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