Friday Facts

So...I am going to start a new thing and post facts about adoption and China on Fridays. Since Tony and I are trying to learn some of these things (a LOT of these things actually) I thought it would be fun to share.

So today I thought I would just post a few basic facts about China. Ok, so there are a lot, but it's fun reading. This was borrowed from www.worldInfozone.com.

China is one of the largest countries in the world and has more people than any other country.In 1995 the population of China was approximately 1,200 million; over fifty million were members of the Communist Party.Shanghai is one of the world's largest cities and has a population of around thirteen million people.

Mandarin Chinese is the world's most widely spoken language with 885 million speakers.

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai is one of the tallest buildings in Asia.

The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world.

The Great Wall of China is more than 1,500 miles long and took many years to build. It is the only man-made structure which can be seen from outer space.

Nearly four thousand years ago China's scribes recorded a UFO sighting, described as "ten flying suns".

The "Terracotta Army" set up to protect the Emperor Qin in his tomb probably included around eight thousand life-size figures (over a thousand have been excavated so far). All the figures carry real swords, spears or bows and the metal weapons were still sharp when discovered.

The Chinese used lodestones as compasses about four thousand years ago.

Chinese writing uses pictures or characters.

Paper and movable type (separate pieces for each character) were invented in China hundreds of years before they were used in Europe. The oldest surviving printed book in the world is Chinese - a Buddhist text printed in 868 AD. Early mathematical texts have been discovered on books of bamboo strips.

In the eleventh century the Chinese learnt how to bake their pottery at temperatures high enough to produce porcelain (very fine, thin and hard). When this pottery came to Europe it was called "china" and that was the name kept when European potters learned how to make it themselves.

Jade is a highly valued stone which is believed to be lucky.

The Chinese discovered how to make silk thousands of years ago. The trail travelled by the merchants who brought it to Europe for the Romans and others was called the Silk Road.Two European monks were sent to China in the sixth century to discover the secret of silk. They managed to steal some silkworm eggs which they hid inside a hollow bamboo and brought the silk moth to Europe.

Kung fu was practised by the Shaolin monks who took twenty years to become masters in the art.China's oldest mosque is in Canton and dates back to trade with merchants from the Middle East who brought Islam to China.

Every Chinese Year is named after one of twelve animals, such as monkey, horse, etc. People born in a particular animal's year are believed to have some of that animal's characteristics.

In 1556 an earthquake in Shensi killed over eight hundred thousand people. In 1976 an earthquake in Tangshan claimed the lives of around six hundred and fifty thousand people.

On some of the rivers of China fishermen catch fish without nets or hooks by using cormorants. The birds have a ring put round their neck to stop them swallowing the fish they catch when they dive. After they return to the boat, the fisherman takes the fish from the bird's throat and sends it off again.Tea drinking began in China about 1,800 years ago.

Tea houses are a popular meeting place for men who go there to play games such as Go or cards.

Traditional Chinese medicine uses many herbal remedies.Ginseng has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.

A wild ginseng root is worth much more than a cultivated root.

Because small feet were thought beautiful in a woman, girls' feet used to be bound tightly with bandages to stop them growing properly. This was forbidden by law in 1911. (The smallest shoes were 8 cm long and known as the Lotus Foot).

The Manchus (Qing Dynasty) who ruled China between 1644 and 1911 enforced the Chinese to wear the Manchu pigtail.

Tian'anmen Square is the largest public plaza in the world.Dr Sun Yat-Sen (1867 - 1925) was the first leader of republican China and is thought of as the founder of modern China.The flag of the People's Republic of China was raised by Chairman Mao in Tian'anmen Square in October 1949. This spot is now marked by a granite obelisk.

The Three Gorges dam, which will be the world's largest dam, is due to be completed in 2009 and may cost up to £40 billion.

Many roses grown in Western gardens are derived from Chinese plants collected two hundred years ago.A fossil of the world´s oldest flower (142 million years old) has been found in China.

Batik work is popular in parts of the south of China. Batik designs are made by making wax patterns on material which is subsequently dyed. The wax protects parts of the material from the dye. After dying, the material is boiled to remove the wax.

China is famous for lacquered works of art. The lacquer used comes from the lac tree.