- Language
- China is a unitary multi-national country with hundreds kinds of dialects. “Putonghua”, as well as Mandarin, is the official modern Chinese spoken language, and simplified Chinese character is the official modern Chinese written language. Chinese from south and north China cannot communicate if they do not speak in Mandarin. There are some special dialects in China, such as Cantonese, Shanghai dialect, Uigur, Tibetan, etc… At iMandarin, we provide language program of Mandarin.
- Chinese Ethnic Groups
- China is a multi-nationalities nation. Besides Han, there are 55 ethnic groups live together harmoniously in this big landmass. Several main minorities are introduced as follows.
- Manchu Minority:（满族） Manchu consist of Nuchens, Hans, Mongolians and Koreans. With the founding of the Qing Dynasty in 1644, the Manchu reached its golden age, herders and hunters, conquered China in the 17th century.
- Tibetan Minority: （藏族） Tibetan people have their own spoken and written language. Tibetan language belongs to Cambodian branch, Sino-Tibetan language system. The sculpture techniques of Tibetan people are famous. The Potala Palace on Hongshan Mountain in Lasa is the palace complex with the highest altitude in the world, well known for construction style, frescos, sculpture art, and precious cultural relics.
- Uygur Minority:（维吾尔族） Uygur people have their own language and it belongs to Altai branch and Tujue language system. They depend on agriculture and be good at gardening, whose grape is most famous over China with the largest grape production base.
- Dai Minority:（傣族） Dai Nationality, which was one of the excellent nationalities in ancient times, is a unique nationality in Yunnan. “Dai” means freedom and peace, and Dai people like singing and dancing by imitating the movements and images of wild animals through elegant and vivid postures.
- Religion
- Religion and freedom of conscience is a common phenomenon in China, which is characterized by pluralism, mainly containing Buddhism, Taoism, Islamism and Christianity. Buddhism remains the largest organized religion. For Catholicism, it also has a long and complicated history in China existing by various forms, and there is Catholic Church in each city.
- Visa
- The Chinese Ordinary Visa consists of eight sub-categories, which are respectively marked with Chinese phonetic letters D, F, G, L, X and Z. Tourist (L) Visa is issued for tourism, visits or other private purposes, and valid for 6 months. Business (F) Visa is issued for a business visit, research, lecture, scientific/technological and cultural exchanges, attending professional or business convention, or short-tem studies, for totally no more than 6 months. Work (Z) Visa is issued to foreigners who enter China for a post or employment, and their accompanying family members. Study (X) Visa is issued for study, advanced studies or intern practice for more than 6 months. If the study period is less than 6 months, the applicant shall apply for a F visa. Transit (G) Visa is issued to aliens transit through China. U.S. passport holders must obtain a transit visa to transit through all Chinese airports except Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Resident (D) Visa is issued to reside permanently in China.
- Banks
- Since initiating the reforms and open policy, China has achieved tremendous economic success, which attracts many international banks entered China, such as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, JPMorgan Chase, DBS, BNP Paribas, etc... Normally, the working time of those banks is 8:30AM to 5:30PM from Monday to Friday, and 9:30AM to 5:30PM on holidays. These international banks bring convenience to expats in China for credit card, money transfer, traveler’s cheque and etc… Traveler’s cheque is a fairly secure way of carrying money, and the Bank of China also can cash it.
- Exchange
- Money exchange facilities are available at major airports, hotels and department stores. Keep your currency exchange receipts, because you will need to show them when you change RMB back to your own currency at the end of visit. At present, the following credit cards are accepted in major cities of China: Master Card, Federal Card, Visa, American Express, JCB and Diners Card. However, they are not always accepted for the purchase of rail and air tickets. ATMs that accept foreign cards are few and far between.
- Currency
- Chinese currency is called Renminbi (RMB) issued by the People’s Bank of China. The unit of RMB is yuan and the smaller, jiao, with the conversion of 1 yuan being equal to 10 jiao. The denominations of paper notes include 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1yuan, 5, 2 and 1 jiao. The denominations of coins are 1 yuan, 5, 2 and 1 jiao.
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