Life In China

Names In China individuals place the family name first. For example in the name Mao Zedong, Mao is the surname. Chinese women keep their maiden name when they marry; it is only the child that takes the father’s name. Most families consist of only one child due to government regulations.

Language The Chinese do not use an alphabet, but characters. These characters can be altered to make different words. Each of these little symbols stands for a syllable. There are over a thousand characters in the Chinese language – and because the language is tonal, the same word can be used to mean many different things

Education Attending school is compulsory for all children. However, many children in the countryside fail to obtain a proper education and many girls fail to attend school at all. In general, children start school at six years old and complete nine years of education. Some children many also attend ‘kindergarten’ or nursery. In senior years pupils are under a lot of pressure to get good grades and go to university. Because they are usually the only child in the family they have to be able to get a job which earns enough money to look after their parents in old age.

Holidays There are many official festivals and holidays in China including: New Year Day, Chinese New Year, Children’s Day, Army Day and National Day. There are no religious observation days as the practice of any religion is not encouraged. People may get a day off work for these holidays, but it will not be paid.

recreation Hobbies can vary from traditional Chinese activities to those that are more familiar to us. For example older people can be seen doing Tai Chi in parks; younger people play pool outdoors; people play table tennis and football, and in the countryside people watch travelling street theatre and other open-air shows. Many individuals also keep goldfish as pets as they are supposed to be lucky. More than half of the population now have access to the internet

Food Food in China is not what we would expect based on Chinese restaurants in the UK. In China people eat a lot of meat and vegetables. People tend to have more meals, but smaller meals. Pork is the most common meat on the menu. Rice and noodles are important bases to many meals People use chopsticks to eat. Chinese street food can include fried scorpions, dung beetles and snakes

Comparing life in Scotland and China   Scotland China Names Writing Education Holidays Recreation Food