China: the Middle Kingdom

China map, a photo by trudeau on Flickr.

An overview -

Greatest cities of China
- Shanghai, 14.5 million
- Beijing (formerly known as Peking), 13 million
- Guangzhou ( formewrly known as Canton), 12 million

Shanghai is the huge port on the Pacific. It boasts numeroud tall, beautiful skyscrapers around the harbor. A growing middle class is creating a somewhat glamorous life in Shanghai.

Beijing is the political capital.

Guangzhou (Canton) is the center of a vast manufacturing district in the south.
- Cantonese Chinese - the second type of Chinese langauge.
- Cantonese cooking - often spicy dishes.
- The famous Pearl River connects Guangzhou with the Pacific.

Hong Kong, an island city near the mouth of the Pearl River.
- $$$$$: the business success of Hong Kong may be due to the fact that the island was under British control until 1990. The British fostered the free enterprise system and personal freedom. Today the control of Hong Kong has been returned to Beijing. It continues to prosper.

- Taiwan is an island off the SE coast and is a separate nation. Communist China is called the People's Republic of China (PROC). The nation of Taiwan is called the Republic of China (ROC).

Neighbors -
- Russia
- Mongolia
- India
- Vietnam
- N Korea
- Japan
- East China Sea
- South China Sea
- Yellow Sea
- Sea of Japan