Interesting Country Facts (China)

China, officially the People’s Republic of China, is a sovereign state located in East Asia. China belongs to the continent of Asia. Bordering countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam

Fast facts about China

1. China has the largest population in the world, with over 1.3 billion people (1,343,239,923) as of July 2012.

2. The name of China’s capital has changed over the centuries. At one time or another it has been known as Yanjing, Dadu, and Beijing.

3. The first known species of Homo erectus, the Peking Man, was found in China and lived between 300,000-550,000 years ago.

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4. A huge country, China covers an area of roughly 9.5 million square kilometers (or about 3.67 million square miles), nearly matching the size of the United States in terms of land mass.

5. China is known for having hundreds of languages, most of which have so much variation that a fluent speaker of one Chinese language might not be able to understand anything in a different one, even if the two languages are closely related.

6. The government of China is officially atheist, and religious practices are generally allowed but often controlled by the state (with some instances of outright oppression). Measuring the number of adherents of any given religion is difficult in China, especially due to the fact that many Chinese ascribe to more than one religious tradition at the same time. The most widespread organized religions, however, are Buddhism and Taoism.

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7. Chinese currency is Renminbi which is abbreviated as RMB.

8. China is a one-party communist state

9. Food has a special meaning to the Chinese people. The “waste not, want not” ethos means that a surprising range and variety of plants and animals, and every part of a plant or animal is used.

10. China education is one of the largest education system in the world.