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History for Kids: Exploring Ancient China

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History for Kids: Exploring Ancient China

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Exploring Ancient China

In early ancient China, many people worked at farming, but it was not an easy life. They had extravagant temples and even built the Great wall of China over 2000 years ago. Many different emperors ruled ancient China, which you will read about in the dynasties of ancient China section. Did you know that they also invented many different things that are in use today like the compass, fireworks and even the harness for horses? Have fun reading and learn about the people of ancient

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Ancient Chinese History for Kids - Fun Facts to Learn

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Exploring Ancient China In early ancient China, many people worked at farming, but it was not an easy life. They had extravagant temples and even built the Great wall of China over 2000 years ago. Many different emperors ruled ancient China, which you will read about in the dynasties of ancient China section.

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Amazing Facts About Terra Cotta Soldiers

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Amazing Facts About Terra Cotta Soldiers

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FIND YOUR BIRTH YEAR ANIMAL!

According to the Chinese calendar, the year you were born may determine your personality. Every year is represented by an animal, and legend has it that people born under that animal have certain personality traits. So just for fun, find your birth year and that year's animal, and see what some people believe it says about you. Do the same for your friends, parents, relatives, and teachers!

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FIND YOUR BIRTH YEAR ANIMAL! According to the Chinese calendar, the year you were born may determine your personality. Every year is represented by an animal, and legend has it that people born under that animal have certain personality traits.

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FAST FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: People's Republic of China
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Communist state
CAPITAL: Beijing (Peking)
POPULATION: 1,355,692,576
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Standard Chinese, Mandarin
MONEY: Yuan (or renminbi)
AREA: 3,705,405 square miles (9,596,960 square kilometers)
MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Himalaya
MAJOR RIVERS: Yangtze, Yellow

GEOGRAPHY

Stretching 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) from north to south, China is a large country with widely varying landscapes. Its territory includes mountains, high plateaus, sandy deserts, and dense forests.

One-third of China's land area is made up of mountains. The tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, sits on the border between China and Nepal.

China has thousands of rivers. The Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers are the most important. At 3,915 miles (6,300 kilometers) long, the Yangtze is the world's third largest river.

PEOPLE & CULTURE

With a population of 1.3 billion, China has more people than any other country on Earth. About a third of the population lives in cities. The rest of the people live in the country.

Arts and crafts have a long history in China. Thousands of years ago the Chinese were some of the first people to use silk, jade, bronze, wood, and paper to make art. The artistic writing called calligraphy was invented in China.

Much of China's modern beliefs and philosophies are based on the teachings of a government official who lived nearly 3,000 years ago. Kongfuzi, also known as Confucius, taught people the value of such things as morality, kindness, and education.

NATURE

China's diverse habitats are home to hundreds of species of animals and plants. More than 3,800 species of fish and hundreds of amphibians and reptile species live in the rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.

China's forest wildlife is threatened by logging and clear-cutting (clearing the land of all trees) for farmland. Expanding deserts in the north also shrink animal habitats. The Chinese government has created more than 1,200 reserves to protect plant and animal species.

The giant panda lives in the misty mountains of southwest China and nowhere else on Earth. They eat bamboo and usually live near stands of the woody evergreen plant. Pandas have been hunted and only about 1,600 remain in the wild.

Yuan,

Photograph by Asafta, Dreamstime

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

China is an authoritarian state ruled by a very powerful central government. A huge workforce and lots of natural resources have driven economic change. This has forced the communist government to permit more economic and personal freedoms, but it has come at a huge cost to the environment.

Many experts predict that the 21st century will be the "Chinese century." Whether or not that proves to be true, there is no doubt that what happens in China will affect many other nations.

HISTORY

China is the home of one of the world's oldest civilizations, but it has only recently become a "modern" nation. In the last 20 years, China has changed faster than any other country in the world.

Chinese history is divided into dynasties, each of which marks the period when a line of emperors ruled. The first empire was the Qin dynasty and began in 221 B.C. The last emperor was overthrown in 1912, and China became a republic. The communist government began its rule in 1949 following a civil war with the Chinese Nationalists.

Ancient China was a land of invention. For centuries, China was way ahead of most other countries in science and technology, astronomy, and math. The Chinese invented paper, the magnetic compass, printing, porcelain, silk, and gunpowder, among other things.

Check out the interactive map and discover more countries.

Get Facts, Photos, and videos.

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China Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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FAST FACTS OFFICIAL NAME: People's Republic of China FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Communist state CAPITAL: Beijing (Peking) POPULATION: 1,355,692,576 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Standard Chinese, Mandarin MONEY: Yuan (or renminbi) AREA: 3,705,405 square miles (9,596,960 square kilometers) MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Himalaya MAJOR RIVERS: Yangtze, Yellow GEOGRAPHY Stretching 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) from east to west and 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers) from north to south, China is a large country with widely varying landscapes.

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Google Street View: Staircases of Hong Kong

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Google Street View: Staircases of Hong Kong

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Google Street View - Explore natural wonders and world landmarks

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Explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders, and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, parks and transport hubs.

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Google Street View: Hong Kong Highlights

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Google Street View: Hong Kong Highlights

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Google Street View - Explore natural wonders and world landmarks

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Explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders, and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, parks and transport hubs.

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Google Street View - Explore natural wonders and world landmarks

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Explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders, and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, parks and transport hubs.

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View awesome places from around the world.

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BBC - Schools - Primary Languages - Mandarin: Vocabulary, activities, games, clips and songs for children learning Chinese

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KS2 primary Chinese Mandarin resources for children to learn words, phrases, symbols and sounds and familiarise themselves with the culture.

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China Paper-cut Museum is located in the garden of a well-known salt merchant's residence- "the Wang's Garden" in the historical block named "Dongjuanmen" of Yangzhou city. The tranquility of the lane where the residence is situated, together with elegance, quaint and exquisiteness of the courtyard, reveals the beauty of Yangzhou as a time-horned city to its every bit.

Initiated by Mr. Feng Jicai, the then vice chairman of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, China Paper-cut Museum was founded in 2007 as a comprehensive protection base for Yangzhou paper-cuts that integrates functions of collection, exhibition, exploration and production based on the investment of Yangzhou Arts and Crafts Group and Yangzhou Arts and Crafts Factory. It has now evolved into the backbone for the protection of Yangzhou paper-cuts.

As one of the greatest paper-cutting masters of his generation, Mr. Zhang Yongshou (1907-1989 AD) had made incomparable contribution to the spread and development of the paper-cut art in China. In the hall of Yangzhou paper-cuts in the second floor of this museum there is a standing exhibition that is dedicated to the representative pieces of Yangzhou paper-cuts which is a brilliant category of the paper-cut art in the south of China, as well as to the masterpieces by Mr. Zhang Yongshou and his apprentices.

Meanwhile, there are also temporary exhibitions in the hall of Chinese paper-cuts in the second floor that feature award-winning paper-cut works of various schools at different periods from all across China donated by Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association to China Paper-cut Museum.

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China Paper Cutting Museum - Google Arts & Culture

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China Paper-cut Museum is located in the garden of a well-known salt merchant's residence- "the Wang's Garden" in the historical block named "Dongjuanmen" of Yangzhou city. The tranquility of the lane where the residence is situated, together with elegance, quaint and exquisiteness of the courtyard, reveals the beauty of Yangzhou as a time-horned city to its every bit.