China and Bei Dao By James McRoy

Population and Demographics 0-14: 17.08% 15-24: 13.82 25-54: 47.95% 55-64: 11.14% 65+: 10.01%

Population and Demographics Religious Belief Breakdown Buddhist 18.2% Christian: 5.1% Folk Religion: 21.9% Unaffiliated 52.2% Official language is Mandarin or standard Chinese, but there are many other languages spoken including Cantonese Most Chinese are Han Chinese (91.6%), with 7.1% listed as other nationalities and 1.3% Zhuang

History of China 1700-1040 B.C – The Shang Dynasty 1045-775 B.C. – The Zhou Dynasty 221-206 B.C- The First Chinese Emperor in Emperor Qin 206 B.C.-220 A.D – The Han Dynasty 220-589- The collapse of the Han Dynasty causes division in the country 618-907 – Tang Dynasty 960-1269- Song Dynasty 1271-1360 – The Mongols conquer China 1368-1899 – Ming and Qing Dynasties

History of China 1899-1901- Boxer Rebellion 1911-192- Military revolts lead to proclamation of China as a Republic 1931-1945- Japan invades and occupies large portions of China 1949- Mao Zhedong leads the Communist Party to victory after a long civil war and establishes The People’s Republic of China 1958- The Great Leap Forward 1966-1976- Mao’s Cultural Revolution 1976- Mao dies and Deng Xiaoping becomes the leader and engages in economic reform 2001- China joined the World Trade Organization

Chinese Culture Any religion that is not Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism are officially illegal Chinese food varies by region, but has two main styles of cooking Cantonese and Szechuan Rice is a major food in China and is also something that helped to build their society Chinese Art is greatly influenced by the spiritual and mystical history of the country with main painting and sculpture depicting spiritual figures of Buddhism China is the birthplace of Kung Fu

Chinese Culture The beginning of the New Lunar Year is marked by the Spring Festival Many make pilgrimages to Confucius's birthplace in Shandong Many musical instruments are central to Chinese culture including the Xun and the guqin

Chinese Literature Writing in China dates back to the hieroglyphs used in the Shang Dynasty Ancient Chinese writers were avid writers and philosophers Most Chinese literature is written in a formal written style known as Classical Chinese, which was not part of the spoken language in China Chinese literature has influenced the literature of surrounding countries including Japan, Korea and Vietnam Calligraphy is considered a fine art, similar to painting Chinese is a complex language that requires the knowledge of thousands of character

Chinese Literature 1700-1050 B.C- Development of early writings 1045-255 B.C. – Basic religious and philosophical texts 221-206 B.C – The rise of legalism 206-220 A.D – Basic scientific and historical texts 1279-1368 – Drama and great novels 1368-1644 - Ming Dynasty novels 1644-1911 – Novels and premodern literature 1912- Westernized literature

Bei Dao Rap Sheet Born: August 2, 1949 in Beijing, China Real Name: Zhao Zhenkai Education: N/A Religion: N/A Politics: As a teenager he was a member of the Red Guard, and was later re- educated as a construction worker. He founded the magazine Jintian, which was the leading publication of the works of the Misty Poets, until it was banned in 1980. The works of these poets including Dao helped fuel the pro-democracy movement in China Relevant literary movement: Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Misty Poets Main Themes: Protesting against an authoritarian government, and writes in hazy, and obscure poetry

Bei Dao Rap Sheet Style: His work tends to start out as objective realism, before drifting off into subjective realism, which also marks the move from passive reaction to active creation Genre: Poetry, prose, short stories Examples: “Notes from City on the Sun”

Sources https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13017882 http://www.livescience.com/28823-chinese-culture.html http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/history-of-chinese- literature.htm http://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Poets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bei_Dao

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