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About China
China Tourism
Chinese Food & Cuisine - 1
Chinese Food & Cuisine - 2
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My Impressions of China
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BEIJING CITY GUIDE & TOUR
About Beijing China
Beijing China City Guide
Beijing China History
Beijing Duck, Peking Duck
Beijing Hutong Tour
Beijing Imperial Palace & Garden - 1 Beijing Imperial Palace & Garden - 2 Beijing Imperial Palace & Garden - 3 Beijing Ming Tomb Tour
Beijing YongheGong Lamasery
Beijing Zoo
Beijing Happy Valley Theme Park
Beihai Park Travel Guide
China Great Wall
Forbidden City in Beijing
  › Forbidden Palace - Wumen Gate
  › Three Great Halls
  › Nine Dragon Wall
  › Inner Palace of Forbidden City
Great Wall of China
  › Badaling Great Wall & Mutianyu
  ›
China Great Wall Tour
  › Juyongguan Great Wall & Simatai

Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan)
Peking Man at Zhoukoudian
Summer Palace - 1
Summer Palace - 2
Temple of Heaven - 1
Temple of Heaven - 2
Tiananmen Square - 1
Tiananmem Square Attractions - 2
Things to do in Beijing

HONG KONG CITY GUIDE
Hong Kong City Guide
Hong Kong History
Hong Kong Attractions
Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Lantau Island
Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car Tour
Ocean Park Hong Kong
So Much to See at Ocean Park
Things to do in Hong Kong
Victoria Peak
Wong Tai Sin Temple

SHANGHAI CITY GUIDE
Shanghai China city Guide
Shanghai History
Jade Buddha Temple
Oriental Pearl TV Tower
Much to do at Oriental Pearl Tower
Shanghai Bund & Huangpu River
Shanghai Museum
4 Must See Places in Shanghai
A Day at Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
Daytrip at Shanghai Animal Park
Staying in Shanghai Hotels

XIAN CITY GUIDE & TOUR
About Xian City (Xian City Guide)
Amazing Xian Terracotta Museum
Banpo Village Museum
TerraCotta Army Discovery
TerraCotta Warriors - History
Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang
Tour of Terra Cotta Museum
Xian City Wall

 

Information on China & China Tourism

Travel China Profile

China is one of the most famous ancient civilizations, with a history spanning over 5,000 years. China is the most populated country with a large land mass and abundant resources. China opened up to the world in 1978, joined the world trade organization in 2001 (WTO), and hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing. With a much more open market policy, there's increasing number of oversea visitors gaining interest in China's culture, history, scenery, and lifestyle.

With a rich history, China boast numerous cultural and historical sites including:

  • 1271 national key cultural relics
  • 177 state level scenic spots
  • 101 famous cultural and historical cities
  • 342 national forest parks
  • 44 national geological parks
  • 153 state level nature reserves

China's Economy & China Travel Industry Economy

Since China's opening up to the world in 1978, the country has experienced an average growth rate of 9.4%, with its DGP increasing from $147 Billion to $1.4 Trillion. In 2003, China's GDP per capita surpassed $1,000 USD for the first time.

There's a steady increase oversea visitors to China over the past two decades. In 2003, 92 million oversea tourists visited China, generating $17 billion (USD) in revenues, and ranked 7th in the world.

China's Nationalities and Languages

There are 56 ethnic groups in China, with the main nationality being the Han composing of 91% of the population. The remaining 9% of the population is made up of the remaining 55 ethnic groups.

The main language is also the Han Language, spoken in all parts of china and in Asia. The Hui and Manchu ethnic groups also speak Han, while the other 53 ethnic groups use their own languages. The Han-Tibetan language is used by 29 ethnic groups, who live mainly in the southern regions of China.

There are also various regional dialects of the Chinese language. While the writing and grammar are the same, the pronunciations are very different - so different in some cases, that a traveler from an outside region will have a difficult time understanding the spoken dialect of that region. For example, Szechuan people speak the Szechuan (Sichuan) dialect, a much rougher sounding tone compared to mandarin. As well, many words are pronounced completely different. Depending on the region you travel to in China, you will encounter the different spoken dialects of the local residents.

To many foreigners, the typical Chinese languages they encounter are either Mandarin or Cantonese. While mandarin is the official spoken language in China, Cantonese is the more widely spoken language in Canton and Hong Kong.

China Administrative Divisions

There are 23 provinces, 4 municipalities, 5 autonomous regions, and 2 special administrative regions directly under central government in China today.

The 23 provinces are:

Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, HeiLongJiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shangdong, Shanxi, Szechuan, Taiwan, yunnan, and Zhejiang.

4 Municipalities:

Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin

5 Autonomous Regions:

Guangxi Zhuang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uygur, and Tibet

2 Special Administrative Regions (SAR)

Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR

China Currency and Chinese Money

The official currency of China is the RMB (RenMinBi), or translated as "the people's currency". The basic unit is the Yuan (or kuai), or equivalent to what we call the "dollar" in North America. Next unit down is the "Jiao" (or also "mao"), or "10 cents". Finally, the smallest unit is the "Fen", equivalent to our "penny". So basically, it goes like this:

  • Yuan is same as Dollar
  • Jiao is same as a dime (10 cents)
  • fen is same as a penny

The Chinese paper currency denomination comes in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 yuan notes. For under 1 yuan, there are also 1, 2, 5 jiao notes. For coins there are 1yuan, 5 jiao, and 1, 2 and 5 fen coins.

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