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

China is the forth

largest country in the

world.

China is sometimes one day

ahead of the USA

Each year is represented by an animal.  There are twelve animals which represent the twelve months. 

When a Chinese child

loses a baby tooth, it

doesn't get tucked under

the pillow for the tooth

fairy.  If the child loses an

upper tooth, the child's

parents plant the tooth in

the ground, so the new

tooth will grow in straight

and healthy.  Parents toss

a lost bottom tooth up to

the rooftops, so that the

new tooth will grow

upwards , too.

Red is considered a

lucky colour in China.  At

one time wedding dresses were red.  New

Year's banners, clothing,

and lucky money envelopes are still red.

Unlike the 26 letters of

our alphabet, words

cannot be sounded out

letter by letter.

 

Population:

Tourist Attractions: The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Terra Cotta Warriors, and The Bund

History:

Capital City:

The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600 BC - ca. 1100 BC).

Beijing

1.3 billion people

Language Spoken: Mandarin

Climate: Being 24.4

Tourist attractions: Great wall of china, Forbidden city, Summer Palace and the temple of heaven

Food:

Jiaozi, that is boiled or steamed dumplings

Guotic or fried dumplings Xia Long Bao or the soup dumplings Noodles, both fried and soup noodles

Baozi or steamed and filled buns Soy egg cooked in Soy Sauce

Tea Egg prepared by soaking or stewing in tea

(1)Basic fried rice(2)chicken chow mein (3)Crab rangoon (4)Chicken fried rice(5)Egg rolls(6)Sweet and sour sauce(7)Hot and Sour Soup(8)Orange Chicken(9)Sweet and sour pork(10)Egg drop soup

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus.

The very first modern Olympic Games opened in the first week of April 1896. Since the Greek government had been unable to fund construction of a stadium, a wealthy Greek architect, Georgios Averoff, donated one million drachmas (over $100,000) to restore the Panathenaic Stadium, originally built in 330 BCE, with white marble for the Olympic Games.

The competitive events added to the Olympic games include throwing the discus and the javelin, the long jump, boxing , wrestling, chariot and horse racing and a challenge to test all-round ability - the pentathlon.

The ancient pentathlon begins with competition in four disciplines - running, jumping, throwing the discus and the javelin. The winners emerging from these encounters then meet in a fifth and decisive contest, wrestling.

Only men and

boys may enter the games and women may not even be among the spectators (the contestants compete entirely naked). An exception is made for priestesses of the com goddess Demeter.

Have you ever wondered how the Olympics started? In Olympia, Greece the Olympic Games were held every four years. First Olympic game was recorded in 776 BC; that was about 3,000 years ago. At that time this great festival took place to honour the Greek gods. Olympics were held during the great festival. My resources say Olympics were held to please the various gods. One God, in particular, the most important was called Zeus. The Olympics were called Olympiad in Greece.

The Olympic symbol (five interlocked rings)  represents the union of the five original major continents (Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe) and the meeting of the athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games. The five colours of the rings from left to right are blue, black and red across the top and yellow and green along the bottom.

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 8:08 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 8 August 2008 because in Chinese culture, 8 is considered to be a lucky number. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. Organisers claim that the stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity

The Opening Ceremony

The Closing Ceremony

The 2008 Beijing Olympics

The Games came to the end of their 17-day run after a ceremony -- a party, really -- featuring bouncing and flying men, drum carts, rotating poles, light wheels precisely 2.008 meters in diameter and 1,148 silver bell-wearing dancers in yellow dresses, all of it a lead-up to the entry of the athletes of the world, who by tradition on the night of closing ceremony mingled together, without regard to nationality, in the centre of the stadium.

Tourist Highlights:

Badaling Great Wall, is located more than 70 kilometres northwest from the centre of Beijing City, with more than 1000 meters above sea level, occupies a commanding and strategic position. Badaling is the best-preserved section of the Great Wall. 370 foreign leaders and very important persons have come to climb Badaling successively.

The name means "Northern Capital." (Nanjing is the "Southern Capital.")

Beijing:

Population: 15.38 million

Beijing’s Tourist Attractions: The Summer Palace, & the Forbidden City

The forbidden City

The Summer Palace

History of Beijing: Beijing was initially built over 3000 years ago. In BC 1045, the city of Beijing initially formed. For thousands of years, more than 6 dynasties set Beijing as capital. Beijing is also the capital of People’s Republic of China.

Athletes participating in Special Olympics Volleyball benefit from the camaraderie that comes from competing in a team sport, as well as the training that enables them to successfully serve and return a volleyball.

Special Olympics Volleyball also offers individual skills competition to allow athletes to train and compete in basic volleyball skills. The development of these key skills is necessary prior to advancing to team competition. These skills include volleying, serving and passing.

Volleyball Facts Volleyball was introduced to Special Olympics in 1983. 259 athletes from 20 teams competed in volleyball at the

2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in

Dublin, Ireland. As of the 2005 Special

Olympics Athlete Participation Report, 71,982 Special Olympics athletes

compete in volleyball.

While the modern game of football started with the foundation of the Football Association of England in 1863, its roots extend to opposite ends of the earth. The ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans played a similar game, long before English kings in the 1300s and 1400s were trying to outlaw the violent sport.

The first official men's Olympic soccer tournament dates back to the 1908 London Games, where Great Britain defeated Denmark to claim the first soccer gold medal. Since that time soccer has been part of every Olympic Games Program, with the exception of the 1932 Los Angeles Games. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were cancelled completely due to the political tensions surrounding World War II.

Great Britain did not qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It won three Olympic titles: Paris 1900, London 1908 and Stockholm 1912. In 2012, Great Britain will serve as organizer of the Olympic Games.

If gymnasts are really serious about bringing home the gold, then the Olympic tests can be counted on to really put them through their paces.

Whether the event involves swinging from rings, flying around the uneven bars, exhibiting artistic skills on the floor or balance beam - or any of the

thrilling moves we've come to expect - this sport is always one of the most popular for summer spectators.

Gymnastics has a long, proud history. The sport can be traced back to ancient Greece, where such skills featured in the ancient Olympic Games. A perfect fusion of athletics and aesthetics, gymnastics ranks among the defining sports of the Olympic Games. 

Trampoline gymnastics debuted at the Sydney 2000 Games featuring both men's and women's individual events. The Russian Federation took home two gold medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as Alexander Moskalenko and Irina Karavaeva were crowned with gold medals

DOB: 19 November 1978

Place of Birth: Melbourne, Australia

Age: 29

Event: Rowing

Height: 1.99m

Medals: 1 bronze in 2008

Mahe Drysdale (29) – is the current world champion having taken the title and unprecedented three times in succession in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and he goes to Beijing as the favourite. He has Olympic experience from Athens (Coxless Four) and is also a former winner of the Halberg Supreme Award.

He set a world record with a time of 6 minutes, 35.40 seconds in the single sculls at the 2006 World Championships.

Valerie Vili opened with a throw of 20.56 metres which was never bettered and she had the luxury to decline her final throw

DOB: 6 October 1984

Place of birth: Rotorua New Zealand

Age: 23

Event: Shot-putter

Valerie Vili, née Adams, (born October 6, 1984) is a shot putter from New Zealand. She is the reigning Olympic champion, world champion and Commonwealth record-holder, having thrown a distance of 20.56 m.

How nice then that heading towards Beijing, New Zealand athletics has an outstanding medal prospect again – shot putter Valerie Vili.

DOB: 2 March 1988

Place of Birth: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Age: 20

Event: Diver

Matthew started diving in 1999 when he was 11 after AIS coach, Wang Tong Xiang, saw him playing on the board at a pool in Brisbane and he was impressed by his double somersault.

A trampolinist since 1997, Matthew competed at the 1999 World Junior Championships and again in 2001, winning the Junior World Champion title in the double mini apparatus. In the same year (2001) he won his first Diving National Age title in the 3m and platform events and was named 'Diver of the Year'.

A two-time Australian Youth Olympic Festival athlete, Matthew competed in trampoline at the 2003 AYOF finishing sixth and in diving at the 2005 AYOF, winning three gold medals and one silver.