Chinese Culture & Adoption Training
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CHINESE CULTURE & ADOPTION TRAINING AMERICA WORLD ADOPTION GEOGRAPHY China is twice the size of Western Europe and the third largest country in the world, after Russia and Canada. China covers an area of 3.7 million square miles. • Capital: Beijing • Provinces: Over 30 regions as well as two territories, Hong Kong and Taiwan. • AWAA receives most of its referrals from Guangdong, Guizhou, Gansu and Shaanxi • Population: 1.35 billion people - the most populous country in the world ETHNIC GROUPS Other 1.9 Mongol 0.45 Tibetan 0.47 Tujia 0.63 Percent of Yi 0.65 Population Miao 0.7 Uyghur 0.76 Hui 0.78 Manchu 0.79 Zhuang 1.27 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 • 91.6% of the Chinese population is Han • The “Other” category captures 46 smaller ethnic groups • There are a total of 56 ethnic groups recognized by the government of the PRC • The term “Zhonghua Minzu” is a modern political term which means “Chinese nation” or “Chinese race” and it is used to refer to all Chinese people, the minority races as well as the Han majority in an effort to promote nation building. • The 2010 census recorded 593,832 foreign citizens living in China. The largest groups of foreign citizens were from South Korea, the United States, and Japan. 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_China POPULATION POLICY With a population of over 1.3 billion and an estimated growth rate of 0.57%, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is very concerned about its population growth and has attempted with mixed results to implement a strict family planning policy. In 1979 the Chinese government stipulated that every couple may have only one child, with exceptions in rural areas (in many areas if the first child is a boy, the family may not have a second child) and for ethnic minorities. Official government policy opposes forced abortion or sterilization, but allegations of coercion continue as some local officials face penalties if they fail to control population growth. The decreasing reliability of PRC population statistics, since family planning began in the late 1970s, has made evaluating the effectiveness of the policy very difficult. Estimates by Chinese demographers of the average number of children Chinese women have (the total fertility rate) vary from 1.5 to 2.0. The increasing imbalance in the male/female sex ratio at birth, apparently the result of combination of the traditional preference for boys, family planning pressure and the wide availability of "China Relaxing One Child Policy by the End of 2013 and Could Go to ultrasound fetal sex determination technology, Two Child by 2015." China Relaxing One Child Policy by the End of 2013 concerned Chinese leaders and led to a ban on the and Could Go to Two Child by 2015. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. use of ultrasound for the purpose of fetal sex selection. However, according to the Chinese Health Ministry data release in March 2013, 336 million abortions and 222 million sterilizations have been carried out since 1971.1 Although there is consistently talk about the government lifting the one child policy, the notion of one child per family is now a large part of the Chinese culture. Also, for many families, having more than one child is not an option due to the rising cost of living, education and medicine.2 The government's goal is to stabilize the population and population growth early in the 21st century, although some current projections estimate a population of anywhere ranging from 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion by 2025.3 1 New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/chinas-brutal-one- child-policy.html?_r=0 2 Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 25, 2013. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-16/china-tiger- moms-turn-guardians-of-one-child-policy-as-law-eases.html 3 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 23, 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_China CLIMATE China's northernmost point lies along the Heilong Jiang in Heilongjiang Province in the cold-temperate zone; its southernmost point, Hainan Island, has a tropical climate. Temperature differences in winter are great, but in summer the diversity is considerably less. For example, the northern portions of Heilongjiang Province experience an average January mean temperature of below 0°C, and the reading may drop to minus 30°C; the average July mean in the same area may exceed 20 °C. By contrast, the central and southern parts of Guangdong Province experience an average January China Tourist Maps - Annual Average Temperature. Photograph. ChinaTouristMaps.org. Web. 11 Mar 2014. temperature of above 10 °C, while the July mean is about 28 °C. Precipitation varies regionally even more than temperature. The area south of the Qinling Mountains experiences abundant rainfall, most of it coming with the summer monsoons. To the north and west of the range, however, rainfall is uncertain. Further north and west, the rainfall is less likely. The northwest has the lowest annual rainfall in the country and no precipitation at all in its desert areas. China Climate Map - Annual Precipitation. N.d. Photograph. ChinaMaps.org. Web. 11 Mar 2014. <http://www.chinamaps.org/china/china-map-of-precipitation-annual.html>. HISTORY OF CHINA The information in this section is intended to provide an all-encompassing account of China’s long and rich history. Families are encouraged to seek out additional resources if they would like to deepen their understanding and appreciation of Chinese history. The history of China dates back to 1500 BC. China is one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty (商朝) have been carbon dated to around 1500 BC. These records suggest that the origins of Chinese civilization started with city-states in the Yellow River valley. 221 BC is commonly used as the date when China became unified under a large kingdom or empire. Successive dynasties developed systems of bureaucratic control that would allow the emperor to control the large territory that would become China Proper. Before unification by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC, "China" did not exist as a coherent entity. Chinese civilization consisted of a patchwork of several warring states, each ruled by a king (王), duke (公), marquess (侯), or earl (伯). Although there was a central king who held nominal power, and powerful hegemons sometimes held considerable influence, each state was ruled as an independent political entity. Confucian philosophy Shang dynasty: tortoise shell with Chinese writing. and that of many other philosophies that greatly influenced Chinese Photograph. Britannica Online for Kids. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. philosophy and political thought also began at this time. This ended with <http://kids.britannica.com/com the Qin Dynasty unification, during which the office of the emperor was ptons/art-110197>. set up, and a system of bureaucratic administration established. After the Qin, China experienced about 13 more dynasties, many of which continued the extensive system of kingdoms, dukedoms, earldoms, and marquisates. The territory varied with several expansions and contractions depending on the strength of each emperor and dynasty. However the emperor had ultimate, supreme, and unquestionable authority as the political and religious leader of China. The emperor also consulted civil and martial ministers, especially the prime minister. Political power sometimes fell into the hands of powerful officials, eunuchs, or imperial relatives, often at the expense of a child hereditary emperor. This happened often since the emperor was many layers of power removed from the outside world, making him susceptible to manipulation because his sources for information could manipulate information causing him to make incorrect decisions. This was especially an issue considering the age of becoming emperor often had no bottom limit, with rule passing hereditarily, but also given "in trust" to another relative. Political relations with dependencies (tributary kingdoms) were maintained by international marriages, military aids, treaties, and gifts. Luoyang, Chang'an (today's Xi'an), Nanjing, and Beijing are the four cities most commonly designated as capitals of China over the course of history. Chinese was the official language, though periods of Mongol and Manchu conquest saw the arrival of Mongol and Manchu as alternate official languages On January 1, 1912, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, signaling the end of the Qing Empire. Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party), was proclaimed provisional president of the republic. However, Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general who had defected to the revolutionary cause, soon forced Sun to step aside and took the presidency for himself (formally it was a negotiation where Sun agreed to step aside for what was then perceived as a strong reformer, Yuan). Before long, Yuan attempted to have himself proclaimed emperor of a new dynasty; however, he died soon of natural causes before fully taking power over all of the Chinese empire. After Yuan's downfall, China was politically fragmented, with an internationally-recognized, but virtually powerless, national government seated in Beijing (thus failing to fit the definition of a state). Warlords in various regions exercised actual control over their respective territories. In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, was able to reunify the country under its control, moving the nation's capital to Nanjing and implementing "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat- sen's program for transforming China into a modern, democratic state. Effectively, political tutelage meant one-party rule by the Kuomintang. Ironically, both the Kuomintang and the CCP have heavy Leninist influences.