CHINA

1. CHINA • Historical Background • B. Famous writer and poem • C. Recent condition of the country

2. China's history is sometime marked to have begun as early as the 16th century BC, but in terms of physical evidence, tortoise shells with carving similar to ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been given carbon dates of approximately 1500 BC. This suggests that Chinese civilization began with unconnected "city-state" forms of settlements in the Yellow River valley. What we think of as China today, however, was not unified under a large kingdom or empire until 221 BC—just over 2,225 years ago.

3. Languages of China Chinese- are the languages of the Han people, the major ethnic group of China, including both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. Mandarin- is a family of related languages spoken across most of northern and southwestern Mainland China. Cantonese-is one of the major languages of the Chinese language group. Hakka-is spoken in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, western Fujian, Jiangxi, southern Hunan, Guangxi, southern Guizhou, south-eastern Sichuan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Hainan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Surinam, and overseas communities. The accent as spoken in Meixian (Moiyen) is considered as standard.

4. The Chinese Settlers In 1849 news of the California Gold Rush swept through Guandong, precipitating nearly a century of mass migration to the Western hemisphere.  By 1851 fully 25,000 Chinese were seeking their fortune in unruly California.  Most were gold miners, but few made substantial finds.  Many decided that there was a future all the same in North America, which they called Gum Shan (Gold Mountain), a term still used today.  Most hoped to accumulate sufficient savings to retire in comfort as respected elders in their native villages. 

5. Chinese Literature • Chinese literature extends back thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novel that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese. The introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the invention of movable typeprinting by Bi Sheng (990-1051) during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) rapidly spread written knowledge throughout China like never before. In more modern times, the author Lu Xun (1881-1936) would be considered the founder of modern baihua literature in China.

6. Famous Writer and Famous Story

7. Famous Chinese Writer--Su Shuyang Su Shuyang is a renowned author and screenwriter in China who has so far composed more than a dozen influential contemporary works. His works are mostly about grassroots life in China. As such, they have enriched the lives of many, especially in the 1970s and 80s. Su Shuyang is currently enjoying an active life, despite having cancer. He says he still plans to write some novels and plays. Let's hope he can achieve this goal and present the world with more realistic works about contemporary China.

8. Mulan

9. Mulan Mulan originally began as a short, straight-to-video film titled "China Doll" about an oppressed and miserable Chinese girl who is whisked away by a British Prince Charming to happiness in the West. Then Disney consultant and children's book writer Robert San Souci suggested making a movie of the Chinese poem, "The Song of Fa Mu Lan" and Disney combined the two separate projects. Development for Mulan began in 1994, after the production team sent a select group of artistic supervisors to China for three weeks to take photographs and drawings of local landmarks for inspiration; and to soak up local culture. The filmmakers decided to change Mulan's character to make her more appealing and selfless and turn the art style closer to Chinese painting, with watercolor and simpler design - opposed to the details of The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. To create 2,000 Hun soldiers during the Huns' attack sequence, the production team developed a crowd simulation software called Attila. This software allows thousands of unique characters to move autonomously. A variant of the program called Dynasty was used in the final battle sequence to create a crowd of 3,000 in the Forbidden City. Pixar's photorealistic RenderMan was used to render the crowd. Another software developed for this movie was Faux Plane which was used to add depth to flat two-dimensional painting. Although developed late in production progress, Faux Plane was used in five shots, including the dramatic sequence which features the Great Wall of China, and the final battle sequence when Mulan runs to the Forbidden City. During the scene in which the Chinese are bowing to Mulan, the crowd is a panoramic film of real people bowing. It was edited into the animated foreground of the scene.

10. Recent Condition of China

11. Pig Disease in China Worries the World The Chinese government has admitted that the swine deaths amount to an epidemic but contends that the situation is under control. China says it is moving swiftly to stop the infections by quarantining and slaughtering the affected pigs. It says its researchers have developed an effective vaccine in record time for the likely cause -- blue ear pig disease, a reproductive and respiratory illness that is highly fatal in pigs but that so far does not seem to pose danger to humans. And it maintains that it has been "open and transparent" all along.

12. THE END Prepared by: GROUP I Liza, Keshia Ivy M. Ga, Kimberley E. Sumampong, Ian M. Elano, Gilbey’s James