China

CAPTIVATING AND FASCINATING CHINA

China or Zhong Guo (Zhōngguó), as the Chinese themselves call it, is one of the most amazing and mysterious countries in the world. The birthplace of paper and printing, gunpowder and compass, silk, porcelain and many other useful inventions and discoveries, it invariably attracts the attention of historians, researchers, and travelers. Located in the southeast of the Asian continent and with its outlines resembling a huge bird soaring in the sky, modern China is the heir to a great civilization, the chronicle of which has about five millennia.

The PRC has a huge territory of 9,596,960 square kilometers, including the island of Taiwan, which is not controlled by the central government, and the small islands adjacent to it. According to this indicator, China is second only to Russia and Canada. By the size of the population – 1 430 075 000 a person (2018 data) – he occupies the first line of the world ranking at all.

Panorama of Shanghai at sunset

Distant and mysterious China is also called the Celestial Empire. The ancient Chinese considered their country to be the only one in the world patronized by heaven, and the rulers were revered as "sons of heaven". Or maybe such a poetic name is inspired by the highest mountain system of the planet located here – the Himalayas? It's hard to say for sure. But one thing is for sure: every tourist who comes here necessarily becomes a little Chinese, because it is simply impossible not to get into the local culture, the original customs of the ancient people, its culinary traditions and no less vivid modernity!

Rice fields in southern China

Guangzhou

Traditional Chinese holidays

The Chinese are very fond of holidays and try to spend them with their family. On holidays, even distant relatives come, everyone gathers at the table, eats a lot and tastes good, and exchanges news.

There are many holidays in China, but the most favorite are:

• New Year;
• International Women's Day;
• birthdays;
• The Zhongqiu Moon Festival.

Birthday celebration is practically no different from the European one — gifts, cake, candles. Congratulations are usually humorous, for example, they often wish the birthday boy to have a "long tail", which means wishing long years of life. There must be noodles on the festive table — a symbol of longevity and tangerines, which signify success.

3.8 快乐!

It is noteworthy that not all women celebrate 

March 8, but only those who have already become mothers. But all girls get an official day off, and men work on this day. The best gift for March 8 is considered to be giving a woman the opportunity to go shopping, go to a beauty salon or cafe, that is, take a break from ordinary household chores.

moon gingerbread

The Zhongqiu Moon Festival is celebrated on September 15. The Chinese consider this date to be the middle of autumn. On this day, it is customary to sacrifice to the Moon and deities on home altars. Moreover, this can only be done by women, since according to Chinese beliefs, the Moon is a feminine principle. All Chinese girls make sacrifices on home altars in the early morning on September 15, and later in the night they go out into the streets to pay homage to the Moon.

Chinese New Year

Chunjie Spring Festival is another favorite Chinese family holiday. It is celebrated according to the lunar calendar in the period from January 20 to February 20, every year the day of celebration changes. The second name of the holiday is Spring Day.

Preparation for it begins with general cleaning — the Chinese wash every corner of the house, simultaneously throwing away all the old and unnecessary things, buy themselves new clothes. The whole family is sure to gather for a festive dinner on the first day of the New Year. Even those relatives who live in other cities or countries come. Many fish or meat dishes, sweets and desserts are usually prepared from treats. In the north of China, dumplings are a traditional New Year's dish.

On New Year's Eve, the Chinese try not to go to bed until the morning to greet the New Year's Day. This custom is called "shousui". At night, they definitely launch firecrackers and fireworks, try to make as much noise as possible. It is believed that this way you can scare away all evil spirits. 

Gifts are exchanged in the morning. By tradition, money is most often given in red envelopes, children are bought clothes.

New Year's cards are not common in China, they are practically not exchanged.

During the celebration, festivals are held on the streets of China with the participation of large life—size dolls and figures - dragons or lions.

Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony

Traditional tea ceremony in China

Tea is a favorite drink of the Chinese, especially green. But recently, more and more young people in China prefer sweet carbonated drinks instead of tea. However, they approach the use of tea with all seriousness, turning tea drinking into a whole ritual.

Before the tea ceremony, you should thoroughly wash your hands, rinse your mouth, and brush your teeth. Women are advised to wipe lipstick off their lips. This is done so that no extraneous tastes are mixed with the taste of tea. By tradition, during the ceremony you need to be silent.

Tea should not be touched with your hands, it is believed that this will spoil its taste. Tea is brewed not with boiling water, but with hot water, the temperature of which is about 60 degrees.

This brewed tea is not used as a drink, it is only rinsed with cups. At this time, the participants of the ceremony again inhale the aroma of tea leaves and exhale it back into the teapot.

Finally, you can start drinking tea. Tea is poured into special high cups — wenshianbei. And they do it so that everyone present has the same strength of the drink. To do this, the cups are filled not immediately, but by a quarter, then move on to the next guest. And so they do it in turn until all the cups are filled.

The tea party continues until the tea loses its taste and smell.

Modern unusual traditions in China

Many Chinese customs and rituals have become a thing of the past due to the influence of the West. But some modern traditions can still surprise any European.

• If in most countries it is considered bad form to smoke at someone's house without permission, then in China you can inhale cigarette smoke at someone's home, in a hotel room or a train compartment without any problems. The Chinese are sure that forbidding someone to smoke is a sign of a bad host and bad form. However, smoking is still prohibited in public places.
• The Chinese are very friendly people, so even when they meet, they can start calling you their friend.
• Gifts are given necessarily together with a price tag to demonstrate to everyone how expensive it is. You need to take a gift with two hands.
• Refusal in China is perceived as a sign of politeness. The Chinese are sure that you refuse their offers of help or services because of shyness. Therefore, it is customary to repeat the refusal two or three times.
• In China, the number 4 is considered unlucky. Therefore, in many buildings there is no fourth floor, and there are no apartments with numbers 4.

Size

9 596 960 km² and 17 098 242 km²

Population 

1398.72 millions and 146.79 millions

Climate

China

High temperatures and high humidity at the same time cause unbearable stuffiness everywhere, which is aggravated by the fact that the air is almost not cooled at night.

Russia

By the size of the occupied area , Russia is the largest world power . For this reason, the country's territory crosses several climatic zones. Due to its geographical location, it is still one of the northernmost countries. This factor is the reason that climatic conditions are harsh in most of the state.

 
Peoples and languages

China

56 ethnic national minorities live on the territory of the People's Republic of China. The most numerous nationality of modern Chinese is Han, and the least representatives of the Loba people on the territory of the country are 3,000 people.

It was not possible to count how many dialects in the Middle Kingdom, but the main groups were identified for study and analysis. As a result of the agreed agreements, scientists consider no more than 10 different dialects of the Chinese language in China.


 Russia

More than 190 national minorities live on the territory of Russia

The peoples of Russia speak more than 100 languages and dialects belonging to the Indo-European, Altai and Uralic language families, Caucasian and Paleoasiatic language groups.

Food and drink 

Chinese cuisine has many ways of cooking, in this respect the difference with Russia is huge. Russian russians are familiar with Russian cuisine, for example, with borscht, Russian dumplings, almost not spicy and with a simple taste. Russian

Pets 

silkworm caterpillar (China)

Hobby

Even their favorite hobbies are not home-made, but mass. Sports and a healthy lifestyle are in the first place here. Supporters of healthy lifestyle leave their apartments early in the morning to do gymnastics with music in the fresh air together with their neighbors. Often these are dance exercises, so the energy boost doubles.