China

Everyone who hears we’re moving says, “Wow, big changes, huh?” It’s an understatement to say that there will be big changes. We will be moving from one of the poorest countries in the world to a country on the fast track in economic development. From a rural community to one of the largest cities in the world. From a beautiful warm climate back to four seasons. From a community heavy on development and missionary work with a large resident expatriate population to a community of more mobile diplomatic and business people. From a school of less than 300 to a school of more than 1,800! So, what is China?

China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six thousand years. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system and the source of the "four great inventions of ancient China": paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

The city's climate is monsoon-influenced, characterized by hot, humid summers and harshly cold, windy, dry winters. Average temperatures in January are at around 19 to 24 °F, while average temperatures in July are at 77 to 79 °F. Three-fourths of the year’s precipitation falls in the summer.

Air pollution levels on an average day in Beijing are nearly five times above WHO standards for safety. China's extremely inefficient use of coal - the country's main source of energy - results in much of the pollution. Dust from erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China result in seasonal dust storms that plague the city; the Beijing Weather Modification Office (a rather Orwellian-sounding thing) sometimes artificially induces rainfall to fight such storms and mitigate their effects. In April 2002, one dust storm alone dumped nearly 50,000 tons of dust onto the city before moving on to Japan and Korea. China’s tremendous economic development has come at an environmental cost, one that is likely to continue. The international focus of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games this summer does mean that China has spent the last 6 years trying to reduce the levels of pollution within Beijing.

The population of Beijing Municipality was 17.43 million in 2007. In addition, there are a large but unknown number of migrant workers who live illegally in Beijing without any official residence permit. The population of Beijing's urban core (city proper) is around 7.5 million.

The Chinese language has a number of different dialects, of which Mandarin is the most

common. Needless to say, it is considered a difficult language to learn! Assuming we are ever to manage learning to speak and understand basic Chinese for day to day tasks, it’s not likely that we’d ever be able to read or write it, leaving us functionally still illiterate. My favorite story so far that I found on line is the “taxi books” that people use and make—collecting business cards printed in Chinese and English for every place they go. Then, when you need to get somewhere, you just point to the card of the location you want to go to and the taxi driver takes it from there!

The major religions are Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity. Ancestor worship figures highly in all traditional forms of worship. Because China is a communist country, the government exerts a noticeable degree of control over many aspects of life, including religious freedom, news, internet, and other printed materials, and perceived threats to national security. The country has a less than stellar record of human-rights violation and its ongoing relationships with Myanmar and North Korea have caused international tension. China continues to experience conflict over its relationships with Tibet and Taiwan as well.

Despite this, China is racing at an economic breakneck pace. The traditional system of communism clearly has not applied to economic development here. Multinational corporations like Microsoft, Nokia, and Sony abound. Western good are easily available in large cities and we can combat homesickness with a Starbucks Grabde Mocha, a Big Mac and fries, or a pizza from Dominos. Missing something for the home? Ikea is a short drive away. Really feeling the pull of Americana? Hong Kong Disneyland is easily accessible.

Also a short drive—the Great Wall, Tianamin Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Masoleum of Chariman Mao. Decent roads and trains allow for much more convenient travel than we have here. There are lots of opportunities for camping and hiking—and since we know hardly anything at all about China, I don’t think we’ll run out of things to see and do!