TRAVEL 204 Fast Facts
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2003
Editor and Reporter: Brianna, 3rd grade
Welcome to the Silk Road
Another name for China is “The Silk Road” because people from all over the world came to China to trade things for silk. China created silk. They kept it a secret for over 300 years.
China is cupped between the Yellow Sea, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Brahmaputta, Sea of Japan, Thimpha, the South China Sea and the Himalaya Mountains. I wanted to explore China because my grandma visited China when she lived in Japan.
People in China speak both Chinese and Mandarin. There are 1,286,975,468 people living in China. It is so crowded that the law says parents can’t have more than one child to help keep the population low.
China used to be controlled by Emperors for over four thousand years. The emperors lived in a town inside a city, called The Forbidden City. It got that name because only the emperor was allowed to sleep inside the walls of this town. The Forbidden City is in Beijing, the capital of China.
Chinese Dragons
The people of China believe that the seas, sun, moon, wind and rain were controlled by dragons. Dragons are the symbol of the Chinese. The first emperor was believed to have a scaly green dragon’s tail because he had a human mother and a dragon father. The Chinese believe that the Great Wall of China is a dragon turned to stone.Interesting Places to Go
Copyright-free photos courtesy of US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- The Great Wall of China
- Beijing
- Yu Yuan Garden
- The biggest Buddha (Southern China)
- Hong Kong
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
- Guangzhou – The Bridge of 17 Arches
- Tibet
Special Traditions
- Spring Festival (Chinese new year)
- Liberation Day
- Harvest moon festival
- Lantern festival
- Qing ming festival
- Festival of ice and snow
- Dragon boat festival
Did you know?
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The Great Wall of China is over 3,700 miles long!!!
- It takes over 6,000 hours to weave a silk robe?
- The Chinese invented fireworks, silk, kites, the wheelbarrow, the compass and the abacus.
- The butterfly symbolizes happiness and the bat symbolizes long life.
Photo sources:
http://gimp-savvy.com/cgi-bin/img.cgi?noacHRNwiuuFcUk3705
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161886
