. The capital of China is Beijing. The city has 13,814, million people. One fifth of the population of the world is in China (according to a study done in 2005). Canada's population is 33,212,696. China is the 4th largest country in the world. Canada is bigger, but does not have as much population as China. China has 23 States. The highest mountain in the world is in China and is called Mt. Everest. One third of the country is mountainous. The major mountain range is the Himalayas in the south-east of China.
The Chinese live with 3 to 4 family members.
Some people love to shop in China. You can buy silk purses and silk quilts, small carved swords, Mao caps, calligraphy brush sets, jade jewelry, wooden combs with figures of Chinese gods, pearl hair pins, beaded bags and shoes. You can buy these things at stores in China.
Historically, some women in China had bound-feet, a sign of fashion. Bound feet is when a girl tied her feet so that her feet were smaller. Small feet is a symbol of beauty in China. Foot-binding was a historical (not done any more) tradition in China to shows a high social rank and beauty. The reason bound-feet is a sign of high social rank is because it signifies a sign of not needing to work. It started in the 10th or 11th century. There are still old woman in China today that had their feet bound when they were a child.
There is a policy that restricts some Chinese families from having more than 1 child. This policy is called the "One-Child Policy". 39.5 of the urban population is under this policy. It was created to stop the population from increasing. Since there is a large population, the Chinese government wanted the population to slow down. Female children are unwanted to some families, so it has become a problem.
The 4 religions of China are: Buddhism, Chinese Folk, Confucianism, and Taoism. 360 million people practice Buddhism. Buddhists follow the teaching of Buddha. One of the things Buddhists believe in is reincarnation. Reincarnation is the rebirth of a soul in a new body. 20 million people practice Taoism.Taoists believe in creating inner harmony which is inner agreement.Taoism is based on the teaching of Tao Te Ching. Confucianism has 6 million people practicing it. Confucianism is a way of living taught by Confucius who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC.
China had emperors which are male rulers that ruled China. There are no emperors anymore. This stopped when the last one died of cancer in 1932. China is a communist country now (It didn't use to be). It became communist when the last emperor died, and Mao the communist leader took over. The government is a central and powerful government. They have a president now named Hu Jintao, since Mao died in the 1970's. Hu Jintao was elected in 2003 and has been president for 6 years.
The Chinese eat yummy food like spring rolls, pork, vegetables, baozi (which is a steamed bun), wantons(which are dumplings) noodles and chicken. Confucius once said "Eating is the utmost important thing in life". There are 8 traditional styles of food. These are the styles: Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichun and Zhejiing. The food is different from the West in several ways. Chinese food is known as being sophisticated, balanced, healthy, and tasteful. The most important festival is Chinese New Year and it's traditional food is Jai which is a vegetarian dish which has lotus seeds, ginkgo nuts, black moss seaweed, dried bean curd, bamboo shoots. They turned rice into wine and into fried rice too because rice is a main part of chinese food. There are Chinese New Year cakes which are usually a fruit cake.
The main festivals/holidays are Chinese New Year, the Lamp Festival, and Labour Day. Chinese New Year is celebrated by eating hawthorn fruits skewered on a stick and the Lamp Festival is on the last day of the New Year. The New Year falls in between late January and late February. The Chinese celebrate New Year by cleaning and decorating and eating. New Year is when Chinese people eat more than usual. Lamp Festival is on the last day of New Year. It is celebrated by putting up lamps to celebrate the end of the New Year. Labour Day is on May 1 which isn't really celebrated in a festival. Labour day in China is a 7 day holiday when millions of Chinese people can travel.
The Chinese rule another country. That country is Tibet. They took over in 1969. They rule Tibet because they think that it is part of their own country. They don't fight back because they are Buddhists and Buddhists believe in non-violence so they knew that if they fought back they would be breaking the rules. They were never ruled by any other countries.
The currency is Yuan. One Yuan is 175¢ Canadian. In the cheaper western provinces you can eat for under Y25 per day.
In Beijing there is the Arrow tower. It is a military defense that protected Beijing (It doesn't anymore). You can find the Forbidden City there which is a imperial palace that has thousands of rooms so it is pretty big. It was built from 1406 to 1420. It was were the emperors lived. Now it is a tourist attraction. There is a museum inside it called the Palace Museum. The Aeronauctil Museum is in Beijing. It has buildings of Airplanes. There is also the Great Wall Of China, which stretches for over 500 square km and was built to keep the nomads out. It was built during the Han and Qin dynasty. It is a Tourist attraction because tourists that like history will want to see some of the oldest history in the world. It is beautiful because you can see beautiful scenery. It is one of the 7 Wonders Of The World. A pagoda is a tiered tower found in China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea.
I like China because I like how they eat with Chopsticks and the Great Wall Of China. I will be in China for awhile and will have seen the Great Wall and eaten with Chopsticks. China is a wonderful place, with the Great Wall, and other things to see and eat.
