Some Interesting Facts About China



China is the most populous country in the world.

The longest wall in China is The Great Wall."Mengjiang girl's crying for her newly-wed husband who died for buidling the great wall collapsed the great wall", that is a well-known story.

Luoyang City (洛阳) in Henan (河南)province is the oldest city which had been the capital for the most times in Chinese history.

The most famous mountain in China is Tai Mountain(泰山)in Shandong(山东)province, which is also known as The Mountain of China. Mount Tai had been a sacred mountain in ancient China. There were 6 emperors that had the ritual called "sacrifices to heaven" on Mount Tai, including the first emperor of the  Qin dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, Emperor Xuanzhong of the Tang dynasty, Emperor Zhenzhong of the Song dynasty and other two emperors. This ritual could only be held when the dynasties  were in the heyday of peace or had heavenly auspicious sign.

Forbidden city is the biggest well-preserved ancient architectural complex, built in the year 1420 of the Ming dynasty. The Forbidden city had been the imperial palace of the Ming (明) dynasty and Qing (清) dynasty. [Note: the Qing (清)dynasty is the last dynasty; please don't confuse it with the first dynasy, Qin (秦).

The biggest city square in China is Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, where the Chinese national flag flies.

The Potala Palace in Tibet is the well preserved palace on the highest elevation. it was built by Songtsan Gampo for marrying Wen Cheng, a princess of the Tang dynasty. The palace became the residence of the Dalai Lama in 17th centurry after having been rebuilt.

Hanging temple is a temple built into a cliff in Heng mountain (恒山), in Shanxi priovince(山西省), which is the earliest wooden architectural complex in China. Hanging temple was built in the Northern Wei (北魏)dynasty,1500 years ago. it is the only temple which well-combined Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism in one in China.

The Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei province (河北省) is the earliest and well preserved stone arch bridge in China. it was built 1400 years ago during the Sui dynasty. The bridge is one of the most important national cultural relics in China, and vehicles are not allowed to pass.

The Giant Stone Buddha at Leshan Mountain in Sichuan province (四川省)is the largest Buddha statue in the world  and it is by far the tallest (77m) pre-modern statue. it was sculpted during the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD). It is carved out of a cliff face. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet.

Yingxiang wooden tower built in the year 1056 of Liao dynasty in Shanxi province is the tallest wooden building in China. It is a Buddhist tower.

Karez in Xingjiang Uyghur autonomous region is the longest underground river in China. Karez, with the Great Wall and Grand Canal make up the three grand engineering feats of ancient China.


Chinese society, etiquette, education, policy, business, others

A fancy business dinner with expensive Chinese wine plays a big role in business dealing. Apart from being a qualified business partner, being a hospitable business dinner host is also very important. 80% of business deals are made on dinner table with Chinese liquor (usually alcohol degree of 52-60). Doing a business in China sometimes can also be deemed as a challenge on how much wine you can take. The weird thing is a lot Chinese business women can really beat down men on drinking wine. In some areas like Sichuan where I live, tea houses are also big role for talking about business. Going straightly to one’s company to talk about business usually won’t succeed as easy as doing it at a tea house and dinner table.

KTV for singing karaoke. Chinese ppl are fond of singing karaoke, on the weekend and holidays, friends get together ,the last thing probably is going to KTV singing karaoke. Most KTVs have store where customers can buy food ,beers ,napkins, anything they need, a little bit more expensive than those stuff sold in chain-stores or supermarkets. KTV offers beer and imported wine ,but not Chinese white wine (different from business dinner). What people do at KTV? Some sing ,some drink, some play games ,some play with their cellphone, some dance, some go crazy.

Red envelope (红包). It is money gift which is given during holidays or special occasions, like wedding, baby’s the 100 day celebration, birthdays, funeral.  The money contained in the red envelop must be in even digit, since single digit is considered not good. Giving red envelop is becoming a big pressure for the work class. Generally, the host will make a relatively good fortune from it. Just a few days ago, my niece got accepted by university, my sister held a dinner at restaurant and invited all their friends, partners , so those guests gave red envelop as their good will of congratulation. At the end, my sister gained 12,000 dollars in net.

In governmental departments and universities, state run companies, there are two bosses, one is the head like governor, mayor, director general, the other one is the communist secretary. they are both head in the department/bureau, they have their duty separated. But as a mountain can’t be shared by two tigers(Chinese proverb), so who is in real charge? Who ranks over whom in fact? For government, always the secretary, for universities, some are presidents, some are secretaries depends on which one is tougher, for state run companies, the president ,chairman or general manager, whatever it calls, but not the secretary.

Universities. There are universities affiliate to the Ministry of Education, and universities affiliate to provincial or municipal education department, but universities of nationalities ( only 6 ) that affiliate to State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

One-child policy. It is the one-child limitation in the population control policy. This policy was introduced in 1978, It was created to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China, the policy has prevented more than 250 million births between 1980 and 2000. family that breach the policy to have the second child will be heavily fined and having problems for getting the second child registered, That will cause a series of matters afterwards.

New words(tribe/clan) that describe the living condition of certain groups of people. the moonlight clan( run out of earnings every month), the neet clan( don’t work but live off parents), snail dwelling tribe (can’t buy or rent a big apartment, live in a very narrow spaced housing) , ant tribe(young graduates who live in precarious housing on the outskirts as they try to land their first job), cheat clan( they cheat under living pressure), hidden marriage clan(married but avoid public attention for work and living pressure).

Those names crowned on different groups of people are not merely word game, They are reflections of various aspects of this society.
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