If you know the words for the cardinal directions in Mandarin (dong = east, nan = south, xi = west, bei = north) you can get 19 easily simply by remembering to try the "opposite" direction. Everyone knows Hunan, so Hubei. Everyone knows Guangdong, so Guangxi, etc.
Funnily enough, this logic doesn't carry over to US states. My Chinese boyfriend asked why there wasn't an "East Virginia." Fair question, sir, fair question.
Yk what, my friends and I were wondering how we could create more states to even out the stars on the flag if Puerto Rico became a state (turn 51 into 55 or 60 to make nice even star rows), we came up with
Splitting California into North and South
Splitting Michigan up geographically
Dividing Alaska up since it's huge
--------------------------OR--------------------
Removing New Jersey entirely
Maybe we could add "Split up Virginia" so there's a WVa, Va, and East Virginia
Its not a surprise to see regions like Tibet or Inner Mongolia being more recognized than other "Chinese" provinces because unlike those "provinces" these guys interact with the outside world, which makes it more known to foreigners. Hong Kong is worldwide known as British former controlled, and Macau was originally Portugues (Portuguese language in Portuguese) owned (so its also more known because its usually owned by a Western nation whom used to have a powerful and long empire) until the same time as Hong Kong's independence from Britain.
I think Sichuan is very famous for its mountains, pandas and increasingly popular cuisine, and that is why many people got it. It is a very good province, anyways. :)
This might be the most well known province in Occident, due to Sichuan pepper or other condiments lol. It might also be because this was historically the most populated in all China, or because people remember that Chongqing was removed from it not so long ago. All in all, a lot of people know about the Four Rivers Province (at least here in France) and there's a chance that if you ask people to name a province, it would be the first answered besides Xizang.
Many of us in Germany read Bertolt Brecht's play "The Good Person of Sezuan" in school. Sezuan/Sichuan is supposed to be an allegory for all the places where people suffer. Brecht later added that the real Sichuan is not one of these places anymore since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The book is fine, but its author was a bit deluded.
Sichuan is very poor province. In the HDI it has only 0.716, which is lower than even African and poor Arab countries like Botswana or Jordan. Without Chengdu it would be at least 0.1 lower. The horrible climate makes it feel even worse. At least they are better than Tibet, who live the same as Myanmar (0.585).
Nobody cares about HDI nowadays, what people only care about is GDP per capita, which best measures whether a region is rich or not. The GDP per capita of Sichuan is 10120 USD in 2021, which I believe would be higher last year. This is way higher than most of the African countries like Botswana, about the same as Argentina.
@jhassasin There really is no official spelling because the name was written in Chinese characters so there are multiple pinyins. Kind of how Muscat and Musqat are the same thing but different spellings
Romanisation occurred way before Pinyin was invented (thus the spelling 'Sichuan'). Pinyin was only introduced in the 1950s and 60s. In fact, I personally prefer the romanised spellings.
Do you prefer the English romanisation, the French or perhaps the Dutch? Pinyin was definitely one of the best ideas of the Mao era (an admittedly short list). Simplified ideograms also wasn't a bad idea for comprehension by foreigners.
Pinyin is a mouthful of alphabet soup for English, French and Dutch. It just makes no sense. There is no true transfer of pronunciation from hardly any language to another. In China they don't pronounce New York and Paris the way you do. (And I'm betting every English speaker read "PAIR-iss", not paʁi like the native pronunciation.)
You just need word chart. All Chinese sounds are in English. Q is CH, ZH is J, X is SH, etc. The only Chinese sound not in english is the u with two dots. But even that is easy to learn.
All though it is currently not a Chinese province due to the dispute it is most certainly not a country. Very few places including the UN do not recognize Taiwan as a country mainly due to the fact that it has always been a province of China. As soon as mainland China converts to a democracy Taiwan WILL be a province of China again.
It is definitely a country. Taiwan has its own border controls, government, political system, military, legal system, currency, foreign policy and so on. Only the most one eyed CCP supporter would claim that Taiwan is not a country.
yep, got a big fat 0, and I am not even talking about points haha. (though I could haven gotten the top 6 in hindsight) This is a subject I know nothing about, so I thought I would click it and see if some information will stick. (not too sure that will happen though, a bit verwhelming haha, especially since many look/sound similar to me, so no memory aids. Like for canada alberta allways make me think of a cow, so I remember it. If I can attach the word to something it is much easier to remember)
Bam full marks, one hour ago and I would’ve got around 10. I recommend this guys three videos they’re really helpful at learning the Chinese subdivisions (https://youtu.be/h-s48UjLC8Q)
Taiwan is not in this quiz. Hong Kong is a part of China that, officially at least, has full autonomous control over its territory. Of course we've recently found out that China is not good at keeping this promise, and it would be nice if Hong Kong could be freed from China, but for now it is definitely part of China.
Incorrect. Hong Kong has not ever wanted to leave China. HK will be part of China till end of Earth. If everyone leave when things get tough, how will China get better? The HKers being in China is very useful for us mainlanders, because that means the CCP will get the bad publicity. If someone is killed in Singapore by government would you blame CCP? Of course not. Same thing, if Hong Kong becomes independent then CCP loses blame.
Like it or not, Hong Kong is still part of China. Taiwan, on the other hand, is a sovereign country, just not widely recognized due to One China Policy.
I don't know why Jetpunk recognises Taiwan as an actual country. Only 17 countries fully recognise it (none of them important), and Taiwan still is not free from the chinese government. Why do you accept it?
What do you mean "Taiwan still is not free from the chinese government"? Taiwan has its own political and economic system, its own military and currency and handles foreign policy on its own. Unless by "Chinese Government" you mean "government of the Republic of China", then of course you would be correct.
Please, let's be real here: Taiwan has its own ruler and its own laws, but the fact is that China has control over the area, both physically and economically. It is somehow like Hong Kong, with both unique currencies and economies, but still in control of the chinese government.
And second of all, sovereignity is probably the most important thing to form a country: all JetPunk official countries have at least 90 other countries recognising it. Taiwan has 15, the most important (economically) of them being Guatemala, the 74th largest GDP in the world. And more important, the UN, the most important international organization.
Overall, except for some isolated countries and JetPunkers, nobody recognises it!
I'm not against the independence of the province, but currently, the fact is that Taiwan IS NOT a country.
Most countries and the UN didn't recognize the People's Republic until the 1970s. Do you think it was not a real country before that? Officially recognizing a country has much more to do with political alignments or interests, although in most cases it also reflects reality. It is more practical to have an official relationship with the PRC than with the ROC if you can't have both, that is all. Most countries maintain unofficial relations with and have de-facto embassies in Taiwan, including the US, France, and the UK. And I don't know where you heard that "China has control over the area, both physically and economically". If Taiwan has its own political system, its own laws, its own economic relations to foreign countries, and its own military, how can it not be in control of itself?
Unless by "area" you mean all of China. Or by "China", you mean the ROC. Despite the PRC's claim, it does not factually control Taiwan, and despite the ROC's claim, it does not factually control mainland China. That much should be clear. But if you think that the ROC is not actually in control of Taiwan, I would very much like to see your sources.
I'm not talking about de facto countries. There are plenty more areas around the world that have their own laws, political system and whatever, that could fit into the description of a country. But we're talking about OFFICIAL countries, because that's what JetPunk is about! Therefore, no, Taiwan is not an official country, since very few countries truly recognise it, and the UN also don't recognise it.
Second, yes, Taiwan has its own laws, its own political system and so, but let's just remind that, by far, its most important trading partner is still China, meaning that if the chinese government decided to cut their relations, that'd be it! But China doesn't consider it to be a problem, they have better things to do!
Third, let's remind that the Chinese army is about 20 times the size of the Taiwanese army. That means, if they ever decided to (officialy) declare independence, that'd also be it!
Finally, Taiwan is somehow free to make choices, but let's not ilude ourselves.
Everything you typed makes sense, except for one part saying Taiwan is under control of China (which is not, 'cause Taiwan functions independently as a de facto country).
Please add Taiwan. The official name of Taiwan regime is "Republic of China" (ROC), they are still a part of China. Taiwan and mainland China are two regimes but one country.
THANK YOU for not including Taiwan as part of China. The thing is, both my parents are Taiwanese immigrants and all my grandparents live in Taiwan. I've heard a lot of people consider Taiwan part of China just because Taiwan's official name is "Republic of China"??? That doesn't make sense.
12 countries recognize your "country" LMAO, and the economically strongest being Guatemala. Not recognized by the UN, or the USA, or any formidable powers in the world, how is Taiwan even close to being a country? Lets be real here: what makes you a country is determined by the number of countries that recognize you, otherwise anyone can claim to be countries.
It is because of a policy we signed with China for trade, so basically China is blackmailing the USA to not recognize Taiwan for the ability to be a trading partner with China, which unfortunately we still need. Probably because a lot of countries will follow suit if the powerhouse country USA recognizes Taiwan, thus giving irrefutable evidence about Taiwan's Independence, thus crippling China's chances to invade Taiwan without most repercussions, because if most countries don't recognize Taiwan, they can go to war and stamp it as a "rebellion" that was dealt with accordingly.
when will it change?
Splitting California into North and South
Splitting Michigan up geographically
Dividing Alaska up since it's huge
--------------------------OR--------------------
Removing New Jersey entirely
Maybe we could add "Split up Virginia" so there's a WVa, Va, and East Virginia
The hell i care with Chinese Spellings...
Hai = Ocean
He = River
-this post was made by the Chinese government
The words Shǎn and Shān (in Pinyin, basically Chinese in English letters) have different meanings due to the different ways they should be pronounced.
To differentiate between them in English they decided to add another A to Shǎnxī.
It's a confusing language
And second of all, sovereignity is probably the most important thing to form a country: all JetPunk official countries have at least 90 other countries recognising it. Taiwan has 15, the most important (economically) of them being Guatemala, the 74th largest GDP in the world. And more important, the UN, the most important international organization.
Overall, except for some isolated countries and JetPunkers, nobody recognises it!
I'm not against the independence of the province, but currently, the fact is that Taiwan IS NOT a country.
Second, yes, Taiwan has its own laws, its own political system and so, but let's just remind that, by far, its most important trading partner is still China, meaning that if the chinese government decided to cut their relations, that'd be it! But China doesn't consider it to be a problem, they have better things to do!
Third, let's remind that the Chinese army is about 20 times the size of the Taiwanese army. That means, if they ever decided to (officialy) declare independence, that'd also be it!
Finally, Taiwan is somehow free to make choices, but let's not ilude ourselves.
Don't believe me read this (official government website)
https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/#:~:text=As%20a%20leading%20democracy%20and,have%20a%20robust%20unofficial%20relationship.
It is because of a policy we signed with China for trade, so basically China is blackmailing the USA to not recognize Taiwan for the ability to be a trading partner with China, which unfortunately we still need. Probably because a lot of countries will follow suit if the powerhouse country USA recognizes Taiwan, thus giving irrefutable evidence about Taiwan's Independence, thus crippling China's chances to invade Taiwan without most repercussions, because if most countries don't recognize Taiwan, they can go to war and stamp it as a "rebellion" that was dealt with accordingly.
TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY!