Chinese Culture

Author: Yuan Zhang

Brief Introduction
Where is
china?
China is s
ituated in
the East A
sia.

How big is China?

Chinas land area is
about 9,600,000 sq
uare kilometers.
China is the third bi
ggest country in th
e world. The first o
ne is Russia, and th
e second one is Ca
nada.

Population
Absolutely, China has the
largest number of popula
tion.
According to the last
population census,
China has
1,339,724,852
people, but now the
still 20%
number
We haveisabout
increasing.
people of the world,
but only occupy 7%
land area of the
world. So, China is

National flag and emblem

Nationality
China is a country with 56 nationalities.

Nationality
I belong to China's main nationality: Han natio
nality.
Han nationality have 92% population in China.
Some nationality have more than 15,000,000 p
eople, but some less than 3,000.
Thats why we have multiculture.

Zang people

Mongol nationality

Manchu

Miao nationality

Uygur

Yi nationality

Korean minority

Language
Because of the 56 nationalities, there is m
ore than 80 kinds of Languages in China,
and more than 30 of them have written la
nguages.
Mandarin is the standard language of Han
nationality, so it is also official language i
n China, envn other nationalities use it in
school and office.

Language
Almost every language in the world has dial
ects and Chinese is no exception.
Because China is a big country with a large
population, the dialects sound very differen
t, people from the north can not understan
d people from the south, even the writing is
the same.
We all need to study Mandarin in school.

Money
We call the Chinese money: Renminbi, the
shortening is RMB with a symbol .
Now 1 dollar = 6.3902 RMB
1 peso = 0.5192 RMB

Geographical features

1 Plateau
2 mountain ridge
3 basin
4 plain
5 hills

Tibetan Plat
Land area: 2400,000 squ
eau
are kilometers

Average elevation: 4,00

0 5,000 meters. It is t
he highest plateau. That
s why we call it the roof
of the world . Its cold o
n the plateau.
The Himalayas, the worl
d's highest peak Everest,
has elevation 8848.13 m
eters.
Many big rivers takes its
rise in the mountains.

Mountain ri
dge
We have five famo
us mountains in th
e east, west, north,
south and middle.

There are a lot of beautiful

views in every mountain ridge.
In the top its cold, at the
same time, its warm under
the mountain.

Basin
Basin is around b
y high mountain,
so the rivers fall f
rom high mounta
ins. We use it to g
enerate electric p
ower.
Its hot in Basin.

Plain
The capital of China
, Beijing, is in a plai
n. Most the north is
plain. Its not that h
ot as in south, not t
hat cold as in the ti
bet.
The earth is so neat
that you can the su
nrise on the horizon
.

Hills
My hometown is in t
he hills, actually, ther
e are all hills in the so
utheast.

My favorite place is the

south of the Yangtze
River.
It has hot summer and
warm winter without
snow, and rains a lot
all the year.

Chinese calendar
Before the Gregorian ca
lendar, we have our ow
n calendar, now we use
them both.
The chinese calendar is
made according to the
moon
We can not see the moo
n in the start of a mont
h, then every 15th the m
oon is round.

Chinese calendar
Usually we have 12 mo
nths per year, but every
2 or 3 year we add a m
onth.
For example, in 2009, w
e have two May. In 201
2, we will have two April
. If your birthday is in A
pril, you can have two b
irthday party next year!

The 24 solar terms

One year has 24 solar t
erms. They are made ac
cording to the sun and t
he climate.
Almost 1th and 16th are
the special day with a s
olar terms name. The n
ames tell people whats
the weather that day an
d what the farmers sho
uld do.

Chinese zodiac
This year is rabbit year,
that means next year i
s dragon year.
The year when you wa
s born is your zodiac.
It is good when a drag
on marries a chicken,
but not good when a d
og marries a chicken.

Example
I was born on 26/01/1988(Gregorian cale
ndar).
That day is 08/12/1987 in Chinese calenda
r.
1988 is a dragon year.
1987 is a rabbit year.
Which zodiac do I belong to?

Chinese festival
The most important : Spring festival!
Spring festival is the first of a year, of cour
se, in Chinese calendar, so its usually in Ja
nuary or February.

Spring festival
Before the festival, peopl
e will get prepared for al
most one month: cleanin
g, shopping, going home
and preparing the food a
nd other stuff.
The last day of one year,
all the family members g
et together to have a su
mptuous dinner, watchi
ng the spring festival gal
a until next day.

Spring festival
From the first day to the
15th , we have a lot of w
ay to celebrate.
We visit the relations an
d friend.
The young people will w
ish the elder happy new
year, usually with a pres
ent. Then the elder will
give the young a red pa
per bag of reward.

Spring festival
We shoot off firework
a lot. It is loud in the f
estival.

Lion dance is also

common in these
days.

Spring festival
The last day of Spring
festival is 15th , called
Lantern Festival.
We eat a special food
called yuanxiao that d
ay.

The night everyone go

outside to see the Lantern
show. If you know the
answer of the riddle
written on the lantern,
you can get the lantern.

History
China is one of the ol
dest countries. We ha
ve the civilization very
early.
Some teeth fossils we
re found in China. It b
elongs to some kind o
f ancient human who
lived 1,700,000 years
ago. They can upright
walk.

Ancient human
600,000 years ago, th
ere is some ancient h
uman being living aro
und Beijing. They can
use simple tools and f
ire.

The Stone Age

10,000 years ago, many
people lived in China. M
ost of them lived besides
the rivers.
They are not just satisfie
d by hurting and selectin
g wild fruits. They know
how to use farm tools to
plant the rice and millet.
They also can make pott
eries.

ety

Slave soci

The first dynasty Xia b

egan in 2070 B.C.
Xia, Shang, Zhou are
all slave societies. Thi
s period lasted 1300 y
ears, people invented
bronze ware, calenda
r, characters and wea
ving.