Chinese Culture Center

- Help people to learn Chinese culture and language

你好(ni3 hao3),  欢迎(Huan1 ying2)!

Hello,                         welcome!

China is a big, old and new developing country. It has the similar geographical location as USA in the opposite side of the globe. In Illinois, there is a small town call Pekin. That the town is so named is because this town is in the exact opposite spot  of Peking, China, Peking is the old name of Beijing, China.

The Size of China:
The size of China is about 9,596,960 sq km (3,705,406 sq mi). It's the third large country of the world behind Russia and Canada. It's about the same size of US, whose area is about 9,161,923 sq km.

Chinese Population:
Chinese population is over 1.3 billion as of 2008. It's about the same population of India, which has about 1.15 billion people but it's size is only about: 3,287,590 sq km (1,269,345 sq mi), which is about 1 third of China. Chinese population is about 4 times of US population, which has about 304 million people. China is the most populated country in the world that translate to the largest market in the world.

Major Chinese Holidays:
1. New Year - Jan. 1st. (1 day off)
2. Chinese New Year (中国新年）- Jan. 1st on Chinese calendar. (3 days off)
3. Lantern Festival - Jan. 15th on Chinese calendar.
4. Women's Day - March 8th.
5. Tomb Sweeping Day（清明节） - April 4th (1 day off)
6. Labor Day - May 1st (1 day off)
7. Dragon Boat Festival（五月单五） - May 5th on Chinese calendar (1 day off)
8. Children's Day - June 1st
9. Mid-Autumn Day（中秋节） - Aug. 15th on Chinese calendar (1 day off)
10. National Day - Oct. 1st (3 days off)

China Capital:

Beijing (北京 bei3 jing1） - Beijing is located in the northeast area of China. It's best known of its historical sites such as Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall, Summer palace, Heaven Palace, etc. Beijing is the home of 2008 Summer Olympics. This is the very first Olympics in China.

Large Cities of China:

Shanghai（上海 shang4 hai3）- Shanghai is best known as the largest and most advanced city of China. It's located in the southeast part of China. Its population is about 18,884,600. it's like the New York City of US. World Expo 2010 will be held in Shanghai. This is the very first World Expo in China.

Tianjin （天津 tian1 jin1）
One of the original directly governed cities of China besides Beijing and Shanghai. Tianjin is very close to Beijing. They are not considered as twin city but it's only about 100 miles south east of Beijing.

Chongqing （重庆 chong2 qing4）
The new directly governed city of China. Plus Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, China has four directly governed cities.

Other Areas:
Hong Kong（香港 xiang1 gang3）

In 1898, British and China had a 99 year lease on Hong Kong. In 1997 the lease expired. In July 1st, 1997 British handed over Hong Kong to China. Hong Kong is the first Special Administrative Region of China, runs by local government under "One Country Two Systems" policy. For 10 years, Hong Kong has been doing very well.

Macao or Macau （澳门 ao4 men2)
After 442 years of controlling, in December 20th, 1999, Portugal handed over Macao to China. Macao is the second Special Administrative Region of China after Hong Kong, also runs by local government under "One Country Two Systems" policy. For about 9 years, Macao has been doing as well as Hong Kong.

Taiwan (台湾 tai2 wan1)
After Japanese troops retreated from China in 1945, China had a civil war between Mao Zedong (毛泽东 mao2 ze2 dong1）and Chiang Kai-shek (蒋介石 Jian3 Jie4 shi2). After 4 years of fighting, in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek lost the war and retreated from Mainland China to Taiwan. Initially, Taiwan claimed that Mainland China is part of China (Taiwan). But now they don't. However, Mainland China always claims that Taiwan is part of China (Mainland China).

Send an email to Chinese Culture Center and see how we can help.

Chinese Culture Center

8670 147th Terrace
Beaverton, OR 97007
USA
info@ccc-us.org

1-541-234-7410

谢谢(xie4 xie4), 再   见(zai4 jian4)!

Thanks,                    goodbye!