China is at best a culture shock. You may feel compelled to shop till you drop in its metropolises but balance your yin and yang by taking in the Silk Road, sail along the Yangzi River and making time to understand the Chinese mentality.
10 October 2007
Name: The Republic of China
Capital: Beijing
Nationality: Chinese
Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam
Population: 1,306,313,812
Religions: Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.)
Languages: Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
Currency: Yuan Renminbi
Climate: Diverse: tropical in the south to subarctic in the north
Terrain: mostly mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and hills in east
Country Dialing Code: +86
Weights & Measures: Metric
Time Zones: GMT/UTC +8
Flying time: 10 hours from UK