Republic of China in Chinese / Japanese...

澳門 is the Chinese name for the island of Macao.

Note: Macao / Macau is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China but formerly a territory of Portugal. Portuguese remains an official language.

See Also:  China | Hong Kong | Taiwan | Asia | Portugal

This is the Chinese and Japanese name for the Special Administrative Region (SAR) of The Peoples Republic of China known as Hong Kong (formerly a British administrated territory).

The romanization “Hong Kong” is probably a British approximation of the Cantonese pronunciation for this land.

See Also:  Great Britain | China | Macao | Taiwan | Singapore | Japan | Vietnam | Korea | Asia

台灣 is the Chinese name for the Republic of China which is more commonly known as Taiwan.

The island of Taiwan is actually considered a renegade province of mainland China. It became the last holdout of the former government of China after Chairman Mao took power during the revolution that followed WWII.

Note: There are a few ways to write Taiwan: 台湾 / 薹灣 / 台灣.

If you need a certain version, just let me know in the "Special Instructions" tab when you order.

See Also:  Asia

北京 is how to write Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, in Chinese and Japanese.

Occasionally, you will see a romanized version, Peking or Pekin. That's the same place, just an older way to romanize the characters.

伊斯蘭教 both means and sounds like “Islam” in Mandarin Chinese.

The first three characters sound like the word “Islam,” and the last character means “religion” or “teaching.” It's the most general term for “Islam” in China. The highest concentration of Muslims in China is Xinjiang (the vast region in northwest China that was called The East Turkistan Republic until 1949 and is sometimes called Chinese Turkistan, Uyghuristan). Here you will find Uygurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and others that are descendants of Turkmen (possibly mixed with Persians and Arabs). Many of their ancestors were traders who traveled the silk road to buy and sell spices and silk and exchange other goods from the Orient and the Middle East.

I spent some time in Xinjiang and got to know this community. They are strong people who can endure much. They are friendly and love to have a good time. I was a stranger but was treated by villagers (near China's border with Afghanistan) as if I was a good friend.
However, I have heard that it's best not to cross them, as in this land, the law is the blade, and everything is “eye for an eye.” The Chinese government has little control in Xinjiang, with almost no police officers except in the capital of Urumqi (so it's a 60-hour roundtrip train ride to seek the aid of law enforcement in most cases).

While few seem devout, there are at least small mosques in every village. And you will never see a man or woman outside without a head covering.

It should be noted that these people are all citizens of China, but they are officially of the Caucasian race. A visit to Xinjiang will change your idea of what it means to be Chinese.