Living in China

When we were shopping recently I found a book called Living in China. I thought it would be a great way to learn about the country.

Ni hao! That means hi in Mandarin Chinese . 

China is a country in Asia where more than a billion people live. China is very large, in fact, the 4th largest country in the world. Since China is so big it has Deserts, Mountains and many rain forests. Few people live in Northwestern china where the Gobi desert is located. The Gobi desert, 8 million years ago, was home to many dinosaurs. Every year scientists dig in the Gobi Desert and find Dinosaur eggs and bones. West is where the Himalayan mountains are. Many of the highest mountains are right here. The mountain range crosses through 5 countries. Southern China and it's Islands are where the rain forests are. The rain forests have monkeys, elephants, tigers, etc. China has long rivers to like the Yellow river and the Yangtze which run through central and eastern China. A lot of people live in eastern china by cities along the coast. Shanghai is huge! It has over 24 million people living there. Hong-Kong has the most skyscrapers in the  world - take that New York! Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China. A lot of Artifacts about China's history can be found there. Beijing is the capital of China where the Forbidden city sits and where the emperor once lived. Hangzhou is famous for it's beautiful lake: Xi Hu and temples. 

People have been living in China for at least 40,000 years. In 221 BCE, Emperor Qin brought most of China back together. Emperor Qin also began building the great wall of China to protect China from tribes in the North. In 206 BCE, Han dynasty took over. During Han dynasty's power the farming in China improved greatly. In 1271 Mongols invaded China. More than a hundred years later a guy brought the Chinese back together and defeated the Mongols. The last dynasty ended in 1912. The Chinese rebelled against the emperor and made a govenrment. Today in China people vote for their Representatives, like in the USA. 

We owe a lot to the Chinese because they invented things that we use almost every single day. Such as Chopsticks not everybody uses them but they were the first utensil ever made and you feel truly Chinese when you are eating that take-out. The Chinese also invented paper, Printing, silk, fireworks and many more amazing things. A Tang Emperor is even said to have made the first ice cream! Baozi is a steamed bun with onions rice and pork. 

China has many festivals here is one... The Dragon boat festival was created to celebrate the poet Qu Yuan, who lived in China 2 thousand years ago! Each year people race dragon boats and eat rice dumplings called zongzi. 

The population of China is 1.36 billion. Mandarin Chinese is the official language. It is written in different characters also known as sounds. Most Chinese speakers can write 3 to 4 thousands characters. Total area of China: 3,705,407 square miles. Currency: Yuan.