James Baquet The task of explaining China to the readers of a Chinese-based newspaper is a daunting one, and smacks of sheer hubris. Which of you reading this doesn’t know that China has the world’s largest population? Or that its capital is Beijing? Perhaps fewer know that it has the world’s third-largest area (after Russia and Canada), or that it claims 55 minority peoples in addition to the 91.5percent Han majority. And of course, it has land borders (counter-clockwise from the northeast) with North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Vietnam, as well as maritime boundaries with the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea. China also has 34 main political divisions, comprising 23 provinces; five autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Ningxia), each of which has a designated minority group (the Zhuang, Mongol, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Hui, respectively); four provincial-level municipalities (Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin); and two special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macao). But rather than merely repeat a lot of facts you may already know, let me share a bit of my personal experience in China. Depending on how one counts, I have been in somewhere around a hundred Chinese cities as I pursued a list of notable temples in the Han areas. Given the extent of my travels, which experiences stand out? The first that springs to mind is the mountain city of Chengde, the summer retreat of the Qing emperors to the northeast of Beijing. For climate, pace, and built environment, it has to be one of the most pleasant places I visited in China. As for “monuments,” I was duly impressed with the grottoes I visited — Longmen near Luoyang in Henan, Yungang outside of Datong in Shanxi, and Dazu near Chongqing. There are also, of course, the usual attractions: the Great Wall (of which I’ve seen only remote parts), the Terra Cotta Army outside of Xi’an, and many, many more. Eleven years in the country wasn’t enough to see it all! Vocabulary: Which word above means: 1. caves with rock carvings 2. arrogance 3. intimidating, overwhelming 4. simply 5. worth remembering 6. far from the center of things 7. moving right to left from the top 8. suggests 9. specified, denoted 10. appropriately, as expected |