Gap Year Destinations

Where to go

China

A huge country with 20% of the world’s people, and a complex, ancient culture

Environment

No one environment categorises China due to its size – it is almost exactly the same area-wise as the United States – and hosts plateaus and mountains in the west, with lower lands in the east, towards the sea. It is traversed by several huge rivers, including the Yangtze, Huang He and Amur. China’s ancient civilisations grew along these rivers, and many people still live on their vast, fertile alluvial plains. By contract in the north-west, the mountainous areas give way to arid, stony desert. The capital is Beijing.

Climate

As with China’s geography, its climate cannot be generalised. The north has fairly warm summers but winters of arctic severity. The continental centre of the country, due to its distance from the sea, has hot summer but cold winters, and the south has a subtropical climate, with extremely hot summers and mild winters.

Demographics and Language

The largest ethnic group by far in China is the Han, however the government officially recognises 55 ethnic minorities, of which the largest is the Zhuang at 16 million people. Indeed, any discussion of China’s demographics must take into account the sheer number of people living there – currently 1.3 billion – more than any other country on earth. The famous ‘one child’ policy, which is still implemented, has slowed growth, however it has also created a disparity in the male to female ratio, the effect of which will be seen in the coming decades.

Most people in China actually speak a dialect of the Chinese language itself. Dialects are Mandarin, spoken by more than 70% of the population, Wu or Shanghainese, Yue or Cantonese, Min, Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Ethnic minorities often speak their own language.

Cuisine

Chinese cuisine varies depending on the area while Sichuan, Cantonese and Beijing cuisines can commonly be found in many countries around the globe. Presentation is very important to a Chinese meal, with bite-sized pieces of food preferred. Knives and forks are not used as they are regarded as weapons, which should not be brought to the table. As such, Chinese people eat with chopsticks. Often every part of an animal is served, such as a whole fish, or an entire chicken, cut up, bit with every part of its body represented on the table. Completeness is key to this idea. At a meal, a Chinese person will be given a personal bowl of rice, with the accompanying dishes, served on communal plates in the centre of the table.

Religion

Mahayana Buddhism is the religion with the largest number of adherents in China, however many other religions, including Taoism, Chinese folk religions, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and others have temples and churches all over the country. Many of these religions cross over, for example, a Chinese Buddhist may also perform Taoist rituals or believe in folk religious traditions.

Economy and money

Despite its enormous size, the GDP of China was just 10% of that of the USA in 2000. By 2006, it was 20%, showing just how much China has grown since the end of the 20th century. This has been boosted by recent reforms in agriculture, industry and energy production, as well as more capitalist governmental policies, but as China has 20% of the world’s population and an abundance of natural resources, continued growth seems certain.

Culture and politics

Recent Chinese political history begins in 1949 with Chairman Mao’s Communist government and the ensuing Cultural Revolution. His controversial rule ended with his death in 1976, although illness and rival politicians began pushing him out of power earlier. Today, China is still a single party socialist republic and opposition parties such as Falun Gong and the Chinese Democracy Party are suppressed alongside discussion of human rights abuses and Tibet. Positive change has happened in China, however, especially with the recent economic boom - more people now use the internet there than anywhere else in the world, indicating a broadening of horizons for a significant part of the population, despite censorship. Rural and ethnic minority Chinese have also seen their lives improve in recent years, with investment in infrastructure.

For the past 5000 years, Chinese culture has flourished in many areas, inventing paper, gunpowder and the printing press, to name a few. Chinese medicine uses the concepts of balancing yin and yang and using herbal treatments to promote health, while martial arts, such as kung fu use the attacker’s strength against them, allowing the artist to vanquish opponents of any size. Chinese architecture, instantly recognisable through the symmetrical, signature style of the pagoda is world famous, as is its integral partner, feng shui, the creation of balance and harmony in a building by the placement of objects.