Maps of China

Interesting Facts about China

The Great Wall of China was started over two-and-a-half thousand years ago and is more than 5,000 km long. Thousands of years ago the Chinese had developed the Chinese calendar, writing, the wheel and a thriving silk industry, as well as advances in astronomy and mathematics. It was the first to invent gunpowder which was used for fireworks. Tiananmen Square is the largest square in the world. Panda is the national animal and is also considered the national emblem of China. Yangtze River is the longest river in China and Asia, and the third-longest in the world.

China Demographics

Ethnicity: China has a population of over 1.3 billion, the largest of any country in the world. Hundreds of ethnic groups have existed in China throughout its history. The largest ethnic group in China by far is the Han. This group, however, is internally diverse and can be further divided into smaller ethnic groups that share similar traits.

Capital: Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China, and political, cultural, domestic and international exchange center, one of the largest well-known historical and cultural cities and ancient capitals. The other major cities in China are:

Shanghai Guangzhou Chengdu Hong Kong Shenzhen Xian Wuhan

Language: The official national spoken language of China is Putonghua or Standard Mandarin. Wu, Yue (Cantonese), Min, Xiang, Gan, and Hakka are some of the other languages spoken in China.

Religion: China is a country with a great diversity of religious beliefs. The main religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Citizens of China may freely choose and express their religious beliefs, and make clear their religious affiliations.

History of China

China, one of the countries that can boast of an ancient civilization, has a long and mysterious history - almost 5,000 years of it. It is recorded that Yuanmou man is the oldest hominoid in China and the oldest dynasty is the Xia Dynasty. From the long history of China, there emerge many eminent people that have contributed a lot to the development of the whole country and to the enrichment of its history. Among them, there are emperors like Li Shimin (emperor Taizong of the Tang), philosophers like Confucius, great patriotic poets like Qu Yuan, and so on.

The rise and fall of the great dynasties forms a thread that runs through Chinese history, almost from the beginning. Here is a list of the Chinese dynasties:

Shang dynasty Zhou dynasty Qin dynasty Han dynasty Tang dynasty Song dynasty Yuan dynasty Ming dynasty Qing dynasty

China Economy

China was for a large part of the last two millennia the world's largest economy. However, in the later part of the Qing Dynasty, China's economic development began to slow and Europe's rapid development during and after the Industrial Revolution enabled it to surpass China. Many analysts assert that modern China is one of the leading examples of state capitalism in the 21st century.