Countdown to Thumbelina - 26

Yes, I know we skipped 27, but it was a busy day yesterday.

Today I awoke with a headache. And 30 minutes late. So it was an interesting morning but we got through it. Yesterday Miss Molly ate the container of goldfish food. On the couch. And she tore apart my back pillow that was filled with buckwheat seed. On the couch. It took me over 1/2 hour to vacuum it all up. Dog! When will all this chewing end???

I thought we all should explore China a little bit, so today's Top 26 will be interesting factoids about China:

1. China is one of the world's oldest civilizatons, dating back more than 6 millenia.
2. China is also the source of many of the world's great inventions, such as paper, gunpowder, the compass and printing.
3. China is one of the few countries to invent writing independently.
4. The Chinese language has over 80,000 characters.
5. Mainland China is known as the People's Republic of China (PRC) while Taiwan and surrounding islands is known as the Republic of China (ROC).
6. Both states are still officially claiming to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of China.
7. The PRC currently administers 22 provinces, but does not administer the 23rd province of Taiwan.
8. The largest province is Qinghai but has the smallest population of just over 5.3 million peopel.
9. China is the 3rd largest country in land mass, coming in after Russia and Canada.
10. The Himalayas border China on the Southwest, while the Altai Mountains border the Northwest.
11. The Mongolian Plateau lies to the north, with the Yin Mountains running through the centre.
12. To the east of China is the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.
13. To the south is the South China Sea.
14. The Great Wall of China is the largest man-made structure in the world.
15. It is 3,948 miles long.
16. It was built between the 5th century BC until the beginning of the 17th century.
17. It roughly delineates the border between North China and Inner Mongolia.
18. The Chinese built the Wall to protect their lands.
19. The Wall has more than 10,000 watch towers, which were used to store weapons, house troops and send smoke signals.
20. It is an urban legend that the Great Wall can be seen from the moon by the naked eye.
21. China's overall population exceeds 1.3 billion people, or roughly 1/5 the world's population.
22. There are over 100 different ethnic groups in China, but the PRC recognizes 56.
23. There are several major dialects within the Chinese Language, with Mandarin being spoken by 70% of the population.
24. The Chinese language is so complicated, children cannot fully read it until they are around 12 years old.
25. China's climate varies greatly, from Arctic cold in the winter and 30 degrees Celcius in the summer in the North; to the central zone being temperate with very hot summers and cold winters; to the south having a subtropical climate with very hot summers and mild winters.
26. Dust storms are normal in the spring and have even made their way to the west coast of the US.

And that my friends, is barely scratching the surface of all things China.

We had Chinese for lunch yesterday and I'm watching the clock for lunch time so that I can dig in to the leftovers. Enjoy your day!