China is the most populous country on Earth and within its many miles of boundaries are a number of traditions that differ from what could be viewed as the norm.

For those interested in finding out a bit more about the People’s Republic, here are a few insights that you may, or may not know...

1. Keep your chin up

With one of the largest armies in the world, these soldiers need to be trained. Part of the process sees new recruits having pins placed through their collars to ensure their chins are kept up. Ouch for those that can’t manage it!

2. Staying smart

In some regions of China, smart phone users have their own walking lanes meaning they don’t bump into other people. That just leaves the slow walkers to hold up the traffic...

3. Drive through and back

At a drive through, many customers will actually park their cars and take their food back into the restaurant. Either the service is really bad or cars are just not seen as a comfortable eating space!

4. Getting saucy

Ketchup has its origins in China, although it wasn’t initially the thick red sauce that we know it as today. It started life as a pickled fish sauce named ke-tsiap!

5. Scraping a living

More than 100 million Chinese citizens live on the equivalent of $1 a day – that’s the equivalent to the entire populations of Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Holland and Austria combined! As a result, the divide between rich and poor can be very obvious.

6. Goose on the loose

Most countries tend to use dogs for police work – big, angry-looking dogs designed to scare. But in China they use geese. The reason: they’re highly aggressive and have fantastic vision, apparently – and they make a lot of noise when posted on sentry duty!

7. Don’t cave in

More people live in cave dwellings in China called ‘yaodongs’ than the entire population of Australia –in case you were wondering, that’s a whopping 30 million people

8. Hello, is anyone there?

To deal with the massive population the government provided incentives to developers to build entire new towns and cities. But property prices boomed, outstripping inflation, leaving the buildings complete but totally empty.  The New South China Mall – the world’s largest – is 99% empty since opening ten years ago.

9. Is that really the time?

China is more than 3,120 miles across at its widest point and once encompassed five time zones. However, when the Communist Party took over in 1949, time was regulated to a single time, eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. It does of course mean that sun rise doesn’t come up until past 10am in some parts of the country!

10. Boy eggs

In the Zhejiang province of China, a traditional dish of ‘boy eggs’ is sold – to the untrained eye it looks just like a boiled egg but they are not boiled in water. Instead, they are boiled in the urine of young school boys. It’s said the eggs carry many health benefits, including relief from joint pain and increased circulation.

11. Poles apart

Returning to the army theme of earlier, soldiers in China learn to march in time by having their arms wired and attached to a long metal pole – perfecting the art of parading.

12. And they say smoking is bad

Breathing freely in Beijing is the equivalent to smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day, such is the pollution level in the city.

 

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