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Did you ever know that ...
By 2014-06-17 GAC
* Culture
- Concubinage has been practiced throughout Chinese history, by wealthy men. Chinese emperors had large harems with hundreds of concubines.
- In the late empire, it was customary for wealthy men and women to grow the nails long as a sign of their rank.
- Red symbolizes happiness for the Chinese, and commonly used at Chinese festivals and weddings.
- The dragon holds the first place among the four greatest creatures in Chinese mythology.
- The phoenix is the most important bird in Chinese legend and represents the feminine power of the empress.
- White is the Chinese color for mourning and funerals.
* Divers
- China invented ice cream, along with the recipe for noodles.
- Cricket fighting is a popular amusement in China.
- Famous Chinese actors include Bruce Lee, Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Lucy Lui and Zhang Ziyi.
- Toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s. only for the use of emperors.
* Geography
- Beijing is the second largest city after Shanghai.
- China is the fourth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada, and the Unitde States).
- Chinese is spoken by 92% of China’s population. These are some of the major families of the Chinese language; Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Gan, Xiang, and Min.
- Despite its size, any place of China has one time zone.
- The name of China’s capital has changed over the centuries.
- The longest river in China is the Yangtze River.
* History
- China is often considered the longest continuous civilization.
- The Chinese have made silk since at least 3,000 B.C. The Chinese guarded the secrets of silk making, but anyone caught smuggling silkworm outside of China was sentenced to death.
- The Chinese invented the paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.
- The crossbow was invented by the Chinese. They were also the first in the world to use chemical and gas weapons.
* Sport
- Many historians believe soccer originated in China in 1000 B.C.
- Ping-pong is one of the most popular games in China, but it was not invented in China.
- The martial arts are practiced throughout China and were largely developed from ancient farming and hunting methods.
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