China has over 1.4 billion people from 56 recognized ethnic groups. The largest ethnic group is the Han Chinese, which makes up over 90% of the population. Chinese culture varies significantly by region and ethnicity. Some key aspects of Chinese culture include Taoism and Confucianism as dominant religions, Mandarin as the official language though many other dialects are spoken, rice as a staple food, and arts like kung fu which were developed in China.

1. CHINA
a is an extremely large country — first in population and fifth in area,
according to the CIA — and the customs and traditions of its people vary
by geographyand ethnicity.
About 1.4 billion people live in China, according to the World Bank,
representing 56 ethnic minority groups.The largest group is the Han
Chinese, with about 900 million people.Other groups include the Tibetans,
the Mongols, the Manchus, the Naxi, and the Hezhen, which is smallest
group, with fewerthan 2,000 people.
"Significantly, individuals within communities create their own culture," said
Cristina De Rossi,an anthropologistat Barnet and Southgate College in
London. Culture includes religion, food,style, language, marriage, music,
morals and many other things that make up how a group acts and interacts.
Here is a brief overview of some elements of the Chinese culture.

2. What does the 5 stars on the China flag mean?
The red represents the communist revolution; the five stars and their
relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the
leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
What does China flag represent?
The red of the Chinese flag symbolizes the communist revolution, and it's
also the traditional colorof the people.The large gold
star represents communism,while the four smaller stars represent the
social classes of the people.
Religion
The Chinese Communist Party that rules the nation is officially atheist,
though it is gradually becoming more tolerant of religions, according to
the Council on Foreign Relations. Currently, there are only five official
religions. Any religion other than Buddhism,Taoism, Islam, Catholicism
and Protestantism are illegal, even though the Chinese constitution states
that people are allowed freedom of religion. The gradual tolerance of
religion has only started to progress in the past few decades.
About a quarter of the people practice Taoism and Confucianism and other
traditional religions. There are also small numbers of Buddhists,Muslims
and Christians. Although numerous Protestant and Catholic ministries have
been active in the country since the early 19th century, they have made
little progress in converting Chinese to these religions.
The cremated remains of someone who may have been the Buddha were
discovered inJingchuan County, China, with more than 260 Buddhist
statues in late 2017.Buddha was a spiritual teacher who lived between
mid-6th and mid-4th centuries B.C. His lessons founded Buddhism.

3. A 诶 ēi

4. Language
There are seven major groups of dialects of the Chinese language, which
each have their own variations, according to Mount Holyoke College.
Mandarin dialects are spokenby 71.5 percentof the population, followed
by Wu (8.5 percent), Yue (also called Cantonese; 5 percent), Xiang (4.8
percent), Min (4.1 percent),Hakka (3.7 percent) and Gan (2.4 percent).
Chinese dialects are very different,according to Jerry Norman, a former
professorof linguistics at the University of Washington and author of
"Chinese (Cambridge Language Surveys)" (Cambridge University Press,1988).
"Chinese is rather more like a language family than a single language
made up of a number of regional forms," he wrote. "The Chinese dialectal
complexis in many ways analogous to the Romance language family in
Europe. To take an extreme example, there is probably as much difference
between the dialects of Peking [Beijing] and Chaozhou as there is between
Italian and French."
The officialnational language of China is Pŭtōnghuà, a type of Mandarin
spokenin the capital Beijing, according to the Order of the President of the
People's Republic of China. Many Chinese are also fluent in English.
FOOD
Like other aspects of Chinese life, cuisine is heavily influenced by
geographyand ethnic diversity. Among the main styles of Chinese cooking
are Cantonese, which features stir-fried dishes,and Szechuan, which relies
heavily on use of peanuts, sesame paste and ginger and is known for its
spiciness.
Rice is not only a major food source in China; it is also a major element that
helped grow their society, according to "Pathways to Asian Civilizations:
Tracing the Origins and Spread of Rice and Rice Cultures," an 2011 article in the
journal Rice by Dorian Q. Fuller. The Chinese word for rice is fan, which
also means "meal," and it is a staple of their diet, as are bean sprouts,
cabbage and scallions. Because they do not consume a lot of meat —
occasionally pork or chicken — tofu is a main source of protein for the
Chinese.

5. In the chinese alphabet, small letters are written like capital letters, and vice
versa.
A 诶 ēi
B 比 bǐ
C 西 xī
D 迪 dí
E 伊 yī
F 艾弗 ài fú
G 吉 jí
H 艾尺 ài chǐ
I 艾 ài
J 杰 jié
K 开 kāi
L 艾勒 ài lè
M 艾马 ài mǎ
N 艾娜 ài nà
O 哦 ó
P 屁 pì
Q 吉吾 jí wú
R 艾儿 ài ér
S 艾丝 ài sī
T 提 tí
U 伊吾 yī wú
V 维 wéi
W 豆贝尔维 dòu bèi ěr wéi
X 艾克斯 yī kè sī
Y 吾艾 wú ài
Z 贼德 zéi dé

6. SWEET AND SOUR PORK
Kung Pao Chicken

7. The arts
Chinese art is greatly influenced by the country's rich spiritual and mystical
history. Many sculptures and paintings depictspiritual figures of Buddhism,
according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Many musical instruments are integral to Chinese culture, including the
flute-like xun and the guqin, which is in the zither family.
Eastern-style martial arts were also developedin China, and it is the
birthplace of kung fu. This fighting technique is based on animal
movements and was created in the mid-1600s,according to Black Belt
Magazine.
Ancient Chinese were avid writers and philosophers — especiallyduring
the Ming and Qing dynasties — and that is reflected inthe country's rich
liturgical history.
Recently, archaeologists discovereddetailed paintings in a 1,400-year-old
tomb in China. "The murals of this tomb had diversified motifs and rich
connotations, many of which cannot be found in other tombs of the same
period," a team of archaeologists wrote in an article recently published in a
2017 issue of the journal Chinese Archaeology. [Ancient Tomb with 'Blue
Monster' Mural