Wangping Travel – China Holidays, Air Tickets, Hotel Booking

China (中国 Zhōngguó), formally known as the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) is a vast country in Eastern Asia with the world's largest population.
With coasts on the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, in total it borders 14 nations.
History-Dynasties and capitals
Many cities have been capitals of China or of various smaller states in periods when China was split up. Beijing and Nanjing mean Northern capital and Southern capital respectively; each has been the capital several times.
Legend has it that the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (三皇五帝), who were mythical God-like kings, ruled China from about 2852 BC to 2205 BC.
The Xia dynasty (夏朝) seem to have ruled the Yellow River valley area from about 2100 BC to 1600 BC, though some experts consider this more legend than history. However, archaeology has shown that at the very least, a primitive form of Chinese civilisation had already developed by that period.
The first historically confirmed dynasty, the Shang (商朝) (1700 BC to 1027 BC) ruled only the Yellow River valley and had their capital near Anyang in Henan.
The Zhou Dynasty (周朝), 1027-221 BC, had their first capital at Hao near modern Xi’an. After a military defeat in 771 BC, they continued as the Eastern Zhou with capital Luoyang. The Zhou is the longest dynasty in Chinese history, lasting about 800 years. However, the Eastern Zhou was a period of political turmoil with various feudal lords vying for power, culminating in the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代), during which prominent Chinese philosophers like Confucius and Laozi lived, but later stabilised into 7 large states during the Warring States period (战国时代).
The Qin Dynasty (秦朝), 221-206 BC defeated the Zhou and the six other feudal states, and were the first to unite an area anything like all of China. They were also the first introduce a centralised system of government to China. Their capital was at Xianyang, near modern Xi’an. Our word "China", and the word "Chin" in languages of India, probably comes from their name.
The Han Dynasty (汉朝), 206 BC to 220 AD, had its capitals at Chang'an (near modern Xi’an) (Western Han) and Luoyang (Eastern Han). This was the period of the first Silk Road trade. Chinese still use Han as the name of their largest ethnic group and Chinese character are still called "han zi" (汉字) in Chinese. The Han is considered by most Chinese to be the first high point in Chinese civilisation.
The fall of the Han Dynasty saw China split into the three states of Wei (魏), Shu (蜀) and Wu (吴), known collectively as the Three Kingdoms (三国). Despite lasting for only about 60 years, it is a greatly romanticised period of Chinese history. The capitals of the three states were at Luoyang, Chengdu and Nanjing respectively.
The Jin Dynasty (晋朝), briefly re-unified China from 280-317. Though they continued to exist until 420, they only controlled a small area for most of the period. During the unified period, the capital was at Luoyang and later Chang'an.
Then for a few hundred years, 317-581, China was divided. Capitals of various important states included Luoyang, Nanjing and Suzhou.
The short-lived Sui Dynasty (隋朝), 581-618, eventually managed to re-unify China. It had its capital at Chang'an. The Tang Dynasty (唐朝), 618-907, had its capitals at Chang'an and Luoyang. This was the golden age of Chinese poetry, and also saw the development of the imperial examination system, which attempted to select officials by their ability rather than family backgrounds. The Tang is considered by most Chinese to be the second high point in Chinese civilisation, and Chinatowns overseas are often known as "Street of the Tang People" (唐人街) in Chinese.
China was then divided once again for about 50 years, during which it was under then control of several small short-lived states.
The Song dynasty (宋朝), 960-1279, had its capital at Kaifeng until the Jurchens took that. They moved the capital to Nanjing and later to Hangzhou. Eventually, the Mongols defeated the Jurchens and proceeded to conquer the Song Empire. Marco Polo, who was in Hangzhou a few years after the Mongol conquest, describes it as one of the richest and most beautiful cities on Earth.
The Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (元朝), 1279-1368, used the area that is now Beijing as their capital. Polo mentions it under the name Canbulac, the Khan's camp.
The Ming dynasty (明朝), 1368-1644, initially had Nanjing as their capital then moved the capital to Beijing. They built most of the famous buildings in Beijing — Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and so on. Several of the most famous Chinese novels, such as "Journey to The West", "Water Margin" and "Romance of The Three Kingdoms" were written during this period.
The Qing (Manchu) dynasty (清朝), 1644-1911, used Beijing as the capital of China but they had their own Manchu capital at Shenyang.
The Republic of China (中华民国), who ruled China 1911-1949, moved the capital back to Nanjing. Today they control only Taiwan and Taipei is their "temporary capital". During the Second World War, Chongqing was also a temporary capital.
Beijing has been the capital of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国) since the Communist victory in the civil war, 1949.

Climate
The climate is extremely diverse, from tropical regions in the South to subarctic in the North. Hainan Island is roughly at the same latitude of Jamaica, while Harbin, one of the largest cites in the North, lies at the latitude of Montreal.
There is also a wide range of terrain to be found in China with many inland mountains, high plateaus, and deserts in centre and far west; while plains, deltas, and hills are to be found in the east. On the border between the province of Tibet and the nation of Nepal lies Mount Everest, at 8,850 m, the highest point on earth. The Turpan depression, in northwest China is the lowest point in the country, at 154 m below sea level. This is also the second lowest point on land in the world, after the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan.

Holidays
China is a huge country with endless travel opportunities. However, during holidays, millions of migrant workers return home and millions of other Chinese travel, so travellers may want to think seriously about rescheduling. At the very least, travel should be planned well in advance. Every mode of transportation is crowded and tickets of any kind are hard to come by, so it may be necessary to book well in advance (especially for those travelling from remote western China to the east coast or in the opposite direction). Train and other tickets are usually quite easy to buy in China, but difficulties arising from crowded conditions at these times cannot be overstated. Some travellers who have been stranded at these times, unable to buy tickets have managed to get airplane tickets, which tend to sell out more slowly.
Around the Chinese New Year, many stores and other businesses will close for several days, a week, or even longer.

China has three major annual holidays:

National Day - October 1
Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (春节 chūnjié) - late January / mid-February
Labour Day (May Day) - May 1

These aren't one-day holidays. Workers get at least a week or two off for Chinese New Year; students get 4-6 weeks. Both groups get about a week for National Day and Labour Day.
Also, during early July millions of university students go home and in late August they return to school, jamming transportation options, especially between the east coast and the western provinces of Sichuan, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
Spring Festival is especially busy. Not only is it the longest holiday, it is also a traditional time to visit family, much as Christmas is in the West. More or less all the university students (20-odd million of them!) go home, and more or less all the migrant workers who have left their farms and villages for better pay in the cities go home. This is often the only chance they have. Everyone wants to go home, and China has a lot of "everyone"!
A complete list of Chinese festivals would be very long, since many areas or ethnic groups have their own local ones and even among the Han Chinese, the festivals celebrated vary from region to region. See listings for individual towns for details. Here is a list of some of the nationally important ones not mentioned above:

Lantern Festival - 15th day of the 1st lunar month, just after Chinese New Year, usually in February or March. In some cities, such as Quanzhou, this is a big festival with elaborate lanterns all over town.
Qingming Festival - about April 4-6, is called "grave sweeping day" in English. Cemeteries are crowded with people who go to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes heavy.
Dragon Boat Festival - 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually in June. Boat races are a traditional part of it.
Double Seventh Festival - 7th day of the 7th lunar month, usually August, is a festival of romance, sort of a Chinese Valentine's Day.
Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Cake Festival - 15th day of the 8th lunar month, usually in October. People meet outside, putting food on tables and looking up at the sky while talking about life.
Double Ninth Festival or Chongyang Festival - 9th day of the 9th lunar month, usually in October.
Winter Solstice Festival - December 22 or 23.

Regions
Regions of China