GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Location: China, (People's Republic of China), is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 | |||||||||||||
The border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and the coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China seas. The Bohai Sea is the inland sea of China.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square meters; the largest is Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, and the second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands are the southernmost island group of China.
Physical Features: China's vast territory encompasses a great diversity of landscapes. Generally speaking, the land forms three giant steps that descend from high mountains, plateaus, and great basins in the west to a central band of lower mountains, hills, and plateaus, then to lowlands, plains, and foothills near the eastern coast. Deserts and steppes lie across the northwest and north central parts of China. On the whole a mountainous topography predominates, and lowlands occupy only 20% of the country
Climate: China lies mainly in the northern temperate zone under the influence of monsoon. From September and October to March and April next year monsoon blow from Siberia and the Mongolia Plateau into China and decrease in force as it goes southward, causing dry and cold winter in the country and a temperature difference of 40 degree centigrade between the north and south. The temperature in China in the winter is 5 to 18 degree centigrade lower than that in other countries on the same latitude in winter. Monsoon blows into China from the ocean in summer, bringing with them warm and wet currents, thus rain. Great differences in climate are found from region to region owing to China's extensive territory and complex topography. The northern part of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China has no summer, Hainan Island has a long summer but no winter; the Huaihe River valley features four distinct seasons; the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is covered by snow all year round; the southern part of the Yunan-Guizhou Plateau is spring-like all the year; and the northwestern inland region sees a great drop of temperature in the day. Annual precipitation also varies greatly from region to region; it is as high as 1,500 millimeters along the southeastern coast. Decreasing landward, it is less than 50 millimeters in northwest China.
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Flora and fauna: The variety of relief, climate, and soils in China has given rise to a wide range of vegetation, from the tropical to the north forest types. Of a total of more than 5000 species of trees and shrubs which have been identified, about fifty are native only to that country. In Szechwan, for example, the ginkgo trees grows, which, except where transplanted, is found elsewhere in the world only in fossil form. In China originated such cultivated plants as millet, buckwheat, ramie, and the tung tree. In addition, many plants brought from Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North and South America have been acclimatized.
Typical representatives of the fauna of the temperature deciduous-forest zone include the lynx, musk deer, Japanese deer, wild boar, hare, squirrel, sable, marten, ermine, and weasel. The fauna is closely related to that of the Siberian forests of the U.S.S.R. South of the Ch'in-Ling Shan divide, the evergreen forests harbor a tropical fauna, including tigers, leopards, giant pandas, monkeys, and porcupines. Birds are represented by pheasants, peacocks, parrots, herons, and cranes. In the steppe and desert areas hoofed animals, rodents, and reptiles predominate, including the antelope, wild ass, musk deer, camel, yak and marmot, and lizards and snakes.
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China traces it origins as a discrete political and cultural unit to ancient times. From the 2nd millennium BC to the early 20th century, a succession of dynasties ruled progressively larger parts of what is now China. A notable feature of the later dynasties was the dominance of the scholar-official class, made up of educated men who were recruited to serve as government officials based on their skills rather than their family background. When European expansion began in Asia in the 16th century, the global context of Chinese history changed, and by the 19th century China had to confront militarily stronger European powers. By the early 20th century China's humiliation at the hands of the imperialist powers had become the catalyst for a revolution against the dynastic regime. Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and for several decades the country was torn apart by warlords, civil war, and Japanese invasion.
In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and established China's current government. The Communists initiated many social and political changes. The most significant campaigns were the transition to a planned economy in the 1950s; the Cultural Revolution, in which students loyal to Communist leader Mao Zedong attacked intellectuals and party leaders, in the late 1960s; and the economic reform movement, begun in the late 1970s, that reintroduced aspects of a free-market economy and encouraged foreign investment.
PEOPLE:-
ETHNICITY
The racial and nationality makeup of the Chinese people is highly diversified. A vast number of people belong to 54 national minorities, that is, groups distinguished from the Chinese chiefly by language or religion. The principal minorities are the Chuang, in Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region, the aboriginal Yi, in Szechwan and Yunnan provinces; the Tibetans, in Tsnghai and Szechwan provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region; the aboriginal Miao, in Kweichow and Hunan provinces; the Mongols, in Inner Mongolia, Kansu, and Tsinghai provinces and Sinkiang Uighur; the Puyi, in Kweichow; and the Koreans, in Kirin Province of Manchuria. Other national minorities are found in outlying areas of China. Listed among the minorities are Manchus. The Manchus, descendants of the people who conquered China in the 17th century and established the Manchu, or Ch'ing, dynasty, are almost indistinguishable from the Chinese proper, who call themselves the Han people, after the powerful dynasty that ruled China until the 3rd century A.D. Chinese society is primarily rural.
ART & CRAFT
Artistic production in China goes back to about 6000 bc. The Chinese consider their unbroken tradition of art one of the central achievements of Chinese culture, and art of various kinds has always been held in high regard. In earliest times, the most important art forms were jade carving and the casting of bronze vessels, often made for burial in royal tombs. For the last 2,000 years, the art form that has enjoyed the greatest prestige has been calligraphy, in which the characters of the Chinese language are written with a brush on silk or paper.
The second most important art form in China after calligraphy is painting. Most of the earliest surviving Chinese paintings date from the Song dynasty. A number of famous artists and art theorists, such as Su Dongpo (pseudonym of Su Shi), lived during this period, and the important art form of landscape painting developed. Many famous painters are recorded in the extensive literature about art from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. One distinctive feature of this literature is the emphasis it places on amateur artists. Their work often was seen as more valuable than that produced by professionals, who were viewed by the educated elite as artisans with a lower social status. Today the tradition of watercolor painting on silk or paper is practiced widely throughout China.
Sculpture was an important art form in China, especially after the introduction of Buddhism from India in the 1st century. However, most sculpture was produced for religious purposes by anonymous craftsmen, and thus the educated elite did not regard it as highly as they did calligraphy and painting. Chinese artisans have also made major achievements in forms such as jade carving, lacquer work, textiles, and ceramics. Many art forms, such as silk weaving and porcelain work, were invented in China and only later spread to other parts of the world. China's villages developed important folk art traditions, which were often very different from the art produced for the wealthy in the cities.
Although many splendid palaces, temples, and other buildings have been created in China over the centuries, architecture traditionally was not seen as an art form, and it was given little attention by the elite.
Traditional Chinese opera has a history of more than 800 years. It is an art form which integrates singing, music, dialogue, acting and acrobatics. There are more than 300 different operatic forms in China. Among the local operatic forms staged nationwide are Beijing Opera, Pingju Opera, Shaoxing Opera and Henan Opera. The best-known is Beijing Opera, which has a history of more than 200 years. It originated in Beijing, then capital of Qing Dynasty.
CUISINE & ATTIRE
Cooking and eating well are considered to be very important in China. The Chinese understand that certain foods help to keep you healthy, and most Chinese people only eat food that is absolutely fresh. Today, Chinese food is famous throughout the world. Certain foods are considered to be real treats, like bird's nest or shark's fin soup, or sea cucumbers served with lotus roots and water chestnuts.But for most Chinese people, food, clothing and homes are all simple. Clothing is designed to be both useful and comfortable. Many people wear loose-fitting trousers and jackets in plain colors. About two-thirds of the people live in the countryside in China, in villages and small towns.
FESTIVALS
Boasting rich cultural meaning and a long history, traditional Chinese festivals compose an important and brilliant part of Chinese culture.
Most traditional festivals took shape during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the first unified and power-centralized dynasty of China. By the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), China had experienced a great development period and major traditional festivals were fixed. In the most prosperous Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), traditional festivals liberated themselves from primitive sacrifice, taboo and mystery and became more entertaining. From then on, festive occasions turned more brisk and exciting and more and more folk customs were developed. Some festivals and customs we still follow today, but others disappeared into the mists of time.
Traditional Chinese festivals were often connected with ancient astronomy, calendars and mathematics. Jieqi, or the 24 seasonal division points, is a key factor in forming traditional festivals. As China is a vast land and has many ethnic groups, different ethnic groups have different festivals in different places. Even on the same festival, they follow different customs. Here we introduce some important and commonly celebrated festivals.
Spring festival: The Spring Festival, the most important festival, is when all family members get together. All people living away from home go back. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. The most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened. Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs are held for days. The Spring Festival comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.
Lantern festival: The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, and extremely excited children hold self-made or bought lanterns and stroll on the streets. During the day, performances such as a dragon lantern dance, a lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums while dancing are staged. At night, except for magnificent lanterns, fireworks form a beautiful scene. Most families spare some fireworks from the Spring Festival and let them off in the Lantern Festival.
Qingming Festival: The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival falls on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature rises leading to rain. It is then time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is more a festival of commemoration.The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness. This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the diseased. Also, they do not cook on this day and only cold food is served. In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow faster.
The Dragon Boat Festival: The Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than 2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar. There are many legends about the evolution of this festival, the most popular of which is in commemoration of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC). Qu Yuan was minister of the State of Chu and one of China's earliest poets. On invasion of the enemy he plunged into the river. After his death, the people of Chu crowded to the bank of the river to pay their respects to him. The fishermen sailed their boats up and down the river to look for his body. People threw into the water zongzi (pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) and eggs to divert possible fish or shrimp from attacking his body. An old doctor poured a jug of reaglar wine (Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar) into the water, hoping to turn all aquatic beasts drunk. That's why people later followed the customs such as dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine on that day.
Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held all over the country. On Dragon Boat Festival, parents also need to dress their children up with a perfume pouch. They first sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, then fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and finally string them with silk threads. The perfume pouch will be hung around the neck or tied to the front of a garment as an ornament. They are said to be able to ward off evil.
Double Seventh Festival: The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It often goes into August in the Gregorian calendar. It is said to be based on the love story of a Cowherd and a Weaver Maid, passed down from generation to generation. Today some traditional customs are still observed in rural areas of China, but have been weakened or diluted in urban cities. In recent years, however, urban youth celebrate it as Valentine's Day in China.
Mid-Autumn Festival: The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in October in Gregorian calendar. The festival has a long history. In ancient China, emperors followed the rite of offering sacrifices to the sun in spring and to the moon in autumn. Historical books of the Zhou Dynasty had had the word "Mid-Autumn". Later aristocrats and literary figures helped expand the ceremony to the common people, who enjoy the full, bright moon on that day, worship it and express their thoughts and feelings under it. People selected August 15 to celebrate because it is a season when crops and fruits are ripe and the weather pleasant. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, all family members or friends meet outside, putting food on tables and sit talking under the sky.
Double Ninth Festival: The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival. It usually falls in October in the Gregorian calendar. In an ancient and mysterious book Yi Jing, or The Book of Changes, number "6" was thought to be of Yin character, meaning feminine or negative, while number "9" was thought to be Yang, meaning masculine or positive. So the number nine in both month and day create the Double Ninth Festival, or Chongyang Festival. Chong in Chinese means "double." Also, as double ninth was pronounced the same as the word to signify "forever", both are "Jiu Jiu," the Chinese ancestors considered it an auspicious day worth celebration. The custom of ascending a height to avoid epidemics was passed down from long time ago. Therefore, the Double Ninth Festival is also called "Height Ascending Festival". The height people scale is usually a mountain or a tower. In 1989, the Chinese government declared the Double Ninth Festival as Seniors' Day. Since then, all government units, organizations and streets communities organize an autumn trip each year for those who have retired from their posts.
Winter Solstice Festival: As early as 2,500 years ago, about the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), China had determined the point of Winter Solstice by observing movements of the sun with a sundial. It is December 22 or 23 according to the Gregorian calendar. The Northern hemisphere on this day experiences the shortest daytime and longest nighttime. After the Winter Solstice, days will become longer and longer. As ancient Chinese thought, the yang, or muscular, positive things will become stronger and stronger after this day, so it should be celebrated. In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family gets together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.
POLITY
The National Peolpe's Congress elects the President and Vice-President of the People's Republic of China. Their term of office is five years.
The President, in pursuance of the decisions of the National Peoples's Congress and its Standing Committee, promulgates statutes, appoints or removes the Premier and other members of the State Council, confers state medals and titles of honor, issues orders of special pardons, proclaims martial law, proclaims a state of war, issues mobilization orders, receives foreign diplomatic representatives on behalf of the People's Republic of China, appoints or recalls plenipotentiary representatives abroad, and ratifies or abrogates treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign states.
The Vice-President assists in the work of the President and may perform the functions and exercises the powers of the President as may be deputed by the President. In case the office of the President falls vacant, the Vice-President will succeed to the office of the President. The current president is Hu Jintao
The State Council of the People's Republic of China, that is, the Central People's Government, is the highest state administrative organ. It enforces that laws and decisions formulated and approved by the National People's Congress and it s Standing Committee, to which it is responsible and accountable. Within the limits of its power and functions, it has the power to adopt necessary administrative measures and regulations, and issue orders.
The Premier takes overall responsibility for and directs the work of the State Council. He calls and presides over executive and plenary meetings of the State Council. Members of the executive meetings are the Premier, Vice-Premiers, State Councilors and the Secretary-General. Plenary meetings are attended by the Premier, Vice-Premiers, State Councilors, the Secretary-General, ministers in charge of ministries and commissions and the Auditor-General. Decisions on major issues concerning the work of the State Council must be discussed and approved either at the executive meetings or the plenary meetings of the State Council.
The State Council exercises unified leadership over the work of the ministries and commissions and the local governments at different levels. It directs and administers affairs of economy, finance, banking, commerce, education, science, culture, public health, physical culture, family planning, public security, urban and rural development, judicial administration and supervision. In addition it is responsible for the strengthening of national defense, and conducts foreign and civil affairs as well as affairs concerning the nationalities and overseas Chinese.
ECONOMY
In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprises in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 2003, with its 1.3 billion people but a GDP of just $5,000 per capita, China stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US (measured on a purchasing power parity basis). Agriculture and industry have posted major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment has helped spur output of both domestic and export goods. The leadership, however, often has experienced - as a result of its hybrid system - the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy and lassitude) and of capitalism (windfall gains and growing income disparities).
VISITING CHINA
Visitors are often surprised to find out how modern China really is. Since the early 90's China has been in the middle of a building boom and infrastructure upgrade that has brought its tourism industry up to Western standards almost overnight.
This vastness not only adds to the excitement of planning a trip to the country, but also to the dilemma of which cities and regions to visit first. When planning a trip to China, it is recommended that you don't try to see "everything" in one start-to-finish, whirlwind trip. It is best to visit the major sites and cities on the first trip, at a relaxed pace, then plan to explore the country region by region on subsequent trips when you can experience all the different ethnic minority cultures and archaeological wonders. Keep in mind that China is a land of extreme climatic variations.
For example during February you can travel the southern coast and enjoy tropical fruits, sunbathe on the beaches of Hainan Island or visit the Flower Festival in Guangdong. At the same time, in the north, Harbin is dazzling travelers at the annual Ice Sculpture Festival with giant ice pagodas, ice palaces, and cleverly sculpted panda bears. Meanwhile, Beijing is celebrating the Longqing Gorge Ice and Snow Festival with illuminated ice lanterns, spectacular fireworks, and ice fishing. Witnessing the grandeur of the Forbidden City in the snow is an extraordinary sight indeed.
