· China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or one-fifteenth of the world's land mass.

· Five thousand years ago, there lived many clans and tribes in the Yellow River and Yangze River valleys. Huang Di, or the Yellow Emperor, was the most famous tribe-chieftain in legend. Meanwhile there lived another tribe-chieftain called Yan Di in the northwest of China, who, according to legend, was a close relative of Huang Di.

· Over seven thousand years ago, Chinese ancients recorded and narrated events and objects by drawing pictures based on the appearance of objects. These pictures constitute the prototype of written Chinese, which later developed into pictographic Chinese characters. Based on pictographs, other categories of Chinese characters appeared, namely......

· Every nation has its special characteristics resulting from a particular environment and cultural and historical development. Folk customs play an important role in the culture of an ethnic group. When we have contact with another culture, popular folk customs arouse our impressions most easily. The larger the difference between two nations, the stronger one's impressions will be.

· Huanghe River, the cradle of Chinese people, originates from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and runs across North-China into the ocean in Shandong Province. The land of Shandong nurtured by her is one of the most important birthplaces of Chinese cultures.