Chinese People--- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

China is NOT the China you know from your grandfather or from your school textbook or from the news media surrounding you today.  Even CNN hasn't come close yet.  You can not dig a hole in your backyard and expect to get to see the Great Wall and a slow boat will take you forever to reach the China shore.  Outside the country, China is an illusion created by sensational journalism. China is NOT the China you read from Chinese newspapers or magazines at home either.  The only way to learn about China and her people is to land yourself on the soil of that country, stand among the numerous construction cranes everywhere, inhale the polluted air brought about by cars newly imported or built and to join the crowd, feel the country's heartbeat through your efforts to communicate with the Chinese people.

Nobody has ever said, China is a melting pot but there are 55 ethno-linguistic groups or minority nationalities residing in China.

They differ in language, habit, religion and even physical features.  Han is the largest group, accounting for 95% of the population. Others include Zhuang, Miao, Uygur, Tibetan, Mongolian and Korean.

Even among Han people, there are a lot of differences.  Northern Hans are taller and characteristically, more straight forward and eat more wheat products.  Southerners are shorter and more slim and favor sweets.  Hans of the mid provinces, such as Sichuan and Hunan, because of the humidity, favor spicy food. (Chinese people believe eating spicy is among the attributes of a leader since so many earlier communist leaders started out from this region).