China's Top 7 - Seven Places to Visit in Mainland China

China is a country on the move. Peasant farmers are moving to the cities in vast numbers and creating a huge growth in production and demand of resources. In this push in creating the modern China I hope the things that have made China great in the past are not forgotten. China is so huge and there is so much to see this list is almost impossible to limit to just 7, but I'll try.

The following list is my top seven spots I'd like to see in China. I included the province of Tibet in the list, but exclude Taiwan sites from the list - as Taiwan is not part of communist China despite the parties one China policy. To avoid political controversy let's just say this list is the top 7 of mainland China.

1) The Forbidden City.

Just the fact for much of its history an average pleb like me would have been kept out is reason enough to visit. To see the last palace of the Emperors. Even today look at a Google map of Beijing and its not hard to spot the forbidden city from the air. Not just the size of the place and the architecture, but the ornamental details such as the Chinese lions and the Imperial five-clawed dragons which hold interest here. While in Beijing which many will be for the Summer Olympics 2008, there are many temples and sites to see and a visit to the summer palace should also be included. The new Olympic venues like the bird nest stadium and bubble swimming center will be architecture wonders for decades after the games have finished.

2) The Great wall of China.

A wall thousands of miles long just has to be seen. It not my first pick because in reality much of the wall is in ruins. Not all the wall was made from stone. Some sections were compressed mud, but the aim was the same - to separate civilized China from the barbarians of the north. It failed at times as the Mongols clearly showed, but it was still an impressive construction feat. There are restored sections of the walls for the tourists, but to be honest its the original ruined sections that have more interest for me - as well as more history and character.

3) Mount Everest

The tallest mountain in the world. Apart from the amazing height - you likely to suffer attitude sickness even at base camp, visually Everest is a stunning mountain. Add to that the yaks, Sherpas and isolation in the plateau on top of the world and you have something that attracts the adventure. I have no desire to climb the mighty mountain, one I'm getting too old and second going into any death zone isn't my cup of tea. But to climb some of the slopes could be fun.

4) Xi'an

Serving as the Capital to 11 Dynasties over 4,000 years you know there has to be something special about this site. The Xi'an City Walls 14km's long, give you the sense traveling back in time. You can imagine arriving in a caravan from the west seeking China's special silk and other products. Within the city as numerous pagodas, temple and places of interest including the Shaanxi History Museum.

5) The Terracotta Army

1000's of life-size pottery figures modeled after soldiers of the era. The tomb of the first Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi is yet to be fully excavated. The Chinese have great respect for their ancestors so they are moving carefully with this project, though I for one would love to find out what other hidden treasures are yet to be discovered.

6) Shanghai

The bund is not technically Chinese but a hang over from the colonial exploitation of China by the western powers and Japan, which is must be said was a disgusting period of history with Britain and other nations forcing Opium on the Chinese populace - the drug trade is disgusting, to then enforce that trade at the point of the gun is despicable. The bund is the waterfront of Shanghai with a 1920's art deco feel. Other must see places in Shanghai include the Shanghai museum, Yu Gardens and Bazaar

7) Finally the South West - in particular - the Landscape around Yangshuo, Guangxi - towering cliffs with rice paddy's and river give the traditional Chinese feel as China was for thousands of years. These weathered limestone formations from Karst are a photographers dream and inspired thousands of landscapes.

I told you I would struggle to fit everything into seven top picks, this list is just a tip of a large iceberg - as its not yet complete - the 3 Gorges Dam is added as a bonus here. What will become the largest power plant/dam in the world will definitely be worth a visit. As well I'd love to watch the huge tidal bore that occurs on the yellow river as well.

China - home to 1/5 of the world's population is overdue to become one of the world's great tourist hotspots. I for one will be happy to led the charge.

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Alastair HARRIS is the main promoter the getfinancialfreedom4u family of websites, blogs and projects (visit http://getfinancialfreedom4u.ws) specializing in online business opportunities and education, income being generated by affiliate marketing, Google, GDI, eBay, and more. Alastair is rated as an expert author on numerous article directories and is very open to assisting others on the internet.

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Immigrants From Mainland China And Taiwan Spoke Mostly Mandarin

The immigrants from mainland China and Taiwan spoke mostly Mandarin, and those from Hong Kong spoke Cantonese; both groups continued to use traditional Chinese characters as a means of communication. As social and political conditions in the PRC began to stabilize, the second wave of immigrants decreased considerably. The third wave of immigration started in the last decades of the 20th century and continues today.

The immigrants were composed of mainland Chinese from various socioeconomic backgrounds, with professionals as the most represented group. They spoke mainly Mandarin and used simplified Chinese characters to communicate. Part of the motivation to emigrate, specifically from Hong Kong, was the change in the political status of this territory, which was associated with the turnover of political control to the PRC.

The Chinese population in the United States has been characterized by a steady and fast growth over the past 40 years. The U.S. Census of 2000 indicated that the total Chinese population had grown from 435,000 in 1970 to over 2 million. It is estimated that a large portion of the Chinese population in the United States lives in the West and about 30% lives in the Northeast.

California and New York are the states with the first- and second-largest Chinese immigrant communities, hosting about 40% and 18% of the total Chinese population, respectively. Language has been a huge issue for Chinese immigrants in the United States. In 2000, the U.S. Census reported that nearly half the Chinese in the United States did not speak English at home or spoke English "less than very well."

According to this source, Chinese persons did less well in speaking English when compared with other Asian groups. Despite the language disadvantage, 48.1% of Chinese in the United States had at least a bachelor's degree by 2000, although the place where they received their tertiary education was not reported. About one quarter of the Chinese population in the United States had less than a high school diploma.

An important historical feature of Chinese immigrants has been the phenomenon of Chinese community schools, where Chinese language, calligraphy, and culture are taught to the young.

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Differences Between Mainland and Taiwan Chinese

The Chinese language is probably the most famous language which uses characters instead of letters. However contrary to popular belief Chinese is not just one language but there are many different dialects. In Hong Kong for instance people speak Cantonese which is so different that someone from Beijing would not understand it. Also there are two different sets of Chinese characters. The original traditional characters and the simplified characters. The simplified characters were introduced to promote literacy by decreasing the number of strokes required for some characters. Not all characters were simplified however, like some characters which are already very simple (2 or 3 strokes). Traditional characters are still used in Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. In Mainland China and Singapore simplified characters are used.

Someone who wants to learn Chinese is normally best advised to learn Standard Mandarin and simplified characters which are used in Beijing (Peking) for instance. However if you also want to do business or stay in Taiwan for instance you should also learn traditional characters. Traditional characters are considered to be the "more beautiful" characters, even by some mainlanders. Since simplified characters are relatively new, it means that many historic texts can not be read by the new generation.

Also if learning Chinese the questions is which romanization system should be used. Hanyu Pinyin (or short Pinyin) is the most common system. This system uses the Latin alphabet to represent sounds in Chinese. In Taiwan a different system is used called Zhuyin. Zhuyin does not use the Latin alphabet like Pinyin and is therefore more difficult to learn for Westerners. Zhuyin is also known as Bopomofo.

China is emerging as a major economic power. For that reason it is becoming more popular to learn. Some schools in Europe have changed their curriculum and Chinese competes now with French, Spanish and German.

Oliver Antosch is the owner of Chinese-Course.com and many other websites.

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