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The People's Republic of China
History and Culture

 People's Republic of China
The People's Republic of China
(PRC) (zhōng huá rén mín gong hé guó 中华人民共和国) commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population. It is a socialist republic (specifically a people's democratic dictatorship according to its constitution) ruled by the Communist Party of China (zhōng guó gòng chǎn dǎng 中国共产党) under a single-party system, and has jurisdiction over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, which are Xinjiang (xīn jiāng 新疆), Inner Mongolia (nèi měng gǔ 内蒙古), Tibet (xī zàng 西藏), Ningxia (níng xià 宁夏), and Guangxi (guǎng xī 广西); four municipalities, which are Beijing (běi jīng 北京), Tianjin (tiān jīn 天津), Shanghai (shàng hǎi 上海), and Chongqing (chóng qìng 重庆); and two highly autonomous Special Administrative Regions (tè bié xíng zhèng qū 特别行政区), which are Hong Kong (xiāng gǎng 香港) and Macau (ào mén 澳门).

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The Five Constant Virtues of China
History and Culture

the five constant virtues

Owning over thousands of years of history, the Chinese have created a brilliant history and culture, and at the same time have formed their own moral code that has played an important role in social development and progress. This is what we call Traditional Virtues (chuán tǒng měi dé 传统美德), which still have great significance today and whose value to the development of human civilization is now widely recognized.

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Three Friends in Cold Weather
History and Culture

         Three Friends in Cold Weather (岁寒三友)
Pine
(sōng 松), bamboo (zhú 竹) and plum (méi 梅)have always been regarded by Chinese people as the most beloved plants because they all thrive through the cold-winter days, just like friends who cherish the same ideas welcoming the advent of the spring together. For this very reason, they are called “ Three Friends in Cold Weather (suì hán sān yǒu 岁寒三友)”, symbolizing the noble characters esteened and pursued by Chiese people.

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The Historical Confucius
History and Culture

alt
A kind statue with a stone beard watches over the spirit of a nation. In mainland Chinese history books and in temples across the country, the master presents a humble visage, crossing his hands before his chest (a highest etiquette showing respect) ready to preach his thoughts. 

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Buddhism in China
History and Culture

Early History of Buddhism in China
Buddhism (fó jiào 佛教) is the most important religion in China. Buddhism was introduced from India into China in 6th Century AD. One of the Hen Emperors sent a mission to the west of China and brought back the scriptures (jīng wén 经文), Indian monks and the images of Buddha. Since then Chinese translation was made available and the further exchange of scholars among altChina, India and other Asian countries brought about the rapid development of Buddhism in China. Buddhist monasteries (xiū dào yuàn 修道院) and temples were built to promote the Buddhism and some of the Emperors were also the followers of Buddhism. Buddhism, just like Confucianism (rú jiào 儒教) and Taoism (dào jiào 道教), guides people to behave, to be honest and responsible. It promotes harmony and peaceful mind, sharing and compassion. Buddhists never force people into their belief. Buddhism emphasizes in "awakening of mind". Through learning, one will develop intellectual capacity to the fullest so as to understand, to love and be kind to other beings.

Buddhism does not believe in God. It believes in People. In Buddhist teaching, there is no aggressive promotion of Buddhism or strong rejection of other religions. All these make Buddhism fall into the same scope of Confucianism and Taoist. Its ability to co-exist with any other religions makes it being developed into one of the largest religions in China.

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The Four Books and Five Classics
History and Culture

ConfucianismThe Four Books (sì shū 四书) refer to The Analects of Confucius (lún yǔ 论语), The Mencius (mèng zǐ 孟子), The Great Learning (dà xué 大学) and The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (zhōng yōng 中庸). The former two are collections of sayings and teachings of Confucius (kǒng zǐ 孔子) and Mencius (mèng zǐ 孟子) as well as sayings of their disciples while the latter two are chapters in The Classic of Rites (lǐ jì 礼记). Chu His (zhū xī 朱熹), a famous scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty (nán sòng 南宋), held that The Four Books together outlined the basic system of Confucian thoughts (rú jiā sī xiǎng 儒家思想) and constituted a better introduction to the complicated materials in the Classics (jīng diǎn 经典), thus selecting these four texts from Classics and put them together as the Four Books.

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