Country Name: The People's Republic of China (PRC)
Capital City: Beijing
Head of State: Xi Jinping
The Supreme Legislative: The National People's Congress
National Day: October 1st
As one of the four great ancient civilizations, China is an old country, full of beauty and fascination. She has 56 ethnic groups, complex and varied terrains, rich and diverse natural resources, long and brilliant history and culture, magnificent and enchanting sceneries. These are tempting visitors all over the world to witness her strength, beauty, and impossibly hard language.
From the first dynasty – Xia (21st - 16th century BC), China is a country with 5,000 years of civilization, creating glorious science and culture. China's ancestors began to make pottery as early as ten thousand years ago. China is the first country in the world to raise silkworms and produce silk. The Great Wall is one of the construction wonders of the world, and various pagodas are also crystals of Chinese people's wisdom. The Four Great Inventions of China, printing, paper-making, gunpowder, printing technique and compass, have ever played a major role in advancing world civilization. While in culture, take Tang and Song poetry as the representative, literary achievements that have been the center of worldwide attention. Besides, China's tea, alcohol, opera, food, ethnic minority cultures as well as folk art like paper-cutting, kites, embroidery, and shadow play are the treasures and the pride of the Chinese nation.
Located in the east of Asia and on the western bank of the Pacific Ocean, China covers an area of 9.6 million square kilometers (3,706,581 square miles), just third to Russia and Canada. With land borders of 22.8 thousand kilometers (14,167 miles), the territory of China stretches from the central line of the Heilong River in the north to the Zengmu Reef at the southernmost tip of the Nansha Islands in the south. From east to west, it extends from the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli Rivers to the Parmirs Plateau. Extending across six climate zones - equatorial belt, tropical zone, subtropical zone, warm temperate zone, temperate zone, cold zone, the climate of China is complex and diverse. The geographic features of China are higher in the west and lower in the east with numerous mountains, lakes and rivers spreading over the whole land. The complex and varied climate, terrains, and landforms have created a natural paradise for biodiversity.
The administrative regionalization of China is made of up four municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing & Tianjin), two special administrative regions (Hong Kong & Macau), five autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia & Xinjiang), and 23 provinces (Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai & Taiwan).
With a population of about 1.3 billion, Chinese people are made up of Han (91.59% of the total population) and 55 ethnic minorities like Mongolian, Zhuang, Manchu and Uyghur, Miao, Bai, Tujia, Dai, Li, Bulang, Gaoshan, Korean, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tajik and so on. Putonghua (mandarin) is the official language of China, while local dialects are also widely spoken and the 55 ethnic minorities also have their own languages.
Being a multi-ethnic country, every ethnic minority still withhold their own traditional festivals such as the Dai Water-Sprinkling Festival, Yi Torch Festival, Bai March Street, Zhuang Singing Festival and Mongolian Nadam Fair. However, Chinese people share many national festivals such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Day, Chongyang, Laba Festival and so on.
Besides, China is a country with a great diversity of religious beliefs, including officially: atheism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Muslim and Christianity, which coexist harmoniously with each other.