Fun facts about China

Chinese Firsts

You probably already know that Chinese invented gunpowder, firecrackers, paper and porcelain (the reason we call our china “china”). But did you know that they were also the first to invite the wheelbarrow, the decimal system, the umbrella, kites, the harness and the compass?

Food

Chinese eat a lot of fish – some 45 pounds per person per year. That is 3 times as much as Americans. Fish-farming was invented in China, so was ice cream, pasta and whiskey. The Chinese have an expression, “We eat anything with four legs but the table, anything that flies but the airplane”.

Fast food

The worlds number 1 fast food market in the US, but did you know that number 2 is China? In China, KFC tops the list with over 1,400 outlets – more than any nation outside the U.S. McDonalds claims over 800 locations (only 3 of them drive-thrus) and their count is growing with 100 new outlets a year.

Panda facts

• Pandas are bears but they don’t hibernate. One reason is that they don’t have to, they live in a fairly regular climate with bamboo available year round. Secondly, their diet of bamboo would not sustain them during hibernation.
• Pandas eat anywhere from 35 to 65 of bamboo a day. But pandas will also eat the occasional mouse or two if they are really hungry.
• Pandas spend 12 to 16 hours a day eating. Mornings are usually when they are at their hungriest.
• The sex of a panda can’t readily be determined until it’s several weeks old.
• The Chinese name for panda is “xiongmao” which means “giant bear cat”.
• When born, pandas are all white, blind and about the size of a large apple.

Chinese names

China’s population is about 1.3 billion but 96% of them share 200 family names. Chinese names are written with the family name first, the given name follows.

The top 3 Chinese family names are:

• Li
• Wang
• Chang

The Great Wall

The Great Wall of China is shrinking. While there is ongoing progress in the preservation and reconstruction of the most visited segments of the Great Wall, outlying segments continue to “disappear”. It seems local construction projects occasionally "borrow" building materials from the wall.