Amazing Facts about China

China is an extremely fascinating country, from their food to their people, there’s never a point in China where you can say it’s boring, here are a few weird and wonderful facts that I found about China, and also some that I was told during my time here.

1. China holds the record for the world’s longest traffic jam (I lived in Beijing and can understand this), it happened in Shanghai and stretched over 62 miles and lasted 12 days, wow.

2. China is the 3^rd largest country by area

3. 47% of the population live in Urban areas

4. China is the second largest economy after the United States, but is forecasted to overtake the US if the growth rate carries on

5. The Great Wall is the largest man made structure in the world, stretching a wonderful 8,850 KM (5,500 miles)

6. Over 9 million people left Beijing during Spring Festival, or the aptly named people migration holiday

7. China uses more than 45 billion chopsticks per year

8. In China, nearly 35 million people still live in caves (cave houses – search ‘Yaodong’)

9. Almost a 3^rd of San Francisco’s air pollution comes from China

10. There’s a bridge between China and Macau where the cars switch from left to right-hand drive and vice versa!

11. A new skyscraper is built in China every 5 days

12. Company executives in China can get sentenced to death for committing fraud

13. All Pandas in the world are on loan from China

14. Fortune cookies are not a traditional Chinese custom; they were actually invented in San Francisco!

15. Trendy items can make people millionaires in China, as once it starts everyone will likely have it or do it, but as soon as it springs up it can quickly die back down

16. In 2015, a Chinese billionaire bought a 170 million USD painting with his credit card so he could use the points for free airfare

17. Delivery companies are becoming one of the main ways for people to get their food in China!

18. It’s a terrible idea to make someone lose face in China, you need to compliment them and give them credit

19. Kites were actually invented in China a mere 3,000 years ago

20. Lucky numbers in China include 8 and 9, 8 means good luck and 9 means longevity

21. Unlucky numbers in China include 4 especially (as its pronunciation is similar to that of death)

22. In China it’s highly likely that the ‘unlucky’ numbers around the world won’t be present in elevators, building floors etc.

For more information, please check our website www.studyinchina.hzlearning.com.

The Weather in China

Everyone is always asking me what the weather’s really like here in China, and especially in Beijing. As around the world China is known for its smoggy weather and people want to know how bad it is!

As China is such a big place there are said to be 5 different temperature zones:

1. The Cold-Temperate Zone

Province(s): The north part of Heilongjiang Province and Inner Mongolia (the top top part of China)

Cities: Harbin City for example

2. Mid-Temperate Zone

Province(s): The rest of Heilongjiang, Liaoning Province, Northern Xinjiang

Cities: Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian, Urumqi, Lanzhou etc.

3. Warm-Temperate Zone – the middle section of China

Province(s): Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi

Cities: Xi’an, Taiyuan, Qingdao, Zhengzhou etc.

4. Subtropical Zone

Cities: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Guilin, Suzhou, Chengdu, Kunming etc.

5. Tropical Zone

Province(s): Hainan, South Taiwan, Guangdong

Cities: Sanya, Haikou etc.

(Note that the general temperature gets warmer as you go down the list)

As I lived in Beijing for over a year, I noticed some really cool but also strange things about the weather here, that may or may not settle any unanswered questions you may have about the weather here:

· When it rains, it really rains, and I mean a lot. It’s full of thunderstorms lightning etc. But I noticed that the majority of the full on rain happens majority of the time at night, and by the morning the ground is pretty much dry, strange.

· When it’s cold, it’s really cold. I had to buy a coat for the first time ever in my life from living in Beijing during the cold winter days, the wind, the air, the snow, terrifyingly cold! And I made the stupid mistake of going to the great wall on one of these days…

· When it’s hot, it’s hot all day, even in the evenings.

· The hottest temperature I faced in Beijing was 35C, just imagine that with no air con inside

· There isn’t a gradual change from summer to autumn to winter, it just sort of happens with a quickly changing shortening of the day light.

· The main rainy season is seen in July and August

· The warmest month is August

· The coldest month is January

· It can be humid often, which gets a lot worse the further south you go

· It might be raining when you get on the subway and two stops later it’s completely dry and blue skies, that’s how big Beijing is!

· Most of the snow starts in December to February

· People carry umbrellas even if it’s raining or if it’s slightly sunny. So if you’re tall, watch out for your face.

· The smog doesn’t really disrupt you at all, if you’re conscious of breathing the particles in, simply wear a mask, maybe 70% of people will wear a mask when the smog is very full on i.e. more than 200 AQI. But it’s likely to be clear again when a warm or cold weather front comes to the area, and even if the smog is only slightly there, maybe only 10% of people you see will actually wear a mask, it’s majorly women with kids (understandable), the very health conscious, and also foreigners. It’s probably better for you to wear a mask in anything more than 175AQI as this is the range of which it’s not good for people with asthma etc. But quite often you don’t even notice it, quite a lot of times however, when it was hot, and the skies were blue and clear, you could still taste the smog in the air, nice! But even when the smog is bad, it only ever happens a few times.

· When the weather’s nice, it’s the best weather you could ever hope for, it’s a good temperature the skies are blue and clear, it makes perfect sightseeing and travelling weather, and to be honest, it’s like this most of the time, but there are just a few occasions of which the skies are full of dense smog, or thunderstorms. But you soon get used to the smog, it’s a bit daunting at first, but you’ll hardly ever notice it as it’s not there every day.

For more information about China, please visit us via www.studyinchina.hzlearning.com or www.hzlearning.com

Here is also a very good platform called Overseas Students Union, please scan the following QR code via your wechat.