Geography

Area (China) – 9,596,960km²

Area (Tibetan province) – 1,200,000km²

The team will enter China on the border with Nepal at the Frienship Bridge in Xangmu. The route then heads north up onto the Tibetan plateau. The distance to everest basecamp from the border is only about 400km but all of it will be at high altitude. This will be the toughest cycling of the trip.

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Weather

EVERESTMAX will spend its time in the Tibetan province of China. Here the summers are mild, in the low 20°Cs. In the winter it is an average of 7°C during the day but the nights are much colder, –10°C. Tibetan China is often described as the roof of the world as most of the country is above 5,000m and it contains the hightest mountain in the world, Mt Everest.

Summer
Winter

The temperature and rainfall graphs are for Lhasa (3,360m).

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People

Population

People (Ethnic Groups)

Religion

China is a very big place and different provinces are very different to one another. This is clearly seen by comparing the Tibetan Province (below) to China as a whole (above).

Population

People (Ethnic Groups) There is now a mixture of indigenous Tibetan people and Han Chinese who have immigrated into the region. The proportions of each group are argued about.

Religion

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Local Traditions

Tibetans celebrate the arrival of spring with picnics. They set up big tents next to rivers or small streams and have the family all together making music, dancing, playing games, flying kites and cooking special foods.

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Language

There are lots of different languages in China because it is such a big country. Mandarin is the official national language but people also speak Cantonese, Shanghaiese, Fuzhou, Hokkien-Taiwanese, Xiang, Gan and Hakka dialects. Mandarin is made up of lots of different characters.

In the Tibetan province Mandarin and Cantonese are the official languages though lots of people speak Tibetan. It has a different set of characters to Mandarin.

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Food

A common food is tsampa. It is made of roasted barley (with husk) whihc are ground with a hand mill into very fine flour. The barley is mixed with a little tea and then rolled into small lumps and eaten with fingers. People add butter, curds and sugar to give it more flavour.

The diet in the Tibetan province is different to the rest of China because it is so high. At this height water boils at 90°C rather than 100°C so it is very hard to cook food like rice with water.

Other major foods in the Tibetan province are wheat flour, yak meat, mutton, pork, butter, milk and cheese.

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Politics

President – HU Jintao

Head of Government – Premier WEN Jiabao

China is a communist state.

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