中国文化英文阅读.doc

Chapter 1 What Is Chin Like 中国概貌 China, officially the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), in Asia, is the worlds most populous state, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by its vanguard party (Communist Party of China) based in the capital of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction(管辖权)over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the worlds second largest state by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes（干草原） and the Gobi（戈壁）and Taklamakan（塔克拉玛大沙漠） deserts in the arid（荒芜的） north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya（喜马拉雅）, Karakoram（喀拉昆仑山脉，与喜马拉雅山脉向北连接的大山脉）, Pamir（帕米尔高原：中国新疆西南部） and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from south and central Asia. The Yangtze长江 and Yellow rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau（青藏高原）to the densely populated eastern seaboard（沿海地区）. Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded（划界限） by the Bohai渤海, Yellow, East China, and South China seas. China is a cradle（摇篮）of civilization, with its known history beginning with an ancient civilization – one of the worlds earliest – that flourished in the fertile（肥沃的） basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain（平原）. For millennia（千年）, Chinas political system was based on hereditary（世袭的）monarchies（君主政体）known as dynasties（朝代）. Since 221 BCE, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several states to form a Chinese empire, the state has expanded, fractured（破裂）and reformed numerous times. The Republic of China (ROC)（中华民国） replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and ruled the Chines