China

z-Bottom of Form;z-Top of Form;HTML Markup;Comment;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.
z-Bottom of Form;z-Top of Form;HTML Markup;Comment;NATIONALITIES: The People's Republic of China is a unified, multi-national country, comprising 56 nationalities. The Han people make up 91.02 percent of the total population, leaving 8.98 percent for the other 55 ethnic minorities. They are Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Bouyei, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, Kazak, Dai, Li, Lisu, Va, She, Gaoshan, Lahu, Shui, Dongxiang, Naxi, Jingpo, Kirgiz, Tu, Daur, Mulam, Qiang, Blang, Salar, Maonan, Gelo, Xibe, Achang, Pumi, Tajik, Nu, Ozbek, Russian, Ewenki, Benglong, Bonan, Yugur, Jing, Tatar, Drung, Oroqen, Hezhen, Moinba, Lhoba and Gelo. All nationalities in China are equal according to the law. The State protects their lawful rights and interests and promotes equality, unity and mutual help among them.FAMILY NAMES: Chinese family names came into being some 5,000 years ago. There are more than 5,000 family names, of which 200 to 300 are polular. The order of Chinese names is family name goes first, following by given name. For instance, the family name of a person is Wang, given name is Dong, his/her full name would be Wang Dong . The most popular Chinese family names are LI, ZHANG, WANG, LI, ZHAO, LIU, CHEN. According to the most recent official statistics, the three most popular family names are: LI, WANG and ZHANG, occupied 7.9% (97million), 7.4 and 7.1 of total population in China respectively.RIVERS: China has 50,000 rivers each covering a catchment area of more than 100 square kilometers, and 1,500 of them cover a catchment area exceeding 1,000 square kilometers. Most of them flow from west to east to empty into the Pacific Ocean. Main rivers include the Yangtze (Changjiang), Yellow (Huanghe), Heilong, Pearl, Liaohe, Haihe, Qiangtang and Lancang. The Yangtze of 6,300 kilometers is the longest river in China. The second longest Yellow River is 5,464 kilometers. The Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Beijing is a great water project in ancient China. It is of 1,794 kilometers, making it the longest canal in the world.RELIGIONS: China is a multi-religious country. Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, with the first three being more wide spread.Various religions exert different influence on different ethnic groups. Islam is followed by the Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tatar, Dongxiang, Salar and Bonan nationalities; Buddhism and Lamaism are followed by the Tibetan, Mongolian, Dai and Yugur nationalities; Christianity is followed by the Miao, Yao and Yi nationalities; Shamanism is followed by the Oroqen, Ewenki and Daur nationalities; the majority Han nationality believes in Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism.
z-Bottom of Form;z-Top of Form;HTML Markup;Comment;HISTORY: China, one of the four oldest civilizations in the world, has a written history of 4,000 years and boasts rich cultural relics and historical sites. It is the inventor of compass, paper-making, gunpowder and printing. · The Great Wall, Grand Canal and Karez irrigation system are three great ancient engineering projects built 2,000 years ago. Now they are the symbols of the rich culture of the Chinese nation. China has gone over a long history of primitive society, slavery society, feudal society and semi-feudal semi-colonial society and the present socialist society. · Chinese Dynasties and · Chinese Historic RelicsSTATE ORGANS:
The National People's Congress (NPC) (Click For Chinese Language Version of the NPC Site)The President of the People's Republic of China: Hu Jintao The State Council (Chinese Government Website)The Central Military CommissionThe Supreme People's CourtThe Supreme People's Procuratorate (website in Chinese)
z-Bottom of Form;z-Top of Form;HTML Markup;Comment;LANGUAGES: The national language is Putonghua (the common speech) or Mandarin, which is one of the five working languages at the United Nations. Most of the 55 minority nationalities have their own languages. Cantonese is one of the local dialects of southern China. As a written language, Chinese has been used for 6,000 years.