CHINA

China is a cultural region, ancient civilization, and nation in East Asia. It is one of the world's oldest civilizations, consisting of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia.
China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations. It has the world's longest continuously used written language system, and the source of some of the world's great inventions, including the Four Great Inventions of ancient China: paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

Ice cream was invented in China around 2000BC when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture in the snow.

The oldest surviving printed book in the world is Chinese - a Buddhist text printed in 868 AD.

Capital - Beijing

Population - 1,313,973,713 (estimated 2006)

Languages - Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua,) Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan, Xiang, Gan and Hakka dialects. At the moment, the written language is being modified to simplify the characters involved.

Currency - Yuan