China | Country Info (Week 1)

Photo by Severin.stalder, Wikimedia Commons

It’s time to unpack our 3rd suitcase on a brand new continent – this time in Asia.  We are on letter C, in a land where people use chopsticks instead of forks, write character symbols instead of printing letters and live in a land inhabited by panda bears rather than grizzlies.  Can you guess which country we’re on?  Ding, Ding, Ding!  You got it…China!

If you recently watched the 2014 Winter Olympics you may have noticed Chinese athletes competing in primarily red, white and yellow uniforms.  These uniforms are fashioned after the colors in the Chinese flag.

The Chinese Flag

China Country Facts

1.  China, officially called the People’s Republic of China, is HUGE!  It is the 3rd largest country by area at 3,747,879 sq miles.  (Can you convert that to kilometers?)

2.  China has the largest population (F.Y.I. amount of people) in the world!  Over 1.3 billion!  That means that one-fifth of the world’s population lives in China.

3.  And with all these people there are a lot of different languages spoken, including, Mandarin, Yue, Wu, Minbei, Minnan, Xiang , Gan and Hakka.

4.  The capital city is Beijing.  The most populated (F.Y.I. the city with the most people) is Shanghai.  You can see other major cities marked on the map above.

5.  Both the 4th & 6th longest rivers in the world are in China.  The Yangtze River is 3,602 miles long and the Yellow River is 2,900 miles long.

6.  China is the second largest economy in the world, after the United States.

7.  The renminbi is China’s official currency (F.Y.I. remember this means type of money).  Renminbi means the people’s currency.

8.  If you enjoy fireworks, you can thank China.  Gunpowder was first discovered in China and it was used to create fireworks.

9.  Have you ever heard of the Great Wall of China?  Well, it’s for real and it is the largest man-made structure in the world.  It stretches an amazing 5,500 miles!

10.  Giant pandas can be found in the Sichuan, Gansu and Shanxi provinces of China where bamboo is plentiful.

Giant Panda Photo by: J. Patrick Fisher on Wikipedia Commons

To have more fun learning about China with coloring pages and printables head on over to Activity Village.  Another fun activity is to learn how red envelopes are used in China to give gifts of money.