|
|
| |
|
| |
 Currency
|
|
 The Chinese currency is Renminbi issued by the state bank, the People's Bank of China. The unit of Renminbi is yuan and its fractional currency is jiao. One yuan equals ten jiao. The paper money is divided into yuan and jiao. Renminbi coins include yuan, five jiao and one jiao. The nominal value of yuan is divided into 1,2,5,10,20,50 and 100. The nominal value of jiao is one, two, five jiao. The abridged form of Renminbi is RMB.
|
| |
|
|
| |
Climate
|
|
With a vast territory, most regions in China are located in the temperate zone while some regions in the south are located in the subtropical and tropical zones. Its northern part is close to the frigid zone. Ice and snow can be found all the year round in some alpine regions. China is located in the noted monsoon zone in the world. Most regions are cold and dry in winter and have a warm and rainy climate in summer. Plus its varied topography and terrain conditions, its climate is complicated and diversified. There is a long winter but no summer in the northern part of Heilongjiang Province, while there is a long summer but no winter in Hainan Province. There are four distinct seasons in the Huaihe River Valley. It is like spring all the year round south of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The climate in the hinterland of northwest China varies greatly in winter and summer. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the southwest China is a paramos with a low temperature throughout the year. There is an arid climate and has less rain throughout the year in some desert regions.
|
| |
|
|
| |
Telephone
|
|
Tourists can dial domestic or international long-distance calls in their own hotel rooms and expenses are included in the hotel bill. When tourists visit the city, shops and entertainment arenas, they can dial the domestic or international long-distance calls in the nearby post office and public telephone booth. The expense will be settled after they finish the call. If a tourist dials the domestic long-distance call, he should firstly dial the regional zip code and then the subscriber's number. The regional zip codes of major cities in China are as following:
 Beijing-010
Shanghai- 021
Guangzhou-020
Hangzhou-0571
Guilin-0773
Kunming-0871
Xi'an-029
Chongqing- 023
Hong Kong- 00852
Macau- 00853
If you are going to dial an international long-distance call, you should firstly dial the international zip code ˇ°00ˇ±. Secondly, it will be the state zip code. Then the regional number is ˇ°0ˇ±.You should omit the digitˇ±0ˇ± and finally dial the telephone number of the subscriber. You can dial the international, domestic and urban calls at the booth with the magnetic IC cards.
|
| |
 Useful Phone Numbers
0086- International code of China
110- Police/ Emergency
119- Fire alarm
120- First aid
112- Urban telephone trouble desk
113- Domestic long-distance manual registration desk
114- Urban telephone information desk
115- International long-distance registration desk
116- Domestic long-distance manual information desk
117- Time
121- Weather forecast
|
| |
|
|
| |
Working Time and Official Holidays
|
|
 China implements the five-day working system, no work on Saturday and Sunday.
The working hours of government organizations: from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm with two hour of rest at noon. It is various due to the seasons and the organizations.
In China most workers do not receive the generous holiday/vacation leave allowances people do in the west, although this is offset by the greater number of public holidays Chinese enjoy. Many public holidays are based around festivals. Clearly, Chinese people want to make the most of these holidays by taking a break or visiting relatives at home in a different province, especially the most important traditional Spring Festival. They are very often periods of significant increase in domestic tourism and travel. During some of the public holidays( May 1st and October 1st), you might find hotels and resorts fully booked and it might not be possible to get transportation to the places you want to visit. However, the festivals that often take place during public holidays are great times to see aspects of Chinese people and to feel more involved than you usually might. |
| |
|
|
| |
The Public Holiday of 2008 in China
|
|
 the New Year's Day |
1 January |
One Day |
the Spring Festival holiday |
6-12 February |
Seven Days |
Tomb-Sweeping Day |
4-6 April |
Three Days |
May Day holiday |
1-3 May |
Three Days |
Dragon-Boat Festival |
7-9 June |
Three Days |
Mid-Autumn Day |
13-15 September |
Three Days |
the National Day |
29 September & 1-5 October |
Seven Days |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Language and Written Characters
|
|
 Minority nationalities in China have the freedom to use and develop their own languages and written characters. Chinese and its written characters are in common use in China and also one of the five working languages designated by the United Nations. Because of historical and geographical reasons, there are many dialects in the Chinese language, such as Wu, Guangdong and Fujian dialects. The government has defined that the common speech of the Han nationality is used as the common language. It is known as Mandarin too. Chinese characters are used to record the Chinese language. Since the discovery of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese language has a history of about 6,000 years.
Most of the 55 ethnic groups in China have their own language, 30 of them have their own written languages.
Now as the coming of Olympic Games of 2008, more and more Chinese are learning English, especially in modern tourist cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin and Guangzhou. International friends will not find themselves hardly understood any more. |
| |
|
|
| |
Time Zone
|
|
The land area of China is 60-degree longitude from west to east. According to the demarcation of the world time zoning standard, the land area of China lies between the eastern fifth to ninth time zones. Currently, all the places in China have adopted the eastern eighth time zone for the sake of convenience. It is the so-called ˇ°Beijing Timeˇ±.
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
