| China is often left out of discussions of | | | | them. The government hopes to stabilize the |
| early civilization which is a mistake since | | | | population at no more than 1.6 billion people |
| it was one of the first. If you are taking a | | | | through 2050. The current infant mortality |
| trip to China, here is some background | | | | rate is an astonishingly high 25.5 per 1,000 |
| information your should know. | | | | births. |
| | | | |
| The official name of the country is the | | | | Ethnicity in China is a hodgepodge issue |
| People's Republic of China. China covers a | | | | given its vast size and long history. Han |
| land mass of over 3.7 million square miles, | | | | Chinese is the dominant group, consisting of |
| making it a large country indeed. The capital | | | | over 91 percent of the population. This is a |
| is Beijing. Other major cities include | | | | very loose group, however, as evidenced by |
| Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Wuhan, | | | | various dialects of language in the country. |
| Guangzhou, Chongqing, Harbin, and Chengdu. | | | | There are seven major Chinese dialects and |
| | | | literally hundreds of localized dialects. |
| With such a massive land area, you can image | | | | Mandarin is the dominant dialect, spoken by |
| that there is a wide variety of terrain in | | | | over 70 percent of the population in one form |
| the country. Generally, one can find plains, | | | | or another. That being said, only 60 percent |
| deltas and hills in the east, while | | | | of the Han Chinese can speak it with the |
| mountains, high plateaus and a vast desert | | | | remaining 40 percent speaking other dialects. |
| exists in the west. The climate ranges from | | | | In addition to Mandarin, languages spoken |
| tropical in the far south to arctic cold in | | | | widely included Turkic, Korean, Uygur, |
| the far north on the border with Siberia, | | | | Tibetan and Mongolian. It is often said that |
| Russia. | | | | people in one part of China can't communicate |
| | | | with people on the opposite side. |
| The people of China are known as Chinese. The | | | | |
| most recent population study put the total | | | | From a religious perspective, China is |
| number of Chinese at over 1.3 billion people, | | | | officially atheist. That being said, it takes |
| more than four times as many people as found | | | | a lax view towards faiths that work with the |
| in the United States. Population growth, | | | | government. Buddhism is the largest faith |
| however, has slowed to roughly half a percent | | | | with over 100 million practitioners. Taoism |
| annually. The reason for the slow down is | | | | is the second most popular. There is a |
| very controversial. Concerned about economic | | | | smattering of Muslim and Christian believers, |
| strain caused by population growth, China has | | | | but nothing significant. |
| implemented a policy of allowing for only one | | | | |
| child per family with some minor exceptions. | | | | As this overview demonstrates, China is huge |
| Enforcement of this policy is supposedly done | | | | and unique. This makes it a great travel |
| through fines, but forced abortions are known | | | | destination. |
| to occur despite government policy opposing | | | | |