China

Have you ever been to the never-ending Great Wall of China or even the beautiful Tibet? This country is located in the east of Asia. China is 9,600,000 sq km in landmass and it is the third-largest country in the world, only next to Russia and Canada. Countries bordering China are Korea, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. China is the world’s most populous country with 1.28453 billion at the end of 2002, one-fifth of the world's total.

The capital of China is Beijing. Beijing is one of the world’s greatest cities. Peking duck, delicious dumplings and awesome noodles are some food that you would encounter in Beijing. Da Dong Roast Duck is one of the famous restaurants in Beijing. The nation’s top artists, writers, movie-makers and musicians tend to meet in Beijing.

In China, chinese people usually use Renminbi (RMB)/yuan as money. Many people get confused about what to call the ‘chinese money’. The languages spoken in China are Standard Chinese or Mandarin, Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects and other minority languages. Many people in China speak Mandarin since it is the standard chinese language.

The religious worshippers in China are Buddhism, Christian, Catholic and Taoism. The national anthem of China is the March of the volunteers. The president of China chosen in 2003 was Hu Jintao but the president selected in 2013 is Xi Jinping.

The giant panda was considered China’s treasure. Over 1,000 of the pandas live in the wild, most of them are found in Sichuan Province. China does not have an official flower but tree peony was considered the national favourite. The tree peony had the most votes national flower. However, the oldest tree in the world is China’s gingko. It appeared in the jurassic age, 160 millions years ago. The bird, Shaanxi Province’s red ibis has been China’s treasure too. It is a rare bird that decreased its population very fast.

The beautiful Great Wall of China was built 206 BC. To be honest, Great Wall of China is one of the greatest sights in the world. As you can see, the wall was not only built for beauty, it was built as watch towers and an integrated military defensive system. It was also built to avoid invasions from the northern nations. Soldiers, peasants and even rebels were forced to build the Great Wall of China with stone, soil, sand and brick. Sometimes, they even used the sticky rice to hold the bricks together. The Great Wall of 

China has been the icon and the symbol for China. In the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall of China was reconstructed and been made stronger and more sophisticated. But years later, some of the Great Wall of China disappeared because of erosion and human damage. This structure attracts hundred and millions of tourists.

By Amy