China is the most populous country in the world with over 1.3 billion people. It has a long history as the location of many dynasties and was ruled by emperors for most of its history. Some of China's most famous cities are Beijing, the capital, Shanghai, the most populous city, and Xi'an, the ancient capital with the Terracotta Army. China is also known for its Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Buddhism, Kung Fu movies, pandas, and the Mandarin language.

1. 中国
By Emma Louise Brown

2. China
Size: 9.597 million km²
Population: 1.379 billion
Vietnam
Size: 331,210 km²
Population: 92.7 million
England
Size: 130,279 km²
Population: 53.01 million
China is the 4th biggest
country in the world after
Russia, the USA and Canada,
but it has the biggest
population.

3. Languages
The official dialect of China is Mandarin, also
call "Putonghua". More than 70% of
the Chinese population speaks Mandarin, but
there are also several other major dialects in
use in China: Yue (Cantonese), Xiang
(Hunanese), Min dialect, Gan dialect, Wu
dialect, and Kejia or Hakka dialect.
The Chinese also use a form of writing called
Pinyin in order to draw their characters on
mobile phones and computers. This makes the
language easier to write on a laptop than with
a pen and paper.

4. History
Throughout most of China's history it was ruled
by powerful families called dynasties. The first
dynasty was the Shang and the last was the
Qing. Ancient China also boasts the longest
lasting empire in history. It began with the Qin
dynasty and the first emperor Qin who united
all of China under one rule in 221 BC.
Before this, ancient China’s history can be
traced as far back as 4000 years ago with
written record, beginning with the Xia dynasty,
and China was split into 7 different countries
not including the East of China.

5. Famous Cities
Did you know that 21 million people live in
Beijing? And 24 million people live in
Shanghai?
However, Beijing has not always been the
capital city of China. Throughout the
different dynasties the capital city has
changed many times.
China is also split up into 23 provinces, not
including Tibet and Taiwan.

6. Beijing
The Capital city of China holds some of it’s
most interesting tourist destinations. Inside
you can find the Forbidden City, Tianamen
Square, The Birds nest and the Summer
Palace. You can also easily reach the Great
Wall from Beijing.
Due to it’s population, Beijing has one of the
worst levels of pollution in the world and the
city is usually surrounded by a thick layer of
smog.

7. Shanghai
Having the second biggest population in the
world, Shanghai is a huge city with a very
different community to Beiing.
The city is very modern, and many foreigners
live there so many people in Shanghai can
speak very good English.
However, the Chinese do not like to visit
Shanghai as they think it is too busy.
However, in Shanghai you can go to Disneyland
and see the oriental pearl tower.

8. Xi’an
Xi’an is the ancient Capital of modern day China.
There are many interesting things to see her
including the drum and bell tower, the Muslim
district and the Terracota Warriors.
Much of Xi’an is surrounded by the old city walls
which used to protect it from warriors during it’s
days as the capital. Now the city is much bigger
and most people live outside of the defensive
walls.

9. Chengdu
Chengdu is the capital of Sichaun province,
one of the biggest provinces in China and
is home to 15 million people. It is also over
2000 years old.
However, modern day Chengdu is very
industrialised making it seem more
modern than traditional Chinese.
Chengdu is mostly famous for the work
that is done round the area with the
conservation of Pandas.

10. Guilin
Guilin is a city in southern China in
Quanxi province known for its
dramatic landscape of limestone
karst hills. It is a beautiful, city with
many lakes and mountains very
close to Yangshuo and many other
old towns and beautiful
countryside.
There is a lot of tourism in Guilin as
it is usually very hot, so the city
itself is very clean and full of fun
things to do.

11. Are these places a part of
China?
Hong Kong – It is no longer a part of
China since it was stolen by the British
from 1898 until 1984. Now they prefer
to be an independent country without
communist rule.
Taiwan – The Peoples republic of China
says that is has control over the people
of Taiwan when it is actually it’s own
country.

12. Tibet
Tibet is the highest region on earth and
an autonomous area from China. It is a
very important area for Bhuddists all
over the world and was home to the
Dalai Lama until the Chinese invaded in
1906.
The Tibetan government is now exiled
but maintains that Tibet is a free country
because the Chinese took the country
unlawfully.

13. The Great Wall of China
The wall is over 21 thousand kilometres long and
the oldest parts are over 2000 years old making
the great wall of China one of the wonders of the
modern world.
Originally the walls were built to try to keep out
nomadic tribes from Ancient Russia and have been
maintained ever since, making the wall one of the
most effective military barriers of all time.
The walls is nicknamed ‘the longest graveyard in
the world’ as more people are believed to have
died building and maintaining it than anywhere
else.

14. The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is
a palace complex in central Beijing,
China. The former seat of Imperial
Chinese Dragon Throne from
the Ming dynasty to the end of
the Qing dynasty—the years 1420
to 1912, it now houses the Palace
Museum
The Forbidden City used to be the
imperial palace in the Ming and
Qing Dynasties, and ordinary
people were not allowed in
without permission. Hence, it was
called the "Forbidden" City

15. Tiannomen Square
Do you recognise this picture?
On the 4th of June, 1989, the
Chinese government opened fire
on a student protest at
Tiananmen Square, resulting in
the death of 10,000 people.
Now, because the government
do not allow freedom of
information or speech, there is
no way for the people of China
to find out about it as they
cannot use google or Facebook.

16. The Terraccota Warriors
The Terracotta Army is a collection
of terracotta sculptures depicting the
armies of Qin Shi Huang, the
first Emperor of China. It is a form
of funerary art buried with the
emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose
purpose was to protect the emperor
in his afterlife.
There are 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots
with 520 horses and 150 cavalry
horses.

17. ZhangJiaJie
The UNESCO registered mountainous region
of Wulingyuan Scenic Area in China, near the
city of Zhangjiajie, inspired James Cameron’s
world of Avatar.
It is noted for more than
3,000 quartzite sandstone pillars and peaks
across most of the site, many over 200 metres
(660 ft) in height, along with many ravines
and gorges with attractive streams, pools,
lakes, rivers and waterfalls.
There is also a glass bridge constructed
between two of the peaks.

18. The Li River
The Li River or Lijiang is
a river in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region, China. It flows 83 kilometres (52 mi)
from Guilin to Yangshuo, where
the karst mountains and river sights highlight
the famous bamboo raft Li River cruise.
The famous river is easily recognisable as the
scene from Yangshuo bridge was a windows
PC screensaver for many years and the Li River
also features on the 20 yuan note.

19. The Himalayas
The Himalayas form a mountain
range in Asia separating the plains of
the Indian subcontinent from the Tibet
and China.
The Himalayan range has many of the
Earth's highest peaks, including the
highest, Mount Everest. The Himalayas
include over fifty mountains exceeding
7,200 metres (23,600 ft) in elevation,
including ten of the fourteen 8,000-
metre peaks. By contrast, the highest
peak outside Asia (Aconcagua, in
the Andes) is 6,961 metres (22,838 ft)
tall.[1]

20. What is China famous for?

21. Movies
One of the most
famous things to come
out of China is martial
arts movies and
Kungfu. From Jackie
Chan to Bruce Lee,
Kungfu would not be
practiced worldwide by
millions now if it wasn’t
for the movie industry.

22. Chinese Zodiac
The Zodiac Has 12 Signs — Rat First. There are
12 Chinese zodiac signs. ... In order, they are:
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse,
Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
Each sign indicates your personality depending
on the year that you were born and tells your
future for that year. However, the years are
also indicated by 5 elements; Gold, wood, fire,
earth and water.
As you already know, last year was the year of
the Rooster and 2018 will be the year of the
Dog. What is your Zodiac sign and what does it
mean?

23. Buddhism
Buddhism is the most popular religion in China
and has influenced it’s people for thousands of
years. Many statues and temples were set up in
ancient China around the Buddhist teaching
including the Leshan Buddha.
The Leshan Buddha depicts the Bodhisattva
Maitreya, who is known as a future Bhudda of
this world. The statue is 71 metres tall and took
90 years to build.
It is the largest and tallest Bhudda statue in the
world and by far the tallest pre-modern statue
in the world.

24. Pandas
The Giant black and white Panda is native to
China and is there most famous animal. When
they started to go extinct in the 1990’s, the
Chinese government stepped in to get them to
start breeding again and reclaim their habitat.
Pandas only eat Bamboo and refuse to have
babies so this is very difficult.
The name Panda came from an explorer who
arrived in China and asked a local man what the
animal was called. The man replied in Chinese
saying ‘Pang Da’ which actually means ‘Fat big’
and the explorer presumed that was the
animals name.

25. Now it’s time for a quick
Mandarin lesson!