2. A Tour Through China

3. Chinese Flag China's national flag was adopted in September, 1949. This flag was first flown in Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949 - the day of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The rectangular flag has a red field with five golden-yellow stars (each with five points) in the upper left corner. The star on the left is larger than the other four. The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution. The large star symbolizes the Communist Party (which rules China) and the smaller stars represent the people of China.

4. Chinese Phonetic Alphabet

6. Ancient Chinese Culture and Information on Ancient Chinese Relics China is the birthplace of one of the four greatest civilizations in the world, hence those cultural relics which, in huge quantities and immensely rich varieties, have always been fascinating. These cultural relics were produced during different periods of the Chinese history, over well over 7,000 years. They are gems of the Chinese civilization. Ancient relics, Immeasurably large in quantity and diverse in variety and artistic style, bespeak the richness and profoundness of the Chinese civilization. These as a matter of fact, cover all area of the human race's tangible culture.

7. Chinese Arts and Crafts The creators of Chinese Arts Crafts come from the working class masses of China's rural areas. They are mostly female laborers. A communal art, folk art would engender all of Chinese literature and all later art. Its presence is evident in everyday food, clothing, shelter and transportation; in traditional festivals, ceremonies and rituals, and in beliefs and taboos.

8. Chinese Clothing The dragon robe that was passed down from one emperor to another is embroidered with a dragon on the front and the back, before or behind the knees, on the shoulders, and on the lining of the chest. Thus a total of nine dragons are embroidered on a dragon robe. Observed from the front or behind it, five dragons could be seen at a glance, because in Chinese tradition the figures nine and five tallied with the dignity of the throne.

9. Architecture The ancient and imposing Great Wall extends 6350 kilometers through nine provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions Construction of the wall started in the 7th century B.C. After he unified the whole country by force, the First Emperor of Qing Dynasty had the northern defensive walls of the former Qing, Zhao and ¡­ states repaired and linked together. The present version of the great wall was built under order of Emperor Tai Zu of the Ming Dynasty. Work started in 1368, the first one of his reign, and continued for over 200 years

10. Calligraphy Calligraphy is the quintessence of Chinese culture. When the ancient Orientals carved the earliest abstract symbols on the walls of their cave houses, and on animal bones and tortoise shells, their symbolic action marked the beginning of the Chinese written language and civilization.

11. Chinese Food The principal ingredient for the filling in spring rolls is usually bean sprouts, which are mixed with shredded pork dried mushroom plumped and shredded, vermicelli, shredded bamboo shoots and the necessary seasonings. The fillings are rolled up in thin wrappers of dough and the resulting rolls are deep- fried in oil and served hot when the wrappers are still crisp.

12. Entertainment plastic art peculiar to the Chinese stage, the facial makeups are various designs of lines and colored patches painted on the faces of certain operatic characters. They follow traditionally fixed patterns for specific types to highlight the disposition and quality in the personages so that the audience may immediately know whether they are heroes or villains, whether they are kind or treacherous and wicked.

13. Good Luck Symbol Dragon, this mythical symbol in Chinese culture stands for happiness, immortality, prosperity, fertility and many other auspicious things. He is the god of "water", thus his blessings are especially sought out in an agrarian society...

14. Living Essential There are many kinds of fans made of different materials. The following are the major kinds made in China : fans made of bamboo and paper, bone and feather, ivory and carved lacquer ware and paper or silk. Fans made of palm tree leaves are both economical and practical and are very popular among the people. And the most precious fans are those made of mother-of- pearls.

15. Cars The 7-seater New Crossover

16. Fun Facts Capital: Beijing (39°56' N / 116°24' E) Area: 9560779 km 2 Inhabitants: 1300 Mio Time Zone: GMT+8 (no DST) Language: Mandarin, Cantonese, different dialects Currency: Chinese Yuan (CNY) / Renminbi (RMB) 1 Yuan (kuai) = 10 Jiao (mao) = 100 FenCNY Emergency: (Fire) 119, (Police) 110, (Ambulance) 120 Electricity: 220V/50Hz National Holiday: October 1st Telephone Access Code: +86 Internet Domain: CN

17. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/asia/china/flag.shtml http://www.chinainfoonline.com/index.htm Work Cited http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2005/01/02/312617.2-lg.jpg http://www.chinainfoonline.com/useful_sites/ http:// www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi http://www.beijingtraveltips.com/ http://home.leo.org/~gendreyz/travel/neasia/cn.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIpm2P WBzow