China Travel Guide

Travel Guide for Business, Leisure and Cultural Travel across China

China Travel Guide » The People in China

The People in China

There are many languages and ethnic peoples in the nation of China. The most extensively used language is Mandarin while the most numerous ethnic group is known as Han Chinese. They comprise around ninety-two percent of the entire population of China. They are not always in the majority although they usually are. There are areas where some other ethnic group may have more people than the Han have.

The other eight percent of the population of China is made up of Zhouang, Hui, Tibetans, Uigers, Miao, Lolo, Koreans and the Mongols. Generally, each of these groups has its own local presence in China.

Being the most highly-populated country on Earth, China has between 1.32 billion and 1.5 billion people. Because of attempts to control the population growth in China, the nation is becoming a country of older people. The few children tend to grow up as "little emperors", having too many parents and grandparents for their own well-being.

Regardless of overemphasizing the importance of the few children in the country, Chinese people have great respect for their elders. The Chinese can be characterized as loving their children, respecting the elders and loving harmonious living.

Recent years has seen the younger Chinese becoming quite interested in Western ways, many of them adopting a Western nickname and using their actual Chinese name only in official documents. They tend to honour Christmas and other Western holidays. Some of them may even be considering Western religious ideas although the government has always taken a stance which discourages religion in China.

Some social measures are beginning to open up to the Chinese. Around 109 million Chinese now have health insurance, and 4 million receive unemployment benefits. These numbers are small considering China's 1.32 billion people. Still, it is a beginning. The Chinese people are benefiting from mingling with the outside world.