China City Tours
including English-speaking guided tour and accommodation

          About China

         China, with nearly 5,000 years of recorded history, is the cradle of one of the world's four oldest civilizations.   In ancient times, our ancestors considered that our country was the center of the world, and the state established by the Xia tribe near the Yellow River Basin was called "Zhongguo" (Middle Kingdom). At that time, this name had three connotations: One connotation is that China was the center, the surrounding areas were peripheral and barbarian; the second refers to the present cities of Xi'an, Luoyang and nearly areas; the third one refers to the Capital where the king, the son of Heaven, stayed. During the European Middle Ages, China was known as Cathay thanks to Marco Polo, the great Italian traveler to China, but it was rarely used in China at that time.

         The traditional names: "Zhongguo" (Middle Kingdom or Zhonghua Flowery Middle Country) are still in use today. They actually sprang from the first connotation that China was the center, and that surrounding areas were peripheral and barbarian.

　　China has been known by the name of Middle Kingdom for a long time, even after the 1911 Revolution, which abolished the feudal Monarchy and gave birth to the Republic of China. However, the founding of a new Republic did not mark the completion of the Chinese people's tasks of combating feudalism and imperialism.

　　The year 1949 was a year of great significance in the history of New China. From June 15 to 19,1949, the Preparatory Committee for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held its first meeting in Beijing (then called Beiping) concerning the founding of the state. Because a name for the country had not yet been decided upon, it was temporarily called the People's Democratic Republic of China.

　　On September 18,1949, while making a report at the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee, Premier Zhou Enlai started using the name the People's Republic of China.

　　From September 21-23, 1949, the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held in Beijing. In the meeting on September 22, Dong Biwu discussed the question of naming the country. He said that they had chosen the name 'the People's Republic of China' because the political system was a republic. The word 'People' in the new democracy of today's China referred to the working class, the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie. This was the precise definition. Since the word expresses the concept of a 'democratic dictatorship of the people', repeating the word 'democratic' is unnecessary.' Thus the first meeting of the People's Political Consultative Conference officially chose the People's Republic of China as the country's name.

The offspring of the Dragon

　　The China dragon is said to have the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, the neck of a snake, the belly of a fog, the scales of a carp, the claws of a hawk, and the palm of a tiger. It has whiskers and a beard, and is deaf. It is generally regarded as benevolent but is also the source of thunder and lightning.

　　As a matter of fact, the dragon is the creation of our ancestors' imagination. Therefore, if you ask 10 people what the dragon is like, most probably you'll get 10 different answers. So what? What the dragon is like is of little significance, what is important is that the dragon is now a kind of cultural phenomenon. It has become a spiritual tie linking the nation. So we can say, the dragon, as the symbol of the Chinese nation, has become part of the Chinese people. We have deep feelings for the dragon, and are proud to call ourselves "the offspring of the dragon".

　　China is the birth place of dragon culture. This has been shown by relics of the Neolithic age discovered in the Yellow River, Yangtze River and Liaohe River Basins. The first discovery occurred in Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, and in Yulong, in northeast China's Liaoning Province. Archaeologists found dragons depicted on pottery. This gave rise to serious study of dragon culture, Dragons from the Liaohe River Basin have the head of a pig and body of a snake, but no horns. They are a typical dragon pattern with local variations. They reveal the origin on the dragon culture.

　　Chinese people claim to be the offspring of the dragon on the basis of the legendary figure, Fuxi. Fuxi is generally acknowledged as the earliest ancestor of Chinese nation. He's said to have had a human head, and the body of a dragon. He lived in northwest China's Gansu Province. Later, he led his tribe down the Yellow River and settled in central China. He created weaving and musical instrument skills. Even the "Eight Diagrams" are said to have been worked out by him.
　　Years after his death, a magnificent tomb and temple were built in his honour in his burial place, today's Huaiyang County. From this story, Huaiyang gets the name "Dragon City". Today, on the second day of February in the Lunar Calendar, thousands of people will go to Huaiyang to worship Fuxi, because the dragon is said to awaken and hold up its head, and this will be the start of the rainy season. People hope to be protected by the spirit of the dragon.