History

Geography

The history of the Chinese space occupation is attested before the Neolithic era. The first dynasties, Xia, Shang, Zhou reigned before the first emperor Qin Shihuangdi (221-210 BC). Since, six great dynasties have given emperors to China.
From 206 BC to 220 AD, the Han completed the installation of the administrative system with the introduction of examinations. After the Han fall, three Kingdoms shared the power, Wei, Shu, Wu.
From 618 to 907, the Tang succeeded to the Sui (581-618) and reorganized the administration. It was an era of economic and cultural prosperity. The arts showed it. After the Tang fall, sixteen dynasties shared the territory.
From 960 to 1276, the Song inaugurated a period of technical and cultural revival. But threats appeared on the borders with "barbaric" people.
From 1277 to 1368, the Yuan, a Mongolian dynasty, developed international relations, Marco Polo's travels,  embassies of the King of France and of the Pope.
From 1368 to 1644, the Ming, a Chinese dynasty, were despots and developed arts, "blue and white" porcelains. They were corrupted by the Eunuch caste.
From 1644 to 1911, the Qing, a Manchu dynasty, underwent the Chinese nationalism opposition in spite of undeniable economic success. They did not expect the arrival of the Western powers, British, French, Japanese, Russians.
From 1911,  October 10, 1910 the army revolted and the Republic was proclaimed on the 01/01/1912. This movement brought a time of change which developed with the Long March and led after World War II to the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

China has a complex shape that can be put in an almost perfect square of 5,500Km from west to east and 5,000Km from north to south. The area is 17 times as large as France.
It is divided into five large areas:
The Northern part is made up of steppes and plains which are prolonged by Mongolia, territories of sheep and horse stockbreeders living in yurts. The North-East is the flat rich Manchuria plain which extends to Peking and the Yellow River basin. It is mostly cereal crops and recently paddy fields.
The Western part is the China desert and steppe area with in the north Chinese Turkistan, Tianshan, and in the south the Kunlun  mountains and the Tibetan plateau.
The Southern part made up of three subsets. The karstic tables of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi offer dramatic sceneries around Guilin and Lijiang river. It is a great tourist attraction. The meridional coasts whose land end is the Hainan peninsula, are cut out and scattered with small islands. The coastal plain with the Fujian and Ningbo is the tea plantation area.
The part from West to East is the Changjiang river middle basin and delta. The plains of the middle basin with its two large lakes are called China's "two bowls of rice". The delta, a rich marshy plain, ends by the great metropolis of Shanghai, China's first harbour.
The part of the centre is Sichuan, a basin irrigated by "four rivers" and the city of Chengdu.
China knows all type of weathers:
In the North, the climate is continental, in the Centre it is continental with influences of the monsoon, in the South the climate is tropical under influence of the monsoon.

The Chinese landscape is as varied as its geography and its climatic system. Irrigation, control of rivers are part of the cultural inheritance of Chinese peasants, all the fertile soil is used for cereals, rice and vegetables. The absence of cattle herd is balanced by pig and the young wild boar large herds. Finally pisciculture is developed considerably for the recycling of animal various waste. Chinese peasants are artful.

Economic facts

Civilization

China is a major economic power with which the Western must learn how to work.

The Chinese currency is the Yuan.

The official name is People's Republic of China whose capital is Beijing (Peking). The population was 1,250 billion in the year 2000. The official language of China is Putonghua (Mandarin dialect of Peking).

The Chinese are Confucians, Buddhists, Taoists and Moslems.

China attracts tourists either for cultural activities by visiting the archaeological centres or the monuments or for sports activities in the west. At the time of a first contact the tourist is impressed by the dimension of any thing, is disorientated by the difficulty to speak with Chinese people, is subjugated by the value and artistic refinement.

Information of the traveller

Sights

A visa is necessary to enter China. The individual journeys are not encouraged. They are made difficult by the language, few Chinese speak English.

The traveller's budget depends on his intentions, China offers few opportunities for small budgets.

China it is also a real ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious mosaic.

Two journeys were made: In 1982, the Silk Road and in 1988, the South Road. A journey was made in Tibet in 1990, on Alexandra David-Neel's tracks.