The Peoples Republic of China The capital of China is BeijingNational FlagA red flag with five yellow stars.The biggest one represents Chinas government, the four smaller stars represent the people of China.There are different land areas. The northwest of china are mostly plateaus, which has bitterly cold winters and very hot summers.The North China Plain is a flat area that is surrounded by mountains on three sides.The Southern China is covered with rice fields.Central China has lots of people and huge cities. The giant panda is an endngered animal , According to the latest report, China has 239 giant pandas in captivity by Nov 2007, 128 of them in Wolong and 67 in Chengdu, with 27 pandas living outside the country. It also estimated that around 1,590 panda are living in the wild. The giant panda is a favorite of the human public, at least partly because many people find that the species has an appealing baby-like cuteness. Research shows that in cases in which its offspring may be under threat, the panda can and often will react violently.Dai temple Stone inscriptionsThe Immortal Bridge, a natural landscape Azure clouds temple Sun rising The yellow river The yellow riverThe Yangtze riverThe Yellow mountain Clinton and his wife and daughter toured the Great Wall on June 28,1998. Clinton said repeatedly in admiration “Wonderful, magnificent sight. The Great Wall runs up and down steeply. It is much more magnificent than I can imagine.”Tian Anmen SquareHeaven TempleSkyscraper of Beijing brilliant night of BeijingChina has the most people of any countries in the world- more than one billion.That s four times more than the number of the people in the United States.There are 56 different ethnic, or culture, groups living in China. Most people are the members of Han people(照片各族人 民)Beijing duckBean pastehawThe Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees. The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the peoples sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance. The Chinese character “fu“ (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the “reversed fu“ is homophonic with “fu comes“, both being pronounced as “fudaole.“ Whats more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper- cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think “jiaozi“ in sound means “bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new“. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, and they have different customs.There are some legendary stories for the Moon Festival. 1) The Lady - Chang Er The date of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husbands tyrannical rul