China

Overview: China is the world's oldest civilizations and has been a continuous civilization for an amazing 5,000 years. Therefore it is one of the oldest cultures in the world. China's cultural influence has extended throughout Asia with Chinese religion, customs, writing systems, music, fashion, and even sexual practices extending throughout the region. China has created the most inventions in history with such world-changing inventions as the printing press, the compass, the sundial, the water well, topography maps, paper, currency, silk clothing, repeating crossbow and gunpowder.

History: China has been around for 5,000 years but the oldest archaeological evidence suggest humans first settled in China between 300,000 to 780,000 years ago. Most of Chinese history has been ruled by imperial dynasties covering 11 different dynasties. China has had four major golden ages through its history. The Song Dynast (1000 AD to 1140 AD), the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) all had periods of flourishing arts, paintings, music, poems, architecture, beauty and theater that survives to this day. Many consider China's current economic and cultural rebirth as the marks of another golden age. Many in the West are already speculating the 21st Century as the Chinese Century when history looks back at this time. The 20th Century has been dubbed the American Century with the rise of America as a single hegemonic superpower.

Languages of China: China has 293 spoken languages and dialect, 292 are alive and 1 is extinct, the Jurchen language. Standard Mandarin known as Putonghua is the official national language except in Hong Kong and Macau, which uses Cantonese. Many alternative dialects that are Han Chinese in origin are Cantonese, Chiu-Chow, Fujian, Taiwanese, and Shanghanese are very popular in certain regions. Cantonese nearly became the national language because Sun Yat Sen, from Canton, was the leading revolutionary that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty. Cantonese is spoken by over 200 million Chinese worldwide and is the language spoken by the majority of Chinese living outside of China.

Geography: China is made of mostly lower flat lands in the east and south by the oceans with a desert in the northwest and plateaus and mountains in the southwest. The three main rivers all flow east to west: the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Amur River. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges with a number of deltas.

Art and Literature: Chinese characters are made of a variety of styles with tens of thousands of ancient written documents. Calligraphy was invented in China and became a major commercial force during the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was when the first scientific revolution happened with a great volume of literature published how to reproduce and construct machinery and projects such as dams and wells. The Tang Dynasty is known for its vast poetic movement. There are Four Great Classical Novels that all Chinese know and they were written during the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The four great works are Journey to the West, The Three Kingdoms, A Dream of Red Mansion, and Outlaws of the Marsh.

Cusine: China has perhaps the greatest variety of original dishes in the world. In the north such as Beijing and Harbin a diet of noodles, and barbeque and roasted meats are popular. In the south such as Hong Kong, you have dim sum, porridge, congee, and seafood dishes. The Southwest is known for its spicy ethnic dishes. The far west has a variety of creative vegetarian dishes influenced by the Tibetan monks and the northwest has a variety of sausages and meats influenced by the middle east and Russia.

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