Facts About China

CHINA FACT SUMMARY
Official Name: People's Republic of China (in Chinese, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo).
Capital: Beijing.
China: Named by Europeans for ancient Ch'in Dynasty.
Coat of Arms: Five stars above Gate of Heavenly Peace, in Beijing, surrounded by border of ears of grain, with drapings knotted in center of cogwheel at base. Large star symbolizes mutual progress of four classes (workers, farmers, smallholders, and patriotic capitalists), each represented by a small star.
Anthem: `Qi Lai' (March of the Volunteers); words composed by Tian Han, 1935; music by Nie Er.

Everything in China seems larger than life, and perceptions of the country must be adjusted to its enormous scale. Its culture and its civilization go back thousands of years. Its vast area of more than 3,690,000 square miles (9,560,000 square kilometers) is the third largest in the world, after Russia and Canada. With a population of more than 1 billion, it is Earth's most populated country.

The Himalayas along China's southwestern frontier with India are the world's tallest mountains. China's greatest river, the Yangtze, is the world's fourth longest. The Taklimakan Desert, in western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is one of the driest spots on Earth. The area of loessic soil (fine, siltlike soil created by wind action in dry regions) in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces is probably more extensive than in any other place.

China has a great wealth of mineral and natural resources. Reserves of coal, petroleum, iron ore, tungsten, tin, bauxite, copper, limestone, and many other minerals needed in modern industry are abundant. Used in domestic manufacturing and exported to obtain money, these resources provide China with a solid foundation for rapid industrial growth.

China has often been referred to as a land of mystery and intrigue - a country which has essentially been isolated from the west for centuries. It is considered one of the cradles of civilization, with a written history that goes back thousands of years. Today, China has opened its door to tourism and traveling to China has never been easier.

• Forbidden City: This is the Palace Museum, also known as the Purple Forbidden City. It is the largest and most well preserved imperial residence in China today.
• Mt. Huangshan: Huangshan is famous for its spectacular rocky peaks, oddly shaped pines, crystal-clear mountain springs and sea of clouds with the highest peak - Lotus Flower Peak (Lianhua Feng) at 1864m, followed by Bright Summit Peak (Guangming Ding) and Celestial Peak (Tiandu Feng).
• Great Wall: The Great Wall, symbolizing China's ancient civilization, is one of the world's most renowned projects. It is a distance of 75 kilometres northwest of Beijing. Its highest point at Badaling is some 800 metres above sea level.
• Mogao Caves : Mogao Caves, also called Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into a cliff wall of Echoing-sand Mountain about 25km southeast of the oasis city in the Gobi desert, Dunhuang. The honeycombed caves, enjoying a millennium long construction from the 4th to the 14th centuries and marking the height of Buddhist art, are the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures.
• Panjiayuan Flea Market: Dubbed as the largest secondhand market in Asia, the Panjiayuan Flea Market is a must-go place of Beijing, following the Great Wall and Beijing Duck Restaurant. People say that there are three things you can't leave Beijing without trying: climbing the Great Wall, eating Beijing Duck and visiting the Panjiayuan Flea Market.
• Spring Festival: Spring Festival originated in the sacrificial ceremony held shortly after the winter solstice during the early Xia Dynasty (21st-16th century BC), when China was still in the primitive society. The ritual was designed to repay the blessings of the god and celebrate bumper harvests. Today, it has become the foremost of all traditional festivals for the Chinese people. There are dragon, lion, and yangge dances and lantern shows in both urban and rural areas, as merry-makers bid farewell to old year and wish for a good beginning in the new year, exorcise evil spirits and pestilence, and pray for good harvests and good luck in the new year.

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