15 facts about China that the Chinese would prefer to hide

China is undoubtedly an amazing and bright country that has made a big step forward in the field of technology and lifestyle in just five years. However, such rapid progress is not easy, and although the Chinese continue to overcome historical challenges and move forward, they keep their not always pleasant skeletons in the closet, such as the death penalty or widespread piracy.

Lilliput Park

Of course, this is not a state secret, but the Kingdom of Little People in China is a place that only a few people still know about. More than a hundred dwarfs live in an unusual park, which should entertain visitors. Humorous shows of all stripes are shown here, and with the development of tourism, the Lilliput park earns quite well.

Christianity in China

Perhaps, hardly anyone expects to meet Christianity in the Middle Kingdom, but now it is on the rise here, and China may soon become the country with the largest Christian community in the world. It is believed that there are already more Christians in China than in Italy. However, few people know about this, because in China they are strictly related to religions.

Congenital deformities

There is nothing more terrible than watching a child grow up with some kind of birth defect, but there is no escape from this truth of life. In China, this happens more often than you can imagine. Every year, 1.2 million children with developmental disabilities are born in China, and this figure is growing. It turns out that a child with a congenital deformity is born in China every 30 seconds. Since 2001, the number of such cases has increased by 40%. Many blame the poor environmental situation for this.

Air pollution

Many people have probably heard about the terrible air pollution in China. The authorities of the country usually keep silent about how bad everything is in this regard. On some days, when the air is very dense and full of chemicals, people have to wear oxygen masks outside. The reason for this environmental situation is the rapid growth of China's industry. Some people think that dirty air is the fate of only China, but because of air flows, pollution reaches San Francisco. It is believed that a third of the cases of polluted air in San Francisco are associated with China.

Empty buildings

There are millions of empty residential buildings in China. In particular, there are now 65 million completely vacant homes. This property is scattered throughout China. These are not just houses or buildings that have been abandoned for years: these are cities and districts built in anticipation of a large influx of population. Since no one has come to live there, they still stand empty and lifeless. It turns out that there are quite a lot of ghost towns in China.

Poverty

Poverty is terrible, and at certain moments many people have gone through it. According to various estimates, more than 100 million people suffer from extreme poverty in China due to low wages. Some people get only two dollars a day, and some-only one dollar. The population of China is so large that it is difficult to save such a huge number of people from the financial abyss.

Prohibition on reincarnation

One of the basic principles of Buddhism is the belief in reincarnation. The Chinese authorities have vetoed this integral part of Buddhism, forbidding some monks to reincarnate. The Communist government stated that in this way they are trying to control the processes of reincarnation. However, many believe that this is just a way to protect people from the influence of the Dalai Lama, who is in exile.

A huge empty shopping center

If you have ever wondered where the largest shopping center in the world is located, it is, of course, in China. But this shopping center is not like others, and all because there are almost no shops and customers in it. 99% of the area of the New South China Mall has never been used, although the shopping center opened seven years ago. The area of the megamall is 650.3 thousand square meters. It is divided into 2,350 rooms, which could contain shops of various sizes. The only places in the mall that work are a couple of fast food outlets around the entrance.

Blocked sites

In China, they are obsessed with controlling everything and everything, and this is especially expressed in measures to restrict access to the Internet. In the United States, you can get to almost any site, and in China there is no such freedom. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and many other resources are blocked here. Even the New York Times was blocked after the publication published material with which the communist government does not agree.

Cavemen

In history lessons, everyone was probably told that once primitive people hid in caves to protect themselves from the dangers of the outside world, but these times are long behind... but not in China. The cave is home to more than 35 million people. In Shaanxi Province, one of the most famous places where people live in caves, people lead a normal daily life.

Polluted water

Many countries suffer from water pollution, but the horror is that more than 700 million people in China consume polluted water every day. In large cities, only about 10% of raw wastewater is treated. Waste is released into lakes, rivers and other places, where it seeps into the ground and pollutes underground water.

Problem with the time zone

Few people can boast of their own time zone, but the Chinese are one of them. After the establishment of the communist regime in 1949, it was decided that China should have its own time zone in Beijing. Of course, this was another measure to tighten control in the country. The huge time zone has caused problems such as late sunrise in some parts of the country, which falls at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Piracy

Once the term "piracy" meant an attack on another ship and its robbery, but over time this word began to embody the illegal use or reproduction of the products of someone else's intellectual labor. In 2010, China actually took the palm in piracy. 78% of the software installed on computers was pirated. No matter how you look at it, these are very large volumes, and although there is stolen content everywhere in one way or another, China is ahead of the planet in this sense.

Capital punishment

In many countries, the death penalty has been abolished or more humane methods are used, such as lethal injection. But in China, for example, people are still executed by firing squad.

Gobi Desert

It is known that the Gobi Desert is one of the largest in the world, but few people understand that this desert is expanding at a terrifying speed. The area of the Gobi Desert is 1.3 million square kilometers, it is almost like Peru. Every year it increases by 3.6 thousand square kilometers. This is due to the huge amounts of deforestation, impoverishment of the soil due to its use for pastures, as well as the consumption of water sources.