1National Flag - The Five Star Red Flag.
2National Emblem - Tiananmen Gatetower under five stars
3National Anthem - March of the Volunteers
4Spoken and Written Languages - Chinese, Mandarin
5Fifty-six Ethnic Groups - Han is the majority.
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National Flag
National flag: Red flag with five stars.
On September 27, 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) approved the proposal for using the red five-star flag as the national flag of the People's Republic of China (PRC).The red color of the flag symbolizes revolution and the yellow color of the stars the golden brilliant rays radiating from the vast red land. The design of four smaller stars surrounding a bigger one signifies the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
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National Emblem
National emblem: Tiananmen Gatetower under five stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a gear wheel below.
On June 18, 1950, the Second Session of the First CPPCC National Committee adopted the design and illustration of the national emblem of the PRC. On September 27 that year, Chairman Mao Zedong ordered the promulgation of the national emblem.Composed of patterns of the national flag, the Tian'anmen Rostrum, a wheel gear and ears of wheat, it symbolizes the New-Democratic Revolution of the Chinese people since the May 4th Movement (1919) and the birth of New China under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class on the basis of the worker-peasant alliance.
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National Anthem
National anthem:March of the Volunteers
March of the Volunteers, written in 1935, with lyrics by the poet Tian Han and music by the composer Nie Er, honoring those who went to the front to fight the Japanese invaders in northeast China in the 1930s. Decided upon as the provisional national anthem of the new China on September 27, 1949, at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ("CPPCC"), the song was officially adopted as the national anthem of the PRC on December 4, 1982, by the NPC.
March of the Volunteers
Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!
Let us amount our flesh and blood towards our new Great Wall!
The Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,
The thundering roar of our peoples will be heard!
Arise! Arise! Arise!
We are many, but our hearts beat as one!
Selflessly braving the enemy's gunfire, march on!
Selflessly braving the enemy's gunfire, march on!
March on! March on! on! -
Spoken and Written Languages
The Han people have their own spoken and written languages, namely Chinese. It is the most commonly used language in China, and one of the most commonly used languages in the world. All China's 55 minority peoples have their own languages except the Hui and Manchu who use Chinese; 22 of them have their own scripts, in which 28 languages are written.
Nowadays, school classes in predominantly ethnic minority areas are taught in the local language, using local-language textbooks. Meanwhile courses are also set up to popularize Putonghua Chinese - the official national language -- which is commonly used throughout the country.
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Fifty-six Ethnic Groups
China is a united multi-ethnic nation of 56 ethnic groups. As the majority (91.6 percent) of the population is of the Han ethnic group, China's other 55 ethnic groups are customarily referred to as ethnic minorities.
The Han people can be found throughout the country, mainly on the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Pearl River valleys, and the Northeast Plain. The 55 ethnic minorities, though fewer in number, are also scattered over vast areas and can be found in approximately 64.3 percent of China, mainly distributed in the border areas of northeast, north, northwest and southwest China.
Over China's long history, repeated instances of ethnic group migrations, opening up new land for cultivation, emigration, relocation of the ruling dynasty, and a host of other reasons, gave rise to the situation of "living together over vast areas while some living in compact communities in small areas."
