Interesting facts about China: history and modernity

Today, the country known to the whole world as China has an official name - the People's Republic of China (PRC). The state has a capital - Beijing, located in East Asia and has the third largest area in the world - 9.5 million km², and in terms of population, it is the undisputed leader (1.4 billion people). The eastern country has been known since ancient times, it can amaze any European with its customs and culture, therefore, interesting facts about China are retelling with great pleasure those who have been there.

Interesting facts about life in China

Many people are familiar with the photos from the streets of the largest cities in China, in which residents without exception wear masks on their faces. This has a good reason: the level of air pollution in Beijing and other cities exceeds the permissible levels several times.

V2013 year... the first case of lung cancer was reported in a child 8 yearscaused by air pollution.

China is the most smoking country in the world. Every third cigarette produced on the planet is smoked here. Most of the smokers are men, since for women the habit is considered extremely indecent and is strongly condemned by society.

note! Since 2015
d. smoking in public places is prohibited in the country and is fined 200 yuan (about 1800 rubles). A three-time offender who has come across is published in a list of infamy on the government's website.

The pages of social networks and other Internet resources familiar to the whole world are inaccessible in the country, as they are subject to Chinese censorship. Users can only visit local sites and purchase items from national online stores.

Children in China enjoy boundless love. This is explained by the national policy - “1 child for 1 family”. Before5 years babies wear pants with slits that allow them to go to the toilet anywhere, and in public places there are always special cleaners watching.

With the existing hyperdensity of the population of cities, there are still inhabited caves in the country, and the number of their inhabitants exceeds the population of modern Australia. The conditions in such an unusual home are quite comfortable - warm in winter and cool in summer. But the housing situation has other extremes as well. Millions of square meters of housing are empty, as they were built ahead of schedule, but were not sold to the population. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the population is content with everything5-6 m² per person.

Attention! According to statistics, every second Chinese has never been on vacation.

Extremely high competition forces workers to hold on to their jobs, because even the desire to go on vacation can be a reason for dismissal. At the same time, the government passed a law according to which every worker is obliged to spend several days off visiting their oldest family members (over 60).

Shocking facts about China

Many countries around the world maintain a moratorium on the death penalty, but not China. Here, the legislation provides for the capital punishment for a number of crimes: drug trafficking, corruption and others. The verdict is announced publicly and executed by lethal injection. The number of executions is calculated per year15-16 thousand (according to international human rights organizations), which cannot but shock.

Although Chinese legislation is considered one of the most stringent and capital punishment is provided for corruption, the country practices serving a sentence for another person for money. Very rich people can afford it by hiring "inmates", and judges turn a blind eye to such illegal practices.

Road traffic throughout the territory except Hong Kong is right-hand. This is one of the reasons for the formation of long congestions at the entrances / exits to the administrative region, especially on the highways used for freight traffic.

It is interesting! The traffic situation in the largest cities is sometimes so difficult that it becomes the reason for the paralysis of transport arteries.

There is a known case when in 2010 a 100 km long traffic jam was formed, which was able to "dissolve" only 10 days later. Many people prefer to get to work on the most painful transport - motorcycles, for which separate lanes are allocated.

People are not the only ones serving in the Chinese army. Lack of funds sometimes takes the most unexpected forms. So, dogs are widely known, which are trained to search for drugs and explosives (however, this will not surprise anyone). But little is known that geese and pigeons also serve in the Chinese army. The number of the pigeon army is 10 thousand heads. Birds patrol large areas and are an alternative to electronic systems that can fail.

Ancient China Facts

The English word China in translation means "China", but it also marks high-quality porcelain. The reason is that it was here that it was invented, and for many centuries the country has been a unique supplier of porcelain products.

One of three birds can most often be seen on national clothes and dishes: a phoenix, a crane or a duck. Each has its own metaphysical meaning.

• In the form of a phoenix, they depicted a symbol of imperial power and strength.
• It was customary to understand the crane as a symbol of longevity.
• The duck was the personification of marital and family fidelity.

One of the largest monuments of ancient culture in history is the Great Wall of China. Its length is about 21.2 thousand km... Construction was carried out over 2 millennia (from the 3rd century BC). Most of the builders never left the construction site, and after death they were walled up inside the wall. This is not only a giant fortification, but also the largest cemetery in the world.

For reference! Many people who have seen the wall believe that it is visible from space orbit with the naked eye. In fact, this is not the case.

To give strength to the mortar used to hold bricks together during construction, rice flour was mixed into it.

Chinese facts

More than 1.5 billion people Worldwide. However, even within the country, the language is not uniform. There are about a dozen of the most common dialects, with major differences in alphabet and vocabulary. The most numerous is the dialect "Putonghua", it is called the North Chinese, for most of the Chinese it is this dialect that is the state one.

An amazing writing system in the form of hieroglyphs has a 4-thousand-year history. The oldest written source found to date dates back to the 17th century. BC. Hieroglyphs (about 80 thousand in total) do not always denote letters, there are separate symbols to denote syllables and whole words. Historically, the Chinese wrote and read from top to bottom and from right to left, but today the traditional European line-by-line layout from left to right is used everywhere.

It is a mistake to think that the Chinese teach everything 80 thousand characters, for communication, they only need to learn 500 hieroglyphs.

For reference! To be able to read and understand almost any modern text, a student needs to memorize about 2500 hieroglyphs.

But writing isn't the only challenge. Language is tone, which means that intonation determines the semantic meaning of words along with their writing. For foreigners, it is the transmission of tones that is the most difficult in learning Chinese.

Pinyin is a special system that allows Chinese to be represented in Latin transcription. This made it possible to introduce the language into electronic communication, because no keyboard is enough to display even 500 hieroglyphs... Each key corresponds to several characters that you just need to select with a simple toggle.

Interesting information about China and its culture

According to various sources, live in the country from 5 to 7% of Christians... Moreover, their number is greater than the total number of Christians in Europe. It is enough to calculate: 1.4 billion x 5 (7)% = 70 (98) million. The choice of religions is quite diverse: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, and 6% of the population call themselves atheists.

China gave the world many inventions that pushed forward the development of civilization. Among them:

• powder,
• the calendar,
• clock,
• compass,
• typography,
• fireworks,
• silk.

The first suspension bridge was also conceived and built here.

The Chinese invented football, but tennis (tabletop) is deservedly considered a national sport, which is played everywhere and begins to be studied from kindergarten.

There are few foreigners in the country - they all attract attention, since the appearance is always very different from the features familiar to the Chinese. It is easier for such people to get a job (they are hired for the sake of the company's prestige), and in entertainment establishments they are willingly given discounts, since the mere presence of a foreigner promises an influx of visitors.

Surprisingly, the color of mourning in the country is not considered black at all, like among other peoples, but white. The most favorite and festive color for everyone is red - this is the main shade in the most elegant clothes (wedding dresses).

China - interesting facts about geography

The territory of China covers 5 time zones, but at the same time within the state since 1949 Beijing time is in effect. This is very convenient for travelers, but not for the residents themselves. It is a common thing in many areas - the radio announces 10 am, and it is still dark outside the window.

There are several well-known, but no less amazing geographical facts describing a huge territory:

• The border crosses the territory of 15 countries.
• In terms of area, China is second only to Russia and Canada.
• It is believed that 95% of the population is Chinese, but according to statistics, 56 nationalities live here.
• About 2/3 of the country is mountainous, so fertile arable land is very scarce. The highest peak in the world, Everest, is located on the border between China and neighboring India. The difference in height between the most elevated and low-lying land areas is 9000 m.
• The Yangtze is one of the three longest rivers in the world (6300 km) after the Nile and the Amazon.
• Climatic zones are presented in all their diversity from subarctic (in the mountains) to subtropical (on the coast).
• The once huge forests on the territory of the country have been cut down almost everywhere. The reason is that the population still uses chopsticks as cutlery. Plastic and metal counterparts are not in such demand as wooden ones.

Attention! The country consumes about 74 billion pairs of chopsticks annually.

Interesting about China for children

Since 2008, there have been special rehabilitation camps in which people are treated for addiction to the Internet. In them, "patients" are forced to wear military uniforms, live in barracks and spend most of the day in exhausting physical training. A referral to such a camp is compulsory.

The state is the world leader in the consumption of pork. Every second pig is raised and processed into semi-finished products right here. Inhabitants practically do not use beef in food, as there is not enough places for grazing herds of cows. This is one of the reasons why there are very few dairy products in supermarkets, and the existing ones are bought mainly by foreigners.

For reference! The panda is the national symbol of China. The animal is listed in the Red Book, as it is an endangered species.

The country has national reserves where black and white bears live in their natural environment and are carefully protected by the state from extinction. The rarest species - the giant panda now inhabits only individual mountain ranges in the west and southwest of China (Sichuan province).

The flower symbol of the state is the peony. This flower is very much loved and is depicted on clothes, as well as on coins (1 yuan). One of the most popular decorative motifs adorning women's and men's clothing is a dragon against the background of a blossoming tree-like peony. You can even see him on his neckties.

China is the only state that has 4 cities with a population of over 10 million people. These are such megacities as Beijing and Shanghai, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen are added to them. The tallest skyscrapers are built in them, the number of which increases every 5 years (the average construction period for another hyper-tower).

Many medieval traditions are still preserved everywhere. For example, in the language there are no analogues of the familiar words "yes" and "no", there is only a negative particle "not". To the question: "Are you going?", The answer will be: "I am going" or "I am not going." When they meet, they often say instead of greeting: “have you eaten?”, And in order to demonstrate the highest degree of respect for a person, they greet him with both hands and give him any objects in the same way.

China is very different in every city or town. A foreigner will not have enough time to appreciate its sights and learn about all the interesting traditions and peculiarities. The way of life of the population strongly depends on the place of residence, so the north is considered to be more Europeanized, and in the south the most ancient customs are still very honorable.