China

China is unfortunately divided into two political components: the People's Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan Islands). Hong Kong and Macao, on leased to Britain and Portugal, have returned backed to China's rules. China has a population of approximately 1.2 billion people and 9,600,000 square kilometers of land. The majority of Chinese people are Han people. China has the same written language with an exception that some several hundred simplified characters are used in mainland China, but not in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macao. However, there are many completely different spoken dialects. For example, Cantonese is simply a foreign language to people who speak only Mandarin. Mandarin (called Pu Tong Hua in mainland and Guo Yu in Taiwan) is the official spoken language. Yao and Shun were the first emperors of China (about 3,000 B.C.), credited with forming Chinese society in the Wei and Yellow River valleys, and taming the floods with dikes and canals. Ch'in Shih Huang (259-221 B.C.) unified the empire, the written language, the measurements, and the width of official roads. The major part of the Great Wall was completed by Ch'in Shih Huang. The last emperor of China was Pu Yi (there is a movie named "The Last Emperor" about him).

For a brief Chinese chronology, click here.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou, also known as Canton, is the largest city in South China and is also the capital city of Guangdong province. Cantonese restaurants are popular in this country due to the fact that early Chinese immigrants to this country were mostly from Guangdong province. The dishes are more or less Americanized (industrialized, perhaps). But Dim Sum has maintained its original flavor. Dim Sum (also called morning tea) is a Cantonese style breakfast offering various dishes in small quantity. Cantonese style of cooking is mild which aims to keep the original taste of good food. Cantonese is a very different dialect that many Chinese people outside of Canton cannot understand. A famous Cantonese in modern history is Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (also called Sun Zhongshan), who founded the Republic of China in 1911. Zhongshan University was named after him in 1925 and became a most prestigious university in South China.

Hunan

 Hunan is a province in South China, which is just north of Guangdong province. Hunan is well-known for hot pepper dishes. There are many different dialects in Hunan. A saying says that in Hunan there is a dialect in 10 li (about 3 miles), but they are not so different. People who understand one Hunanese dialect should not find it too difficult to understand all Hunanese dialects. Hunan is also famous for producing heroes. A saying says that China cannot be conquered unless all Hunanese are dead. A famous Hunanese in modern history is Mao Tse-tung (popularly known as Chairman Mao in mainland China), who started his socialist revolution in Hunan in 1920s, and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949.

ZhongShan (Sun Yat-sen) University

 ZhongShan (Sun Yat-sen) University, formerly Guangdong University, was founded in 1924 by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the great leader of China's Democratic Revolution. Dr. Sun founded the Republic of China in 1911 and died in 1925. To commemorate its founder, the university was renamed Zhongshan-Dr. Sun's courtesy name-in 1926. Zhongshan University has become one of the top universities in China. Its academic work covers the areas of mathematical and computer sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, technology and business management. Directly under the university's administration are There are 29 departments with 52 specialties for undergraduate programs, 73 for master degree programs and 26 for Ph.D. programs. Three postdoctoral stations have been set up, affiliated respectively to the Departments of Physics, Biology and Chemistry. There are also 22 research institutes and 30 research centers. The university employs more than 4,000 faculty and staff members, among them 288 are full professors, 524 associate professors and 613 lecturers (equivalent to assistant professors in the US). The total number of students has reached 14,000, including 949 graduates working for master's degrees and 169 Ph.D. candidates.

If you are alumni of Zhongshan University, you may go here for information of current events.