Cultural Awareness ProjectChina
By Adam Ropizar and Valeria Wilson-Ortiz

Location/Map
Located in Southeast Asia along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean.

Background/History
• Civilization arose in China for the first time in

3500 BC.

• The first coherent Chinese Empire was

founded about 1500 BC.

• Chinese religious ideas are in some ways

similar to those of India, in that they too were based on ancient animistic beliefs that center around the cycles of seasons and fertility of plants, animals, and human beings.

• Religions/spiritual beliefs in China:
• Confucianism

Currency
Called the Yuan
1 Yuan = 0.16 cents in US currency Language
• Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language.
• A tonal language means that each word can be pronounced in four different ways.

• There are over 20,000 characters in the Chinese language.
• An average newspaper only requires the knowledge of about 3000-4000 characters.

• Chinese children often learn to read and write before learning to speak.

Schooling
• Chinese education normally starts at age 2.
• China’s literacy rate: (age 15+ who can read and write)

total population: 91.6% male: 95.7% female: 87.6%

• School life expectancy (amount of years spent):

male: 11 years female: 12 years (2009)

Housing
• 52.7% of homeless people are aged 49 or over in China.
• 18% of homeless people have not received a formal education in China.

• Over one million homeless children live on the streets of China.
• Without parents.

• The cost of a one bedroom apartment in the city costs about 3,166.21 ¥

per month.

• Every one in five houses in China are abandoned or unoccupied.

Hospitals, Clinics, and Medical
Facilities
• Basic medical service can be guaranteed in

most Chinese cities.

• Quality of service may vary between

geographic regions:

• The condition of medical facilities in the

countryside is generally worse than in the city.
• In the city there are many critical care hospitals

with advanced equipment and qualified doctors.

• Some of the bigger hospitals have the

capability to serve foreign patients in
English. In Beijing, the United Family

Methods of Treatment

Herbs

Acupunctur

Tui Na

Muxibustio

Gua Sha

Cupping

Health Care Beliefs
• Qi: "life energy“
• Yin: qualities that are dark, passive,

feminine, receptive, and associated with the night. Yin is often symbolized by water or earth. • Yang: qualities that are light, bright, active,

masculine and associated with the day. Yang is symbolized by fire or air.

Beliefs and Practices Surrounding
Birth
• Certain times considered better than other to conceive.
• Chinese people look to the lunar calendar to decide on times to conceive,

buy house, and get married.

• During the birth
• Avoidance of painkillers is common, causing most women to chose

acupuncture.
• The husband is not allowed in the room, because its not a man’s place.

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