INTRODUCING CHINA CHINA AND CHANGE Skyscrapers of glass and steel soar on the Beijing skyline Tall cranes tower above building sites Poor country people crowd into railway stations and travel in search of a new life in the growing cities The Oriental Pearl TV Touwer soars 1 535 feet 468 m above Shanghai Pudong district Before the 1990s this was an undeveloped area of docks and fields China is changing more quickly than any other nation After centuries of hardship this vast country now has the world's second largest economy after the United States Can this rise to riches be sustained It is too early to say but this is certainly a dynamic exciting time to live in China NEW DIRECTIONS These changes do not just affect the world of work or politics but transform every aspect of people s lives in China Changes have a huge impact upon the environment health family life even people s eating habits and pastimes Can China s ancient traditions and customs survive in this age of new technologies social media and the Internet The big shifts in China impact all of us around the world You may find Chinese made toys clothes or computers in your own home or a Chinese company may own your local factory China has gone global IOW
RUSSIA KAZAKHSTAN MONGOLIA Harbin KYRGYZSTAN IAN GUY G HUR Beijing NORTH KOREA IAJIKISTA TAKLAMAKAN DESERT ianjin C H I N A SOUTH KOREA IANISTAN Yellow Sea JAPAN Xian TIB ET East China Sea PAKISTAN Chengdu Suzhou Shangha HONG KON Chongqing Wuhan Hangzhou NEPAL EVEREST BHUTAN Fuzh BANGLADESH Guangzhou TAIWAN men BURMA Shenzhen INDIA VIETNAN MYANMAR LAOS N South China Sea A TRIP TO CHINA THAILAND PHILIPPINES The People s Republic of China is big and beautiful It takes up nearly 3 7 ion square miles 9 6 mi on km of eastern Asia It has bitterly cold winters in the north but a warm and humid subtropical climate in the south Floods earthquakes and typhoons SRI LANKA are common Western China is bordered by some of the world s highest mountain ranges including the Himalayas also has remote harsh deserts such as the Taklamakan and the wide open grassy steppes of Inner Mongolia SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA CHINA FULL NAME People s Republic of China AREA 3 7 million square miles 9 6 million km 17 POPULATION 1 362 billion Capital Beijing 21 million BIGGEST CITY Shanghai 24 million SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS Hong Kong Macau LONGEST RIVER Chang Jiang Yangtze 3 900 miles 6 300 km HIGHEST MOUNTAIN Qomolangma Everest 5 5 miles 8 850 m NATURAL RESOURCES Coal In the eastern half of China two long broad rivers the Huang He Yellow River and the Chang Jiang Yangtze flow eastward across great plains to the sea The soil has been farmed and built upon for thousands of years Most Chinese people still live on these plains and coasts China has the largest population on the planet and is home to over 1 36 billion people One fifth of the world's population are citizens of China iron ore oi natural gas tin tungsten uranium
CHAPTER 1 PEOPLE NATION A LONG HISTORY AN ANCIENT EMPIRE China became a single empire in 221 BC and remained under the strict rule of emperors until the 1900s China was often isolated and locked in tradition At other times it engaged with the rest of the world For many centuries goods such as tea and silk were traded overland to western Asia and PAST TO PRESENT Europe The rapid changes taking place China in today are not happening in a new country By the 1700s and 1800s China was being The changes are rooted in one of the oldest surpassed by the new industrial nations of civilizations on Earth China has a long Europe Weak emperors gave away control history of innovation Chinese inventors of key Chinese cities and ports to foreigners gave the world paper gunpowder printing In 1912 the last emperor Puyi was and compasses overthrown and China became a republic Qin Shi Huangdi was the first emperor of a united China He died in 210 BC
YEARS OF TURMOIL Troubled years lay ahead Warlords leaders and gave it to he peasan its who had to take with private armies seized control in some part in shared farming projects The changes known as the Great Leap Forward regions Communists seeking to give power were radical and often resulted in violence to poor peasants and workers battled with the Nationalists In the neighboring 1930s Communist and great hardship Some Party Japan invaded many areas By 1949 the members called for a change of direction They were accused of betrayal by more Communists controlled all of China The Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan radical members who idolized Mao In the 1960s this led to a period of chaos and formed a rival government The new and strife Communist state faced hostility from the United States and its allies NEW ORDER THE PEOPLE S REPUBLIC Mao died in 1976 A new leader Deng Grounded in centuries of poverty and social Xiaoping changed China s economic injustice the People s Republic of China policy and brought in foreign investment faced many problems in ts early years Relations with the West improved This new Communist leader Mao Zedong 1893 China became very different from what 1976 nationalized industry so it was run by Mao had envisaged It was the start of the the state He took farmland from landlords China we know today A portrait of Mao dong still erlook the gateway to Beijing s Imperial Palace LONPOAGO A TE R TO 7 9 t l t 1R R Anyone
