Study Abroad in CHINA

With a land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the third largest country in the world. It is a land of great cultural and ethnic diversities China can be visited through out the year because of the stretch of its territories and sites and activities it can offer. Deciding when to visit China depends on which places you wish to visit, what type of weather you enjoy, and how much a bargain you want. China is a huge country with many different climates and types of landscape. Think of it in terms of the United States, which China resembles in size and shape. Traveling along the Golden Route (Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guilin) is like visiting New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, and Jacksonville, Florida all in one trip.

China offers many attractions, and due to its size these are best appreciate by touring a particular area or theme. The Silk Road tour follows the famous trade route which crossed Asia and Europe. The Chinese part of the route covers over 4000 miles, and takes in provinces including Gansu and Qinghai. You can see historic sites such as the terracotta army, monasteries, temples and cultural relics along the way.

The Great Wall of China is a magnificent feat of architecture and building, which dates back to the 5 th century BC and runs from East to West China over thousands of miles. Badaling, 70km north of Beiking, is a popular place to see the wall and enjoy the spectacular mountain views from its top. China boasts many beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains, and the North East corner of the country has snow covered pastures and mountains where you can skate, ski, hunt and ride

April, May, September and October are the peak tourist months at China’s most popular destinations when the weather is the most comfortable. Prices drop a bit in the shoulder season, which runs from November through March and from June through August. However, the winter months are peak season for trips to China’s Hainan Island and to the Northeast Harbin for its world-famous ice-lantern festival. This months are also packed with New Year holidays, Chinese Spring Festival and other national or local happy fairs. Summer months are great time to explore China’s Far East-Manchuria.

China has a continental and seasonal climate. Most parts are in the temperate zone but southern areas are in the tropical or subtropical zone while northern areas are in the frigid zone. Climates in different areas are complicated. For instance, northern Heilongjiang Province has a winter climate the year round without summer, while Hainan Island has a summer climate the year round without winter.

Economy
In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, inefficient, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprises in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, China in 2004 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still poor. Agriculture and industry have posted major gains especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong and opposite Taiwan and in Shanghai, where foreign investment has helped spur output of both domestic and export goods. The leadership, however, often has experienced - as a result of its hybrid system - the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy and lassitude) and of capitalism (growing income disparities and rising unemployment). China thus has periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. The government has struggled to (a) sustain adequate jobs growth for tens of millions of workers laid off from state-owned enterprises, migrants, and new entrants to the work force; (b) reduce corruption and other economic crimes; and (c) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises, many of which had been shielded from competition by subsidies and had been losing the ability to pay full wages and pensions. From 100 to 150 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time, low-paying jobs. Popular resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres have weakened China's population control program, which is essential to maintaining long-term growth in living standards. At the same time, one demographic consequence of the "one child" policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Another long-term threat to growth is the deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table especially in the north. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development. As part of its effort to gradually slow the rapid economic growth seen in 2004, Beijing says it will reduce somewhat its spending on infrastructure in 2005, while continuing to focus on poverty relief and through rural tax reform. Accession to the World Trade Organization helps strengthen its ability to maintain strong growth rates but at the same time puts additional pressure on the hybrid system of strong political controls and growing market influences. China has benefited from a huge expansion in computer Internet use, with 94 million users at the end of 2004. Foreign investment remains a strong element in China's remarkable economic growth. Shortages of electric power and raw materials may affect industrial output in 2005. More power generating capacity is scheduled to come on line in 2006. In its rivalry with India as an economic power, China has a lead in the absorption of technology, the rising prominence in world trade, and the alleviation of poverty; India has one important advantage in its relative mastery of the English language, but the number of competent Chinese English-speakers is growing rapidly.

Industries
mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals; coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizers; consumer products, including footwear, toys, and electronics; food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, rail cars and locomotives, ships, and aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles and satellites

Currency
Chinese money is called Renminbi (RMB) means "The People's Currency". The popular unit of RMB is yuan" The official exchange rate between U.S. dollar and Renminbi yuan currently is about 1:8 (1 dollar = 8 yuan. 1 yuan equals 10 jiao, 1 jiao equals 10 fen. There are parts of China where the yuan is also known as Kuai and Jiao is known as mao. Chinese currency is issued in the following denominations: one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred yuan; one, two and five jiao; and one, two and five fen.

Population
The population of china is 1,284,303,705 according to July 2002 estimates.

Place	Administrative Division
Shanghai	Shanghai
Beijing	Beijing
Tianjin	Tianjin
Wuhan	Hubei
Shenyang	Liaoning
Guangzhou	Guangdong
Harbin	Heilongjiang
Xian	Shaanxi
Chongqing	Chongqing
Jiulong	Xianggang
Chengdu	Sichuan
Changchun	Jilin
Nanjing	Jiangsu
Taiyuan	Shanxi
Jinan	Shandong
Dalian	Liaoning
Qingdao	Shandong
Fushun	Liaoning
Lanzhou	Gansu
Xianggang	Xianggang

China's Educational System
With a history of over 5, 000 years, China has a tradition of respecting teachers and honoring the teaching profession since ancient times, Ancient Chinese education not only played a significant role in passing down and developing Chinese civilization, but also made tremendous contributions to the civilization of the world. Modern Chinese education was initiated about one hundred years ago when the country was undergoing drastic changes and it developed quite slowly in general and lagged far behind modern education of the world due to the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of Chinese society.

Generally , education in China can be divided into the following stages:

Pre-school education for the 3-5 years old children in kindergartens. Primary education for 6-11 years old children. Primary schools are usually run by local educational authorities, and in some cases, by enterprises and individuals.

Secondary school provided to 12-17 years old children. Education of this kind is conducted by local governments and various business authorities are classified as secondary schools or vocational high schools whose graduates hold the same degree studying as graduates senior middle schools and sorts of secondary professional schools whose graduates enjoy some privileges as from colleges. In particular, public secondary schools include junior middle schools and senior middle schools, both for three years of study. Students graduating from junior schools usually go to common senior middle schools, and parts of them go to vocational high schools or secondary professional schools for 3-5 years of studying.

Higher education constituted by those for vocational college students, undergraduates, postgraduates and doctorial students. Higher education is performed by universities, colleges, institutes and vocational colleges. These institutions bear the three major tasks of raising courses, doing scientific researches and providing social services.

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 (see Ethnic groups entry)

The Chinese zodiac
The twelve animals in the cycle derive from a legend about Buddha who invited all the animals to join him for New Year's Day. Only twelve animals went to see Buddha. As a reward he promised to name a year for each one in order of their arrival, these were the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog and boar.

Actually the ox would have been the first to arrive but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived and therefore was first. This also explains why e.g. the dragon appears only in the fifth place. Another legend has it that Buddha invited the animals on the day he was to leave the earth and only 12 animals showed up.

The doctrine of the twelve signs of the zodiac emerged during the Han dynasty which makes it more than 2000 years old. The signs of the zodiac are also widespread in China's neighbouring countries