China is an incredible nation with an enthralling history and culture, so discover some incredible facts about this wonderful land! Learn some exciting and surprising trivia about it now!
Chinese people were the creators of paper, printing presses, compass navigation systems and gunpowder. Additionally, their art of calligraphy and pictographic writing system has an ancient legacy.
Ancient China was known for its wealthy emperors and their extravagant palaces. Additionally, these leaders had a special way of honoring elders.
1. The Great Wall is a network of walls
As a symbol of China’s military power and national pride, the Great Wall stands as an impressive feat of construction. However, its name refers to an array of fortifications built during different dynasties until they finally came together into a single barrier during Ming dynasty construction between 1368-1644 CE.
Over 2,300 years, different states and dynasties built separate fortifications to defend their territory. When the first Emperor of Qin Dynasty ordered that these fortifications be united into one single wall, but this process took centuries; even then, only a fraction of what was originally constructed remains today.
Over one million soldiers, commoners, and prisoners were employed in building the Great Wall of China using primitive tools and labor-intensive techniques. Some sections were carved out into cliffs or mountain ridges while others were built using bricks – sometimes having forts at its summit as lookout points.
In some instances, walls even crossed each other; the Wall doubled, tripled, or quadrupled at certain spots – leading to not-so-straight sections that give way to wilder ones – crumbling, overgrown sections that don’t permit walkers – before eventually dissolving into gaps created by roads and reservoirs. As a result, most tourists don’t find what most are expecting when visiting this iconic monument; its appearance being anything but straight. Tame sections give way to wild ones which give way to wild ones – giving way to sections which don’t quite match expectations when visiting this iconic destination; it also features sections which change drastically from those usually imagined upon visiting; it doesn’t match expectations in terms of being straight as most tourists expect when visiting it; rather it appears not unlike an image most tourists expect when visiting this monument! Tame sections give way to wild ones which gradually diminish in terms of walkability before disappear into gaps created by roads and reservoirs!
Even with its impressive physical presence, the Great Wall wasn’t as effective as intended by its proponents. Failure was due primarily to internal weaknesses among various imperial regimes – corruption, cowardice and infighting among them.
Genghis Khan demonstrated just how vulnerable the Great Wall could be by marching his Mongol army around one of its sides. Yet it remained an effective defense mechanism over its subsequent 2,000 year lifecycle.
Today, the Great Wall is an iconic tourist attraction. At Badaling, visitors can purchase Mao T-shirts and take photos on camels before setting foot on the wall itself; at Mutianyu they don’t even need to set foot – cable cars offer ride-up access directly onto its summit! Most visitors see the Great Wall as an opportunity to experience Chinese culture and history without traveling far, while there are others who see it as a place for commercialization. The Great Wall is an international symbol of China and understandably it is important to its Communist Party. To regulate how information reaches their citizens, they use various forms of censorship – including Google’s Great Firewall of China – in order to control it. Censorship does not aim to isolate China from the outside world; instead, the Communist Party uses it as a means of shaping what information its citizens receive in order to control public opinion and prevent unwelcome ideas from taking root.
2. China is the biggest country in the world
China is the third-largest nation on Earth, covering 9,600,000 square miles. It offers an array of landscapes that span mountains, high plateaus, sandy deserts and dense forests – not to mention over 5,000 islands off its coast!
Chinese culture is well-known, from their cuisine and millennia-old art forms to a vibrant society and cuisine. But did you know that China is also home to more people than any other nation on Earth! With nearly one billion people inhabiting its vast and varied territory, China stands as an icon in world affairs!
China can be difficult to comprehend on a map; to give some context, its population of over 1.4 billion represents nearly 18% of global inhabitants!
China boasts a massive population, yet is equally rich with natural resources and history. China was the first country in history to invent the waterwheel and iron plows over 1,200 years before Europeans did; they also invented suspension bridges 1,800 years before Europeans.
China is home to many fascinating cultural aspects, from its massive size and vast culture, to the beliefs that some numbers are lucky and others unlucky – like 4, thus explaining why buildings in China rarely contain 4th floors! Furthermore, Chinese engineers invented kites in 5 BCE, and today these flying devices can still be seen testing wind conditions or being used by military as signaling devices.
If you want to know more about Chinese culture, there are numerous books and websites to help. But it’s also important to remember that each region of China has its own distinctive traditions; Han Chinese make up 91% of the population while there are 55 minority groups with distinct languages and traditions – some being more rural while others more urban – all boasting flags or traditional costumes of their own! It’s worth spending the time getting acquainted with this intriguing nation!
3. China has only one time zone
At 7:45 pm in Beijing, the sun has just set on an eventful summer day. Two thousand miles west in Urumqi Xinjiang’s capital city it’s almost midnight but work will still commence at roughly the same time in both cities as China only utilizes one time zone.
No doubt there are practical considerations behind using one time zone, but its introduction by the Communist Party in 1949 as part of a wider campaign to make China appear more united was driven by politics rather than practical considerations. Central government wanted to demonstrate control over all aspects of nation while simultaneously encouraging all parts of society towards common goals.
At this time, many policies introduced at this time reflected this same rationale, such as changing place names to reflect a new imperial dynasty or switching from Chinese lunar calendar to Gregorian one – it was seen as a sign of modernization that pushed back against any vestiges of bourgeois influence from previous eras.
Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up of China in the late 1980s saw China briefly experiment with daylight savings time before ultimately deciding against it due to inconvenience; they maintained one time zone instead.
Essentially, the unified time zone works similarly to how America uses only one standard clock time; though initially confusing for visitors from outside of the region, most will quickly adapt.
But living in Xinjiang does present its own set of unique challenges. At times, it may feel like midnight when Beijing begins their workday – while sleeping can often prove challenging during winter due to too early sun rise times!
But cultural issues remain an obstacle: many Xinjiang residents believe they should follow their own agenda rather than conforming with Beijing, leading to tensions between authorities and residents about how much freedom of expression should be permitted. Due to a lack of a unified clock, it has been challenging for Beijing and surrounding regions to cultivate their own cultural identities and set themselves apart from Beijing. Unfortunately, this issue will only get worse with time as population of western regions increases. Local officials have therefore sought solutions that will enable the region to maintain its distinct character while remaining compliant with Beijing. But, this complex task will require cooperation amongst government and community representatives; hopefully they will find something satisfactory within a reasonable amount of time.