1、你好It Is an extremely dauntIng task to intro-duce China, my homeland, and its people all in just a few pages. As one of the worlds oldest civilizations, China has occupied an important place in human history, and it continues to play a critical role in todays world.China is located in eastern Asia. I
2、t extends eastward into the Pacific Ocean and shares borders with numerous coun-tries, including Russia, Afghanistan, and India. Its total land area is about 9.6 mil-lion square kilometers (3.7 million square miles), a size similar to that of the United States. In China, one can find mountains, high
3、 plateaus, and deserts in the West whereas plains, deltas, and hills are found in the East. The climate in China varies greatly from region to region. Farthest north, the climate is subarctic with no summer throughout the year, while there is no winter farthest south. China includes twenty-three pro
4、vinces, five autono-mous regions, and four municipalities. Hong Kong and Macao are its two spe-cial administrative regions. Beijing is its capital. People in different regions speak different dialects of Chinese. The official Chinese language is called Putonghua (the common language) or Mandarin. Ev
5、ery-one learns to speak, listen, read, and write Mandarin at school. Having the same national language allows people from all over the country to understand one anoth-er without difficulty.China has a chronicled history of more than five thousand years. It experienced an extended period of primitive
6、 society and slavery before Qin Shihuang, the first emperor, united the land and established the first dynasty in China in 221 b.c.e. Since then, China has gone through a long history with one dynasty supplanting another until the last dynasty, the Qing, ended in 1912. It was replaced by the Republi
7、c of China. The Peoples Repub-lic of China was founded in 1949 after a civil war and has existed ever since. It is a socialist country, although the exact mean-ing of socialism in China is not clear.China is rich in wildlife. The giant panda, golden-haired monkey, South China tiger, brown-eared phea
8、sant, white-flag dolphin, Chinese alligator, L i t e r a t u r e G e o g r a p h y L i t e r a c yThe Great Wall of China (seen here at Ju-yong-guan, near Beijing) was built to protect Chinas northern border in the 3rd century b.c.A World Literature Today publication Vol. 2, No. 1 March April 2006Ed
9、itors WelcomeIt Is dIffIcult to belIeve that we have completed an entire volume year for WLT Kids! Through the articles, literature, and pictures, we have moved slowly east from Israel and Jordan in the Middle East, to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, and south below the equator to New Zealand. This issu
10、e takes us back across the equator to the continent of Asia, where we explore Chinas contempo-rary literature and culture. The readings were compiled by our guest editor, Jiening Ruan. She grew up in China and moved to the United States as an adult. She shares her view of her homeland in the intro-d
11、uction to its rich history and culture. The stories she chose are excerpts from an award-winning author whose books are loved by Chinese children. Read about the Chinese lan-guage and see how it is written in “Adventures in Language.” Did you know about the Silk Road? Visit our website for links to
12、Chinese music, poetry, folktales, and more interest-ing facts and puzzles. Thanks, Jiening, for sharing your home-land! Happy reading.Introducing China & Its PeopleAbout Jiening RuanI was born in 1967, the Year of the Sheep according to the Chinese zodiac, and the year when the infamous Cultural Rev
13、olution started in China. The decade-long Revolution was disastrous to the preservation of traditional Chinese values and culture.Much of the country was in chaos during that time. Many parents, like mine, made every effort to shelter their children from the turmoil of the outside world. My brothers
14、 and I were still able to have a happy childhood. My parents were teachers who placed a high value on education. They instilled in me a love for reading. From the books I read, I found joy, comfort, and knowledge about the world. I still love reading and continue to believe that books are my best fr
15、iends.After 1978, when a large-scale reform and restoration effort was initiated by the new leadership to put the country back on track, a sense of normalcy gradually returned to peoples lives. In todays China, children enjoy more material goods than what my family could afford when I was a child. T
16、hey also have more personal freedom and can express their individualism to a much greater extent than ever before.Questions to PonderLook up some of the inventions and products that came to Europe with Marco Polo and other travelers along the Silk Road. Which inventions and products from China surpr
17、ised you most? Why?China has many different climates. How do you think life is different in the areas far to the north from the areas in the south? How do you think the climate impacts the foods people eat, the clothes they wear, and what they do for fun?Find out the names of the different dynasties
18、 in China. Describe one important contribution you think each dynasty made to the history of China.1.2.3.and red-crowned crane are species found only in China. They are con-sidered national treasures.There are fifty-six ethnic groups living in China. The biggest group is of Han ethnicity, which make
19、s up about 90 percent of the population. All ethnicities in China are equal according to the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China.Food occupies a central role in Chinese culture. People celebrate major events in their lives with lavish-ly prepared banquets. There are eight major regional cu
20、isines, and each has its own distinctive features. The main religions in China are Buddhism, Tao-ism, Christianity, and Islam. In the countryside, many people also prac-tice ancestor worship. Public holi-days in China include New Years Day (January 1), the Spring Festival (the date varies according
21、to the lu- nar calendar), International Labor Day (May 1), and National Day (Octo-ber 1).Traditionally, Chinese people lived with their extended families, sometimes with three or four genera-tions occupying the same household. Nowadays, a family unit is typically composed of a couple and their child
22、. This trend toward smaller families is prevalent and still continuing. Chil-dren start school when they reach six years of age and enter the first grade. The law requires that every child must attend school for at least nine years.Chinese people have a passion for music. Traditional Chinese musi-ca
23、l instruments include the zheng, guqin, erhu, pipa, flute, and drums. Currently, a great variety of musical genres exist in China, ranging from traditional Chinese stringed music to Western rock n roll and rap.Popular sports in China include ping-pong, soccer, basketball, and gymnastics. Chinese che
24、ss, poker, and mahjong are some of the games that people enjoy as pastimes. Chil-drens games include hopscotch, jump rope, marbles, and other board games.In recent years, China has become increasingly integrated into the global economy. This integration has also brought about changes in peoples thin
25、king and ways of life. It remains a challenge for the Chinese people to embrace Western ideas and commercialism while maintain-ing their rich cultural heritage.Jiening RuanFoothills of the Himalaya mountains(Mount Everest is on the Nepal -Tibet border)China, the worlds largest country by population and one of the largest by area, is about the same size as the United States / Map source: CIA World Factbook (2005)
