Travel Information China

Travel map of China by tour operator OVERCROSS

1. Climate
2. Animals and Plants
3. National Parks and Conservation
4. Medical Care
5. Population
6. Language
7. Religions
8. Cities
9. Human Rights
10. Transport Network
11. Holidays
12. History

Climate

China has 18 different climate zones. The west, north, and northeast of the country are plagued by icy winters and very hot summers, whereas the south can be described as tropical to subtropical. The travel climate in Tibet is a special case due to the particularly high altitude and is referred to as a high mountain climate.

Motorcycle tours and trekking/adventure trips by OVERCROSS in summer are tropical-hot and there are heavy rains as well as high humidity.

The southwest monsoon dominates the months from May to September and brings heavy rainfall. During this time, tropical cyclones often occur. Snow mainly falls in the more central areas of the country at altitudes above 3000 m.

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Animals and Plants

More than 10% of all vertebrate species in the world live in China, which is about 6300 species.

There are many invertebrate species, including 150,000 species of insects.

Some of these animal species are found only in China, such as the Giant Panda, the South China Tiger, or the Chinese Alligator.

There are currently around 1850 giant pandas in China, which can weigh up to 160 kg. The Manchurian crane can grow over one and a half meters tall and is regarded as a symbol of longevity in East Asia. The Chinese river dolphin, which lived only in the Yangtze and some tributaries, is now very likely extinct.

With over 30,000 different species of plants, China ranks third after Malaysia and Brazil among the countries with the most plant species. Trees that were once native only to China are, for example, the dawn redwood, the China cypress, the cathaya tree, the golden larch, the Fujian cypress, the dove tree, and the eucommia.

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National Parks and Conservation

There are almost 1000 nature reserves in China, covering over 7% of the country’s total area, although it should be noted that some of these areas exist only on paper. Environmental protection is not exactly a high priority in China. China is responsible for more than 30% of global pollutant emissions, and the trend is increasing rather than decreasing.

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Medical Care

According to the Federal Foreign Office, medical care in the country cannot be compared with Europe and is often unhygienic, or the doctors do not have the right tools. In addition, language barriers often arise here, as in rural areas – but also in many cities – there are hardly any doctors who speak English or French. Communicating in such situations can be extremely difficult, especially in the medical field. It is advisable to put together your own travel pharmacy, especially for people who have chronic illnesses and need to take their medication regularly.

For more details you should visit the Federal Foreign Office's website or speak with a tropical medicine doctor.

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Population

China has approximately 1.4 billion inhabitants and is thus the most populous country in the world. Many regions of China are among the places with the highest population density worldwide. Due to overpopulation, which has already triggered political crises, famines, and also economic problems, China pursues population policies that are unique worldwide and highly controversial abroad.

91.56% of China's population are Han Chinese. The government of the People's Republic of China is accused by many of oppressing various minorities. The most famous example of this social oppression is Tibet.

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Languages

Mandarin is China's official language, but other languages are also accepted, such as Cantonese in Hong Kong and Macau, Zhuang in Guangxi, Tibetan in Tibet, Uighur in Xinjiang, Mongolian in Inner Mongolia and Korean in Yanbian.

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Religions

Buddhism (18%), Islam (about 2%), Christianity (4%) and Daoism are widespread. About 40% identify as atheists or agnostics.

Additionally, ancient Chinese folk belief (approx. 30%) is widespread. In total, there are well over 3,000 different religious communities. Officially, however, only 5 are recognized, namely Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity.

There is also a semi-official Russian Orthodox community with 2 churches and a Jewish synagogue in Shanghai.

A peculiarity of China is that many believers belong to several religions at the same time, for example to Buddhism and Christianity.

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Cities

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Human Rights

Because, according to the Chinese government, social human rights depend on the economic situation of the state, (according to the Chinese notion) in a developing country, creating economic growth is the indispensable basis for the observance of human rights. Economic growth is therefore more important than the individual freedoms of citizens, which the government repeatedly uses as an excuse.

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Transport Network

The infrastructure of China is continuously being improved, but developed roads that meet European standards are mainly to be found in cities and metropolitan areas. In rural, more remote areas, the road network is still poorly developed or not developed at all. But that doesn't bother us, because with our enduros we are not dependent on roads and off-road sections and gravel tracks add excitement to every tour.

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Holidays 2024

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History

The Imperial Era of China extended over a period from 221 BC to the year 1911 and is divided into the reigns of different dynasties. The most important dynasties were:

from 221 BC to 207 BC the Qin Dynasty.

During this time, the first emperor crowned himself and called himself Qin Shihuangdi, which means "First God-Emperor of Qin." This emperor carried out some reforms, for example, the effective administrative system of the Qin Empire was introduced throughout China. In addition, units of measurement and weights were standardized. The script was unified by Minister Li Si.

The Qin Dynasty was also the one that had the Great Wall of China built with forced labor, to keep out nomadic tribes from the north and west.

When the emperor died in 210 BC, he was buried in a large complex and received, among other things, the famous terracotta army as a grave offering. Shortly after he died, under the new emperor, his son, there were peasant uprisings which escalated to the extent of a civil war and led to the founding of the Han Dynasty.

 206 BC – 220 AD The Han Dynasty

Because of the poor condition of the country after the civil war, the first Han emperors tried to calm the people with low taxes and generous land distribution. These measures were very successful and made the period in which the Han Dynasty was in power a golden age of the imperial period. Thanks to these circumstances and the military as well as economic success, from this point onwards, the Chinese people are also referred to as Han Chinese.

At this time, Buddhism also came into the country, but so-called Confucianism was proclaimed the state philosophy by the Han Dynasty, and it still is today.

The Western Han Dynasty collapsed because the warlords became more and more powerful and claimed power for themselves.

 The Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 AD – 581 AD)

Tang Dynasty (618 – 907)

Similar to the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was also destined to become a high point of the Chinese imperial era. During the first 150 years of this dynasty, China repeatedly launched conquests into Central Asia and Korea.

At this time, Christianity also came to China for the first time, trade with the West flourished via the Silk Road, and Zen Buddhism spread to Japan.

Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368)

When a Mongolian army swept across the Asian continent, the then-ruling Jin Dynasty was the first to fall victim to it, followed shortly after by the rest of China, and Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty. This dynasty is viewed very disparagingly in Chinese historiography and was never truly accepted by the people. When the Mongols tried to conquer Japan, a natural disaster, a typhoon, prevented it.

Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911)

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchus founded the last of all Chinese dynasties. By the end of the 17th century, they had consolidated their power throughout the territory previously controlled by the Ming, and greatly expanded it to include Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia.

The advances made under the Qing Dynasty in the field of agriculture ensured that the population nearly doubled in the years between 1700 and 1800, from 160,000 to 300,000.

To consolidate their rule, early Qing emperors sought out intellectuals and tried to recruit them for public service. But that was not the only way they consolidated their rule; there were also draconian punishments, such as burning down an entire house if someone said something hostile to the Manchus.

As a result of a natural disaster and pressure from abroad (especially from Great Britain) to open up to the emerging world market, there were great social tensions in the 19th century.

The Qing Dynasty desperately tried to resist the increasingly powerful foreign countries and their free trade policies, but could not succeed. In the so-called Opium Wars, Great Britain enforced the right to trade in opium. After just the first of the two Opium Wars, China had to cede Hong Kong to Great Britain. After the second of these wars, the last Chinese imperial dynasty had to make further concessions, this time not only to Great Britain but also to Russia, France, and the USA.

These concessions and the so-called Open Door Policy of the USA caused irreparable damage to the Chinese economy. Large parts of the economy collapsed, with mass poverty as the immediate consequence. China increasingly approached the level of a colony. The imperial system, which had lasted over two millennia, was in a serious crisis: Confucian rule relied primarily on the prestige of the emperor; as the last emperors of the Qing dynasty had to endure too many humiliations, this greatly diminished their reputation among the people. By the early 20th century, the Qing Dynasty was at the end and had to give in to calls for reform.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was little left of the Qing Dynasty and two opposition movements emerged. There was on the one hand the more moderate faction, which wanted China to become a constitutional monarchy, like Great Britain, for example, and the hardliners, who wanted nothing more to do with monarchy and tried to found a republic.

Republic of China (1912 – 1949)

In 1911 the Qing Dynasty ended under the last emperor, named Pu Yi, who was only 5 years old at the time. Subsequently, there were various uprisings. The powerful Beiyang Army of Yuan Shikai split into several factions that fought each other. Many provinces in the south declared independence. Sun Yatsen, the rebel leader who fought for the republic, tried from 1921 to build a power base of his own in Canton to restore his ideals of a republic. However, this ended in the Chinese Civil War.

In the First World War, China did not send any troops to the European, Asia Minor, or African battlefields, but it supported France's armaments industry, agriculture, and mining with approximately 140,000 Chinese contract workers. In November 1914, shortly after entering the world war, the Japanese took over the German colony of Kiautschou/Tsingtau on China’s coast. This whetted Japan's appetite for new conquests, which is why China wanted the support of the European and American allies of the World War, namely to secure its territory against Japan. China secured this support through its declaration of war against the enemies of the Allies.

In 1931, Japan conquered Manchuria and established the so-called puppet state Manchukuo. In 1937, Japan’s campaign of conquest continued. This war did not end until the end of the Second World War. In 1949, Mao Zedong's troops finally defeated the invaders from Japan and established the People's Republic of China.

People's Republic of China (1949–Present)

Since the emergence of the People's Republic of China, those in power have worked to shape the country in a socialist way and shy away from very little. Starting in 1979, it became increasingly important for the upper class to be wealthy, and efforts were made toward a so-called "socialist market economy." The country was internationally recognized, but must also face much international criticism, as it does not observe human rights, many politicians and military officials are corrupt, and environmental pollution at the expense of economic growth is enormous. Organizing trips to China has become increasingly difficult since 2010, as the Chinese government has little interest in low-revenue individual tourists. Motorcycle and 4WD off-road trips to China are still organized by OVERCROSS, including for small groups. As a tourist, one should ask oneself whether China—with its attitude towards human rights (Tibet) and greed for money—is a country that one must absolutely visit at the moment?   

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