Some random facts about China...

So as I start to do some research for Avery's lifebook, I came across some facts that I knew about and some I didn't. I thought I would share my findings with everyone that checks the blog:

China's official language- Mandarin
Capitol- Beijing
Currency- Yuan
Religion- Buddhist or Taoism
Population- Now over 1.3 Billion
Most populous City- Shanghai at about 15 million

China is the world's largest and most populous country, 20% of the world's population is China. That means that 1 out of every 5 people on the planet are from China.

Percentage of people over 65 years old- 6.96%
Average life span of Males- 69 years
Average life span of Females-73 years

In the past 25 years China has had the fastest growing economy in the world. With an annual growth of more than 10%.

They still have the one child policy. I didn't think they did but here's the deal. The one child poilcy has been in effect since 1979. Chinese leader Deng Xiao Ping put it into effect to limit China's population (obviously). There are fines, and pressure to abort from the Government when the policy is not followed. Also, this is why you find babies in alleys, and in baskets on the side of the road etc., where parents have given up their children anonymously. But here's the catch to the one child policy, actually there are 2 catches to the policy:

1. They say the one child policy is only for families that live in urban areas. The families in rural areas are not subject to it, and can have 2 children. In one of the books I read, "The Lost Daughters of China", it told a lot about the history of China's "lost" daughters, and about what happened to the girls, and babies-very disturbing!!

2. The other exception to the rule is if the husband and wife are both sibling-less. Then they can have 2 children. I hadn't heard this one before.

Obviously there are many families that have more than 1 or 2 children. In my book there were tales of great fines, and torture if the rules were not followed. But with a population of over 1.3 billion how would you ever keep track...you can't.

So there's some trivia. I will have more as I study up on my China history and statistics, and start her book. Hope you follow the journey with us!!

Zai Jian-Goodbye!
~Alli