China Geography http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:55:40 +0000 60 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34558-great-wall-of-china-how-much-it-is-safe-to-walk/ The Great Wall of China is easily one of the most famous landmarks in the world. Today much of the Great Wall is in disrepair however there are still a number of sections that can easily be walked by even novice trekkers, In 2002 the China Great Wall Academy conducted a 45 day survey of the wall and visited over 100 sites in total. Their results showed that over 70% of the wall is in such disrepair that it is no longer safe for walkers and so those wishing to trek the length of the wall have to leave the structure at various points and trek through the mountains, grasslands and plateaus that surround the ruined parts.Today, the most popular section of the wall includes an optional segment with over 5000 steps up to the summit and although climbing the Great Wall of China is a feat in itself, hundreds of visitors do it everyday. In fact, over 1500 people join in the Great Wall of China Marathon each year - a race that includes climbing the 5164 steps before going down the other side. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:55:40 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34558-great-wall-of-china-how-much-it-is-safe-to-walk/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34362-weird-romanization-help/
Ok, I'm going to keep this as brief as possible...

I've recently come across the papers of a Chinese-Canadian who volunteered to serve in the Canadian Army during WWI. The document is located at this website: link

As you can see the document mentions that the man was born in "Ko Jang, Sun Way, China". Because this document was written during WWI, the romanization is very archaic. It is definitely not pinyin. I'm not sure it is even Wade-Giles. I scoured the internet looking for a city/town called "Ko Jang", but found nothing. I looked for a province with a name remotely like "Sun Way", but found nothing. Provincial borders have changed since the 1910s, and the province might not even exist nowadays.

I'm curious as to where this man was born, so could someone help me find out where this "Ko Jang, Sun Way" is?

Thanks.

Note to mods: I'm not sure this belongs in the language section. So feel free to move it around.]]> Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:06:10 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34362-weird-romanization-help/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34134-ah-my-student-to-have-china-one-must-have-sichuan-province/ The blanket statments: assuming that you are equally popular with the people no matter where you are in China, then having Sichuan Province is the best way to ensure that you shall control China in the time of turmoil. I am not saying that it would guarantee your success, but it is simply the best place there is.

Whether with an initially large or small army, Sichuan gives you a base to attack from, while ensuring that the enemy would have a hard time attacking you. It also has a nice agricultural support for your army.
Chang'an is within striking distance.
With the fall of Chang'an, Luoyang is now within your reach.
If you so decide, you can sail down to Nanjing, flowing along with the currents.
You can sail down to Kaifeng and Hangzhou.
Gansu is just North of you, meaning that you can control the silk road.
Yunnan just south of you.
If you still doubt this, then ask yourself: why would Zhuge Liang recommend the conquest of Sichuan in the first place, hmmmmmm?]]> Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:00:18 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34134-ah-my-student-to-have-china-one-must-have-sichuan-province/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34108-minority-discovery-tours/ Minority Discovery tours to see the real culture of Chinese ethnic groups.]]> Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:43:52 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34108-minority-discovery-tours/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34097-home-town-of-giant-panda/ Giant Panda??]]> Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:01:36 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34097-home-town-of-giant-panda/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34096-origin-of-the-yangtze-river/ Yangtze River?]]> Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:59:11 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34096-origin-of-the-yangtze-river/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33835-mongolia-hebei-province-and-beijing-dam/
So current Inner Mongolia, Hebei Province and Beijing DAM were historically divided into Cha Ha Er, Re He, and Zhi Li... We all know that being the administrator of Zhi Li is a lot. I am just wondering why People's Republic of China erased these three names off the map and include much of Northern Hebei (used to be Re He and Cha Ha Er) into part of Inner Mongolia? There were as many Han people as Mongolians living there by the time...

And now they all getting extra scores for living in autonomous region in the "high exam"... not fair

ANY THOUGHTS how this happened?]]> Wed, 12 May 2010 20:52:51 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33835-mongolia-hebei-province-and-beijing-dam/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33755-what-are-the-five-ranges/
Wu Chen recounts the sins of Qin to "prominent men" as he heads to attack Zhao. He mentions the oppression of Qin with, "In the north we have the labour gangs on the Long Wall, in the south the garrisons of the Five Ranges, until all is unrest within and without the nation".

What and where are the "garrisons of the Five Ranges"?]]> Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:51:45 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33755-what-are-the-five-ranges/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33696-forests-in-southern-china/ tropical rainforest, or is it just a normal-but-dense forest?]]> Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:39:05 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33696-forests-in-southern-china/ http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33682-favorite-chinese-cities/ Hangzhou 杭州 isn't on the list of cities to live? I have lived in 杭州 for eight years and love my life here. I have been to other
Chinese cities, and although I love China and have been to many cities, it is always nice to come back home. As in Hangzhou home. I frankly want to stay here
the rest of my life, and even if I hit a lottery for a $100 million dollars, I would have a home here (for fall to spring, Summer, kiss my a**, HZ is hot, go travelling.)

Suzhou is a nice city with a lot going for it, especially for the foreign community. There are a lot of bars and restaurants, and excellent shopping. I could live there.
I have been to Nanjing once, and except for the history, I would not want to live there. It is not an attractive city and there seems to be a lot of beggars there. It wasn't
a very clean city in my opinion.

Shanghai is too big and too expensive for me. I only live 1 hour and 20 minutes south by D-Train. Shanghai is really different than the rest of China, much like New York is
much different than most of the USA. One good thing about Shanghai is the availability of western food and western restaurants. However, all that stuff is so expensive, it's not worth it to me.

Never been to Wenzhou, but everyone who has been there thought it was a sH!t hole. It is a factory town and that's it.

Interestingly never been to Shaoxing either, but it seems to be a city with a lot of history with canals and old buildings and whatnot.

Jinan sucks. Not an attractive city, dirty and funky. I think this would be a very boring city to live in as a foreigner. Actually, except for the coastal areas of Shandong,
Shandong is boring with dull landscape, poor towns 10 years behind the times, and not very clean in urban areas. I did like Zibo though, but that was just for dinner (featuring live baby alligator
that they slaughtered before the meal and the famous “California King Beef Noodle Company", which is an awesome place to go after several bottles of wine and beer at the KTV!

Qingdao is a great city in many ways and could see myself living there. It was interesting that Qingdao seemed to have a new area and an older area. The older area was OK, but rather ran down and dirty, while the new area was very modern and kept up (Xiang Gang or Hong Kong Ave. is the nice part of the city.) It was a lot of fun to walk around that city. One day I took a bus to a temple near the sea and loved the rocky coastline, wishing I had a motorbike to explore the area. Very beautiful.

Dalian I have never been to, but have always heard that it's a wonderful city and has won awards for being the cleanest and best ran city in the country.

Went to Ningbo once. It was OK. Not much different than a lot of China. Nothing really sticks out in my mind about the place excwept for the beautiful church that I walked around in. There is a pretty cool shopping mall nearby. Give Ningbo a pass and go to Zhoushan Island.

Love to go to Hong Kong and just walk around for a week.

Xiamen is also on my wish list. Cool name for a city. It's not a place that I am dying to go see, but if things presented itself, I would go tomorrow.

I liked Kunming, but I just visited. I have a coworker who spent a week there and hated it because it was poor and he wasn't making that much money there. Dali and Lijiang are beautiful places to visit, but I don't know about living there. Yunnan is the most beautiful Province in China in my opinion, but I have never been to Guizhou....

I went to Chengdu, but did not stay long, I went up the mountains into the Tibetan areas for a few days, came back and went home. I did talk to some expats who lived there who liked it
and there seems to be a lot of things for expats to do. Sichuan is also beautiful and is well worth going west.

I went to Xian and thought that city was OK, but I dont think I want to live there. Great place to visit if you want to learn the history of the nation and see the different sites like Terracotta and the history museum. But I found the people to be kind of jerky, the rooms expensive, and not that tourist friendly.

I also visited Beijing and was quite surprised about how friendly the people were. The food we had was wonderful also. My best friend lived in Beijing and his main complaint was
the weather. One thing I disliked was all the traffic everywhere. Beijing is where the center of power is in China, and there is an old Chinese saying that the further one is to the
Emperor, the better off you are.]]> Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:58:08 +0000 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/33682-favorite-chinese-cities/