China - Kiina

China (中国), officially People's Republic of China, is a state In East Asia. Its neighbors are Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, North Korea, Tajikistan, Russia and Vietnamese.

Regions

Cities

• Beijing - the capital
• Shanghai - The engine of economic life
• Tianjin
• Wuhan
• Shenyang
• Guangzhou (Canton)
• Harbin
• Xian - Home of the Terracotta Army
• Chongqing - The largest city in China
• Kowloon
• Chengdu
• Changchun
• Taiyuan
• Nanjing
• Jinan
• Dalian
• Qingdao
• Lanzhou
• Fushun
• Zhengzhou

Other items

• the great wall of China
• Tibet

Understand

The Chinese are Chinese citizens, that is, Chinese.

Come

Finns need a visa to China. China has an embassy [1] In Helsinki, where the price of a visa starts from 60 €. The processing takes four working days, it is no longer possible to obtain an express visa. If you go outside of China, for example In Hong Kong and to come back, you will need more entry visas at a cost of € 90.

The visa must be obtained either in person at the embassy or through a travel agency. Postal or consular visas cannot be applied for at this time (summer 2011).

By plane

Finnair has direct flights From HelsinkiTo Beijing, Shanghai, To Chongqing and To Xi'an. Guangzhou flights have been stopped, however Hong Kong is a viable option. The flight costs 500-2000 euros, depending on the time, and takes about 8 hours without a stopover, with a stopover longer.

By train

VR has a train connection from Helsinki Moscow and Ulan Batorin via Beijing. Please note that you also need Russian and Mongolian visas for this trip. With Mongolia, visa-free travel until the end of 2015.

By road

By bus

By boat

Move

China has a comprehensive railway network. The trains are clean and quite affordable. In large cities, you should use the metro (ads also in English) or taxis. Getting around by bus usually requires some local knowledge and / or proficiency in Chinese.

Talk

Often the term Chinese (中国 话 zhōngguóhuà or Chinese state language) is used to actually refer to Mandarin Chinese, which is the official language of China. This designation seeks to mask the fact that ethnic Chinese actually speak several different languages ​​that are not understood when spoken to each other. The general language of China is Mandarin Chinese (pǔtōnghuà) spoken in northern China. It is the language of government agencies and the language of instruction of educational institutions. Thus, virtually all Chinese who have attended schools know it, at least as a foreign language.

Mandarin is by far the most widely spoken Chinese, but several other Chinese languages, such as Cantonese, Gan, Wu, and Hakka, also have tens of millions of speakers. (ref: Wikipedia / Chinese)

English is spoken in hotels, but very little English is heard outside the hotel grounds. The English language skills of taxi drivers are generally poor. An address written in Chinese should be reserved to ensure access. If you are traveling to China a good tip is to take a few hours of distance learning on the "tourist basics" i.e. numbers, having a taxi conversation, ordering food and drink. See e.g. Duallingua.com or Chinese travel dictionary.

Buy

China's currency is called renminbi (RMB) or "people's money", and its currency is yuan (¥, CNY).

China's price level in large cities is relatively high, but there are also restaurants and shops where you can eat and shop cheaply. Designer clothing, jewelry and cosmetics are hovering in Western prices.

Price level

Price levels vary across the country.

Eat

Chinese staples include rice, pork and chicken. wheat is a more common food supplement in the north than rice. Vegetables, noodles, fish, seafood and duck are also eaten a lot. Beijing is famous for its Beijing.

In restaurants, food is enjoyed with chopsticks, which can be difficult for some Westerners to use. In this case, you may want to ask the waiter to bring a knife and fork, although they may not be available in smaller restaurants. Whenever possible you can always practice eating with chopsticks before you travel.

In Chinese food culture, foods are usually in different containers and are not placed on a plate at the same time. Often a piece of main course is placed in a rice bowl and lifted with the rice into the mouth. The meal usually also includes a dilute soup, which is enjoyed with a spoon after the main course.

A little tip: If you don’t control the use of chopsticks, it’s not worth trying in vain, as it feels really amusing to watch from the Chinese (this also applies to other Asian countries). Bones and bones are dropped from the mouth either into a separate tip or sometimes even onto a table, not a plate.

The table label states that the use of the sticks is silent, they do not rattle the plate or other utensils. Sucking or licking food stuck to the sticks is also inappropriate.

Juo

A bottle of water costs about ¥ 1-3. Soft drinks and alcoholic beverages are preferred. Beer usually costs 2 to 4 yuan (30 to 50 cents) in shops and rarely more than 20 yuan in restaurants. Chinese beers have a mild taste and do not usually tell the exact alcohol content but only the minimum percentage.

China makes plenty of wines, the price of which is somewhat higher than beer, usually 15 & ndash40 yuan. You should be careful, because in China, however, red wine often means a sweet, sometimes herb-flavored, and mostly liqueur-like alcoholic beverage. The name white wine, on the other hand, usually refers to vodka.

A lot of tea is drunk in China. Jasmine tea (茉莉 茶) is a popular type of tea in northern China, served in almost every restaurant. Also oolong tea (烏龍) and green tea (绿茶) are popular, while in southern China, sweet spiced with cassava balls and flavored with milk bubble tea (珍珠 奶茶) is popular.

When dining out, a very dilute, green tea is drunk, which the waiter always adds when he notices the customer’s glass is emptying.

Coffee is also available from China, but rarely. Admittedly, it is becoming more common all the time.

Sleep

Study

Work

Stay safe

Do not criticize the Chinese state leadership or the Communist Party in any way. Sensitive issues such as human rights in China or the Tiananmen Square demonstration are worth not talking about.

Stay healthy

Particular attention should be paid to food and beverages, as the bacterial population is different. Tourists are advised to buy only bottled water. Avian influenza has also been found in China, but there is currently no greater danger.

Chinese food is usually well cooked and the most common cause of stomach symptoms is not so much food as dirty dishes.

Vaccinations should be kept up to date. The most important are hepatitis A and B, Japanese encephalitis, tetanus and typhoid. Depending on where you are going in China, you should also protect yourself against Malaria.

There is no yellow fever in China, but vaccination may be required from individuals who have recently resided in yellow fever areas.

Respect

• Communication with locals leading to face loss should be avoided.
• Do not spit in public places.
• For business meetings you should remember a neat dress jacket, straight pants, collared shirt / tie.
• Avoid talking about the situation in Tibet or Taiwan. The portrait of the Dalai Lama and the flagging of the Tibetan flag are banned in the People’s Republic of China. Violation of the law may result in serious action.

Take contact

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