• In Pinyin (using our alphabet):
• In Chinese characters:
Zhōngwén
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Identified Chinese as a primary, administrative or native language
Countries with > 5 million speakers (recognized language or not)
Countries with > 1 million speakers (recognized language or not)
Countries with > 500 thousand speakers (recognized language or not)
Countries with > 100 thousand speakers (recognized language or not)
Major Chinese-speaking settlements
United Nations
People's Republic of China
Hong Kong
Republic of China
Macau
Singapore (official, but not main language)
Mauritius (Recognized as a regional language)
United States (minority and auxiliary)
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People's Republic of China (commonly known as Mainland China),
Republic of China (ROC, commonly known as Taiwan),
Hong Kong,
*Singapore,
*Malaysia,
Macau,
*the Philippines,
*the United States of America,
*Australia,
*Indonesia,
*Mauritius,
*Peru,
*Canada,
*and other regions with Chinese communities
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845 million native speakers
+500 million non-native speakers
1345 million total speakers of Chinese
Rank in the world of
languages: 1
Chinese, all: 1
Mandarin: 1
Wu: 12
Cantonese: 18
Min: 22
Hakka: 33
Gan: 42
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SinoTibetan
*Sinitic
**Chinese
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Simplified Partial Tree of Sino-Tibetan Languages
Red = Extinct Language
White = categories/unattested proto-languages
Green= Living Languages
Another Way of Looking at the Sino-Tibetan Branch
Until the mid-20th century, most southern Chinese only spoke their native
local variety of Chinese. As Nanjing was the capital during the early Ming Dynasty,
Nanjing Mandarin became most used at least until the later years of the Qing
Dynasty.
Since the 17th century, the Qing Dynasty had set up speech academies to
make pronunciation the same as that of the capital Beijing. For the general
population, however, this did little good. The non-Mandarin speakers in southern
China also continued to use their various languages for all areas of life. The Beijing
Mandarin court standard was used only by officials and civil servants and was
therefore fairly limited.
This situation did not change until the mid-20th century with the creation (in
both the PRC and the ROC, but not in Hong Kong) of a forced educational system
committed to teaching Standard Mandarin. As a result, Mandarin is now spoken
by virtually all young and middle-aged citizens of mainland China and on Taiwan.
Standard Cantonese, not Mandarin, was used in Hong Kong during the time of its
British colonial period (owing to its large Cantonese native and migrant populace)
and remains today its official language of education, formal speech, and daily life,
but Mandarin is becoming increasingly influential after the 1997 handover.
Classical Chinese was once the lingua franca in neighboring East Asian countries
such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam for centuries, before the rise of European
influences in 19th century.
Chinese characters
zhuyin fuhao
pinyin
(Taiwan script)
Xiao'erjing (Islam in China)
(Love)
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Hello "nǐhǎo"
http://www.standardmandarin.com/chinesephrases/Hello
喂
Please "qǐng nǐ"
http://www.standardmandarin.com/chinesephrases/Please
请
Good-bye "zàijiàn" Thank you "xièxiè"
http://www.standardmandarin.com/chinesephrases/Good_Bye
再见
http://www.standardmandarin.com/chinesephrases/Thank_you
谢谢您
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China’s History
Pre-history and the “Ancient Era”:
The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty
(ca. 1550 BCE – ca. 1046 BCE).
Turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty
have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BCE.
The origins of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy,
developed during the Zhou Dynasty (1045 BCE to 256 BCE)
that followed the Shang. It was the longest lasting dynasty and
spans the period in which the written script evolved from
ancient oracle script to the beginnings of modern Chinese
writing.
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The “Ancient Era, ” continued:
Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BCE) The Hundred Schools of Thought
of Chinese philosophy blossomed during this period, and such influential
intellectual movements as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism and Mohism were
founded, partly in response to the changing political world.
Warring States Period (476-221 BCE) The final expansion in this period
began during the reign of Ying Zheng , the king of Qin. His unification of
the other six powers, and further annexations in the modern regions of
Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi in 214 BCE enabled him to
proclaim himself the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huangdi).
Chinese pu vessel with interlaced dragon design, Spring and
Autumn Period.
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Dynasty Name
Qin Dynasty, 221-206 BC
China unified for first time
Han Dynasty, 206 BC-220 AD
Invention of paper 150 BC
Silk Road opened 139 BC
Great Wall completed 241AD
*Invention of compass 271 AD
Tang Dynasty, 618-907 AD
Tea cultivation,
porcelain developed
Song Dynasty, 960-1279 AD
Gunpowder invented
Genghis Khan 1206-1264 AD
Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368 AD
Ming Dynasty, 1368-1544 AD
Qing Dynasty 1644-1911 AD
Dates
49-44 BC
47-30 BC
79 AD
476 AD
560 AD
Elsewhere in the World . . .
Julius Caesar
Reign of Cleopatra
Vesuvius buries Pompeii
Fall of the Roman Empire
Peak of Mayan civilization
1096-1099AD First Crusade
1275-1292AD Marco Polo's journey to China
1492 AD
1776 AD
Columbus discovers New World
U.S. Declaration of Independence
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Modern China:
Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by China's
weakness, young officials, military officers, and students—inspired
by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen—began to advocate the
overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the creation of a republic.
In the 1920s, Sun Yat-Sen established a revolutionary base in south China,
and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With Soviet assistance, he
entered into an alliance with the fledgling Communist Party of China. In
1925, one of his protégés, Chiang Kai-shek, seized control and succeeded
in bringing most of south and central China under its rule in a military
campaign known as the Northern Expedition.
1949–1976: Socialist transformation under Mao Zedong
1976–1989: Rise of Deng Xiaoping and economic reforms
In 1979, the Chinese government instituted a one child policy to try to control its rapidly
increasing population. The controversial policy resulted in a dramatic decrease in child poverty.
The law currently applies to about a third of mainland Chinese.
The 1990s saw two foreign colonies returned to China, Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, and Macau
from Portugal in 1999. Hong Kong and Macau mostly continued their own governance, retaining
independence in their economic, social, and judicial systems.
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2002–present
The first major crisis faced by
China in the 21st century as a new
generation of leaders led by Hu
Jintao after assuming power was the
public health crisis involving SARS,
an illness that seemed to have
originated out of Guangdong
province.
The continued economic growth of
the country as well as its sporting power
status gained China the right to host the
2008 Summer Olympics. However, this
had also put Hu's administration under
intense spotlight.
In May 2008, a massive earthquake registering 8.0 on the Richter scale hit
Sichuan province of China, exacting a death toll officially estimated at
approximately 70,000. The government responded more quickly than in it did with
previous events, and allowed foreign media access to the regions that were hit the
hardest. The adequacy of the government response was generally praised, and the
relief efforts extended to every corner of Chinese life.
In May and June 2008, heavy rains in southern China caused severe flooding in
the provinces of Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong, with dozens of
fatalities and over a million people forced to evacuate.
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A
Glimpse
of
China’s
Culture
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Chinese Identity
Today there are 56 distinct ethnic
groups in China. In terms of
numbers, however, the pre-eminent
ethnic group is the Han Chinese.
Throughout history, many groups
have been assimilated into
neighboring ethnicities or
disappeared without a trace. At the
same time, many within the Han
identity have maintained distinct
linguistic and regional cultural
traditions. The term Zhonghua Minzu
has been used to describe the notion
of Chinese nationalism in general.
Much of the traditional cultural
identity within the community has to
do with distinguishing the family
name.
Han dynasty: stone rubbing
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Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture, examples
of which can be found from over
2,000 years ago, has long been a
hallmark of the culture. There are
certain features common to
Chinese architecture, regardless
of specific region or use. The
most important is its emphasis
on width, as the wide halls of the
Forbidden City serve as an
example. In contrast,
Another important feature is
symmetry, which connotes a
sense of grandeur as it applies to
everything from palaces to
farmhouses.
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The Chinese
Dragon, Fu dog
and incense are
another three
symbols within
traditional
Chinese culture.
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A koi pond is a
signature Chinese
scenery depicted in
countless art work.
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Chinese cuisine
The overwhelmingly large
variety mainly comes from the
emperors hosting a banquet of
100 dishes each meal. Over
time, many dishes became part
of the everyday-citizen culture.
Some of the highest quality
restaurants with recipes close
to the dynastic periods include
Fangshan restaurant in Beihai
Park Beijing and the Oriole
Pavilion. Arguably all branches
of Hong Kong eastern style or
even American Chinese food
are in some ways rooted from
the original dynastic cuisines.
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Famous People from China
Ok, so she’s not
famous yet! She IS
from China, though.
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Before we begin our list, please note:
In Chinese names, the family name is typically
placed first (for example, the family name of
"Xu Feng" is "Xu"). For westernized names,
the family name is placed last (for example,
the family name of "Maggie Cheung" is
"Cheung").
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Yao Ming
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Guo Yue
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7215848919348540891&ei=uBLS7ytNoSSrALupoH9AQ&q=ping+pong+balls&hl=en#
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Members of China’s 2008 Women’s Gymnastic
team celebrate after winning the team gold
Wednesday during Day 5 of the Beijing
Olympics.
Yang Yun, left, and Dong
Fangxiao won team bronze
medals during the 2000 Olympic
Games.
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Chinese Words
We Use in English
Chop chop from
Cantonese chuk chuk 速
速, lit. hurry, urgent
Tofu, lit. bean curd from Chinese 豆腐
(Mandarin dòufu).
Chop suey from
Cantonese 雜碎
(tzapseui), lit. mixed
pieces
Tycoon, lit. high official; or 大君,
lit. great nobleman
Ketchup possibly from
Cantonese or Amoy 茄
汁, lit. tomato
sauce/juice
Shar Pei from
Cantonese 沙皮, lit.
sand skin.
Shih Tzu from Mandarin
獅子狗, lit. Chinese lion
dog
Yin Yang, 陰陽 from Mandarin 'Yin'
meaning feminine, dark and 'Yang'
meaning masculine and bright
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