Education: facts about China
Learn fascinating facts about this powerful country and its ancient civilisation
THE Chinese refer to their country as Zhongguo (meaning Middle or Central Kingdom) because for centuries they regarded it as the centre of the civilised world. For many years China was isolated from the rest of the world but today this huge country with the world’s largest population is one of the biggest players in global events. Let’s find out more about this fascinating Asian country.
INNOVATIONS
Ancient China was a country of innovation. For many centuries the Chinese were well ahead of the rest of the world in terms of technology and astronomical and mathematical development. They were behind many important inventions such as paper, the magnetic compass, the printing press, porcelain, silk, gun powder and fireworks. The Chinese have been using chopsticks for more than 4 000 years and were the first people to start drinking tea – though at first only as medicine.
POPULATION
China has the world’s largest population. Nearly one fifth of all the people on the planet live in China – that’s more than 1,3 billion people. Half of them live in huge cities. Shanghai has about 24 million inhabitants and Beijing, the capital, has more than 16 million. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are the three main religions.
Though there are many varieties of the Chinese language, the same written language is used by everyone. This is because the written language uses logograms (characters) that represent the same words or phrases in all dialects. This means everyone can understand the written language even if they can’t understand one another’s spoken language.
You might find many Chinese foods rather strange. They sometimes eat bird’s nest soup, frogs, snakes, scorpions – even dogs! Not all of us might want to eat these foods, but not all Chinese people eat them either.
Because China’s population is so large, the government had a one-childper-family policy from 1979 until 2015. Because of this, many Chinese
couples have only one child. If a couple had more than one, they’d have to pay a fine. Today Chinese couples are allowed to have two children.
MODERN CHINA
Technically, today the name China can refer to one of two entities: the huge country on the Asian continent called the People’s Republic of China (formerly also referred to as Red China or Communist China), and the other China (on the island of Formosa), which we know as Taiwan and which is officially named the Republic of China.
The People’s Republic views Taiwan as a rogue province, while Taiwan sees itself as the true China. The people of Taiwan see the larger China on the continent as a cruel country hijacked by communists. The situation originated in 1950 and continues to this day.
You might be wondering why there are two Chinas. The reason for this is that in 1912 imperial rule came to an end and China became a republic. But there was conflict between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party. This led to a civil war (when the inhabitants of a country fight one another).
The leader of the Communist Party, Mao Zedong, won the war and in 1949 founded the People’s Republic. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan.
ECONOMY
China has the world’s second-largest economy after America. Many of the things we buy are imported from China. Did you know that about 80% of all toys are made in China?
In recent times China also started its own space programme. In 2003 China became the third country in the world after the US and Russia to successfully send a person into space.
Apart from its space programme, China is generally focused on technological advancement. For example, did you know that the fastest train in the world is in Shanghai? It travels at an incredible 431km/h. That’s superfast!