May 17, 2005

Chapter 23

1.Music – China

2. See PP on China

3. Grade and Discuss Check 4

HW – Check 5

The music is traditional Chinese music played on the 16 string zither.

ChinaA Few Odd Facts

There are 1.2 billion people in China.

Though China has an official “one child” policy,

the average Chinese family actually has 2.5

children. Ethnic minorities have no limitations on birth.

Farming families are allowed unlimited births.

The middle class is encouraged to marry

late and to space their children with many

years between two, and sometimes three

children.

In truth, the one-child policy has already been slowly dismantled, especially in rural China. But, in general, most peasants are already allowed to have two children—if the first is either handicapped or a girl. Ethnic minorities like Tibetans have never had any limits on family size. And in the teeming cities, only children are themselves allowed to produce two progeny, if they marry another only child. Indeed, the bill under debate in China's National People's Congress only legalizes—and perhaps enhances—what has been de facto practice in recent years.

The United Nations estimates that China’s population will begin to decline in 2042.

Ice cream was invented by the Chinese around 2000 B.C. when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in the snow.

If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.

The Chinese year is based on the cycles of the moon. It dates back to 2600 B.C. and is the oldest known calendar.

Each year is represented by an animal. There are twelve animals which represent the twelve months. Most of you were born in the year of the Monkey or the year of the Sheep.

When a Chinese child loses a baby tooth, it doesn’t get tucked under the pillow for the tooth fairy. If the child loses an upper tooth, the child’s parents plant the tooth in the ground, so the new tooth will grow straight and healthy. Parents toss a lost bottom tooth up to the rooftops, so that the new tooth will grow upwards, too.

The Great Wall is one of the largest building construction projects ever completed. It stretches across the mountains of northern China, winding north and northwest of Beijing. It is constructed of masonry, rocks and packed-earth. It was over 5,000 km (=10,000 Li) long. Its thickness ranged from about 4.5 to 9 meters (15 to 30 feet) and was up to 7.5 meters (25 feet) tall.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Great Wall was enlarged to 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) and renovated over a 200 year period, with watch-towers and cannons added.

The Great Wall can be seen from Earth Orbit, but, contrary to legend, is not visible from the moon, according to astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Jim Irwin

At one time, Chinese patriots hoped to rid themselves of hated foreign invaders, the Huns. To announce the time of an uprising, the patriots hid messages in moon cakes. Moon cakes are a treat in China today.

Red is considered a lucky color in China. Traditional wedding dresses are red. New Year’s banners, clothing, and lucky money envelopes are still red.

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar

surrendered after 38 minutes.

Chinese fourth graders are expected to know 2,000 of the over 40,000 written Chinese characters. By the time they

leave college, they will know 4,000 or 5,000 characters. Each character is learned by looking at it and memorizing it.

Totally useless factoid –

The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

This is a Chinese dragon, which has nothing to do with the world’s youngest parents.

Chinese dragons are beautiful, tender and wise.

Many monarchs and heads of state give birds, dogs or even racehorses to visiting

dignitaries. But for the Chinese, the giant panda is the

ultimate gift.

Panda diplomacy began in earnest in the 1960s and 70s. One of the most famous examples was Chairman Mao's gift of Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling to US President Richard Nixon in 1972.

Ming-Ming, a female panda sent to mate with London Zoo's resident male Bao Bao, was recalled to China in disgrace after the two fought each other and failed to produce any cubs. But despite their occasional refusal to comply with official demands, Chinese pandas have proved important political tools.

The Chinese invented the

abacus. I don’t know how to use it; I can

use a calculator though!

The Chinese invented the Kite.

The Chinese invented the compass. This compass pointed south.

The Chinese also invented gunpowder, fireworks, and the umbrella.

The Chinese Crested Dog may, or may not originated in China. It is hairless except for tufts on the head, feet and tail.

Urban Legend – The translation for Coca-Cola in China was “Bite the Wax Tadpole”

While Coca-Cola was searching for a satisfactory combination of symbols to represent their name, Chinese shopkeepers created signs that combined characters whose pronunciations formed the string "ko-ka-ko-la," but they did so with no regard for the meanings of the written phrases they formed in doing so. The character for wax, pronounced "la," was used in many of these signs, resulting in strings that sounded like "ko-ka-ko-la" when pronounced but conveyed nonsensical meanings such as "female horse fastened with wax," "wax-flattened mare," or "bite the wax tadpole" when read. So Coca-Cola came up with the symbols below which basically means “to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice.”