China has 55 UNESCO sites
China has 37 listed cultural heritage sites, 14 natural UNESCO sites, and four mountain ranges recognized by UNESCO.
Both China and Italy have 55 recognized UNESCO sites, making them the top two countries worldwide to have the most recognized sites.
1987 was the first year that China had sites recognized by UNESCO, and they gained a total of six in that year alone.
These include Mount Taishan, the famous Great Wall of China, Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, Mogao Caves, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and Imperial Palaces of the Ming.
China has only one time zone
Although China is a similar size to mainland America, it only has one time zone.Unlike America that has four time zones – excluding Hawaii & Alaska.
China spans five geographical time zones, but a decision was made to use Beijing time across the country to encourage national unity.
So whilst sunrise in the east may be at a reasonable time in the morning, it won’t rise in the west until later.
The largest palace in the world is located in China
The Imperial Palace in Beijing was built in the 15thcentury and is the world’s largest palace.Construction involved around one million workers, and it was designed by three architects.
The palace is made up of 980 buildings with a total of 9,000 rooms.The buildings take up a total area of 178 acres (0.7 square kilometers).
The Imperial Palace holds the Guinness World Record as the largest palace in the world, and it is listed as a UNESCO heritage site.
China has the largest rail network in the world
Their network is so large that if you were to add together all other high-speed rail lines in the world, they wouldn’t be as long as that of China’s.
In 2017, China had a 12,427 mile (19,999 kilometers) long network of rails.
The project is expecting to expand by another 9,320 miles (14,999 kilometers) by 2025.
China has the world’s oldest alcohol
Many countries have been producing alcohol through fermentation for hundreds of years.
But China has the oldest evidence of an alcoholic drink.
At a Neolithic village in the Yellow River Valley in China, clay pots were found during an excavation.
These pots contained a liquid residue that shows signs of fermentation.
Typical fermented drinks would have included wine made from berries, honey mead, and rice beer.
These pots were evidence that fermented drinks were made as early as 7,000 BC, making them the oldest artifacts to display alcohol production.
