Okay so, you’ve already booked your flight with China Airlines in an attempt to be organised, you’ve also arranged a tour with Beijing Tours because you’ve heard people talk about it. But will you truly understand what they are about to show you? Do you understand the sentimental values and history of the Chinese People? No? Well heres a few key introductory points points. . . .
1) Chinas Population
China is the most populated country in the entire world ,despite being the third largest country in the world. Statsitics suggest that 1 in every 5 people in the world, lives in China, therefore the Chinese account for 20% of the world’s population.
The 2008 census suggests China’s population to be 1.3 billion. China’s population grew astonishingly between 1950 and 1980 with the population in 1950 being just 563 million and steadily expanding to 1 billion in 1980.
Under rule of Mao Zedong China’s population massively increased, with the promotion of an ever expanding population, through policies such as his “Human Wave Policy” created to act as defence against feared attacks from the United States and the Soviet Union. With overpopulation becoming a grave concern after Mao’s death in 1979, the ‘one child policy’ was introduced nationally. The ‘one child policy’ is a government initiative to encourage Chinese couples to have one child late in marriage to gradually decrease the population size and aid China’s abolishment of poverty, as financial rise. The policy was intended to last just one generation however has been so successful it is thought to late
several more.
By 2040 India is expected to overtake China population wise, making Chinathe Second largest population in the world.
2) Ethnicity
Beyond the awareness of many tourists in China and around the world, the Chinese are a very diverse group of people stemming from several different ethnicities. Those that we usually describe to be Chinese, are Han. Han is the largest ethnic group in China making up 70% of the population, with 56 other ethnicities making up the rest. Unbeknown to many however this Ethnic group, within itself has multiple variances and sub-ethnicities. This can be seen in some groups persistence in keeping their original culture and language despite identifying themselves today as being Han.
3) 
Religion
A direct result of being such a diverse country, is the existence and following of many different religions by the Chinese people:
Shangdi: the first religion of China centred upon the worship of Shangdi translated into English as heaven. Thisfaith taught heaven to be intangible, as something omnipresent which guides you in life and builds a relationship with you. It s upon this belief that shrines such as the ‘Temple of Heaven’ were built, rulers of every dynasty would perform sacrificial ceremonies in honour of ‘Shangdi’. Having said this however its popularity did decrease with the rise of other religions such as Taoism and Buddhism.
Taoism: Taoism is considered an unorganized Chinese folk religion, based upon recognising the recognizing the true nature of the universe. Variations or teachings from this religion can be seen today in Feng Sui and Acupuncture.
Buddhism: Buddhism in particular Mahayana is the most prominent form of Buddhism used in China, and is the form which has been exported to Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Despite many Chinese regarding themselves as both Taoist and Buddhist, Buddhism’s largest group of followers are the Chinese.
Islam: Islam arrived in China 18 years after the death of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, during the Song Dynasty when Muslims were dominating trade into and out of China. Yet the religion has not survived without controversy, as can be seen in the Dungan Revolt and the Panthay Rebellion when the Qing Dynasty declared war and genocide against Muslim believers.
Judaism: Was re- introduced to China in the second half of the 20th century primarily in Shanghai. This was a direct result of the Jewish Holocaust taking place in Germany, with Hong Kong and Shanghai being the only port in the world accepting Jewish refugees without an entry visa, China became their safe haven.
Christianity:
Introduced as early as 7 AD Christianity in China was not without controversy, seen in the Boxer Rebellion in. Yet Christianity did create a stir in China in the Taiping Revolution.
4) Language
Within the Chinese language itself exists several different language groups, with Mandarin being the most popular, statistics suggest 70% of the Chinese population speak it. The other 30% are said to speak Cantonese, Thai, Mongolian and several others languages.
All in all the Chinese Race is very diverse and possess possibly the longest history of all the nations in the world, this is a lot to do with their early recluse, which has provided for both the people and even tourists, interesting discoveries, beautiful sights, buildings and statues, and never ending folk tales. We hope you enjoy your China Tour!
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