1、附 件I. Suzhou: A Brief Introduction Suzhou, a city in eastern Chinas Jiangsu Province, is considered as beautiful as the paradise. A major tourist city, it features classic gardens and elegant natural scenery. Location: It is situated by the Taihu Lake in the southern part of Jiangsu Province, in the
2、 Yangtze River Delta. With Shanghai to its east and Zhejiang Province to its south, Suzhou has a well-developed communication network and can be easily reached from all parts of China.Geographic Features: Of the 8,488 square kilometers of territory under the citys jurisdiction, about 10 percent is c
3、ultivated farmland; 30 percent is hilly land, and the rest is covered by waters or low terrains. Its average altitude is 4 meters above sea level. The city is famed as the Oriental Venice because it is a water city with numerous rivers, lakes and canals, such as the Yangtze River, Yangcheng Lake, Ch
4、enghu Lake and the Grand Canal. Major hills in the area include Lingyan, Tianping, Tiger (Huqiu) and Yushan.Population: It has a population of 5.71 million, including the various ethnic groups of Han, Hui, and Manchu, 1.05 million of the people living in urban areas. History: It was established as a
5、 settlement in 514 B.C., known as Gusu; in 581 during the Sui Dynasty, it was renamed Suzhou. Climate: On the north edge of the subtropical zone, Suzhou has monsoon maritime climate, with mildly cold winter and humid summer. Its annual average temperature is 15.7C.Local Highlights: Besides classic g
6、ardens, Suzhou is also famous for Kunqu Opera and Pingtan (ballad-singing in Suzhou dialect). Among the local products, there are silk; handicrafts such as embroidery, fans, traditional Chinese musical instruments, lanterns, furniture, jade carving, silk tapestry, traditional painting pigments, New
7、Year pictures of wood-block prints, etc; and big-gate crabs from Yangcheng Lake. II. Peking Man site at ZhoukoudianZhoukoudian is a small village some 50 kilometres southwest of Beijing and it was here that startling discoveries of human remains were found in 1921, 1923 and 1927. The early finds wer
8、e no more than three teeth but these were to be the cause of great interest as they clearly came from a species of man that had not been found before and they were the first evidence of early human habitation in China during the Paleolithic Age.On December 2nd 1929 a complete skullcap was discovered
9、 and this proved the theory that was derived from the earlier finds of the teeth. This was in fact the proof of existence of a humanoid species dating from between 700,000 and 200,000 years ago.This initial find was to lead to other discoveries of skeletal remains and from these it was possible to d
10、educe that what became known to the World as Peking Man or Sinanthropus pekinensis was in fact in bodily form virtually identical to modern man. The difference is in the shape and construction of the skull demonstrating what had been found was a hitherto entirely unknown hominid genus and species.Th
11、e skull has a low forehead with a protruding supra-orbital bone eyebrow. The occipital bone at the back of the head is sharply angled and there is a large and powerful jaw. The teeth are distinctly human but these are quite large. Importantly, the canine teeth do not overlap, as is the case in apes.
12、 Overall, the average cranial capacity was found to be approximately 80 per cent of that of the average modern man confirming a somewhat smaller brain.Measurement of the femurs found shows that the average height of a male was some 156 cm and a female was 144 cm. The bones indicated that the life sp
13、an of Peking Man was short and that probably 68.9% died before the age of 14 years while only 4.5% lived to the age of 50 years. However, other finds which included ashes and bones show that these people used fire for cooking food and the provision of light, warmth and protection from wild beasts. T
14、ools made from bones and sharpened stones indicate a fairly well established culture. Close by the Peking Man site but further up the mountainside three complete adult skulls were discovered. These have been attributed to what is now called Upper Cave Man. Here the important finds included bone need
15、les, animal teeth that had been used as adornment and remains of necklaces. This shows these early people had the ability to fashion clothes from skins and not only made these to keep themselves warm but also made them to look attractive. Archaeologists have determined that the Upper Cave people liv
16、ed some 18,000 years ago. Unfortunately, when the Japanese invaded China in 1937, excavation at the Peking Man site was suspended. In 1947 all the fossils disappeared and it was thought that an attempt was made to smuggle them to America, sadly they have never been traced. Following the founding of
17、the Peoples Republic of China, the work has been renewed and finds now include six intact skulls, parts of ten arm and other bones, twelve broken facial bones, fifteen lower mandibles and 157 teeth. In all these represent over 40 individuals of varying ages and sex. The historical and cultural value
18、 of the Zhoukoudian site has been acknowledged by its listing as a World Heritage Site in December 1987 at the eleventh session of UNESCO. III. StonehengeNo place has generated so much speculation and wild theories as the standing stones of Stonehenge. After driving for miles through the rolling hil
19、ls and plains of the English countryside the sight of this unusual structure makes people gasp. A walk around it only provokes more strange feelings. Theres a sense that this is something very important. It taunts us with its mystery. For over 5000 years it has stood silent vigil over the earth. It
20、has been excavated, x-rayed, measured, and surveyed. Yet despite all that has been learned about its age and construction, its purpose still remains one of the great mysteries of the world.Around 3500 BC the semi-nomadic peoples that populated the Salisbury Plain began to build the monument now know
21、n as Stonehenge. The original construction was a circular ditch and mound with 56 holes forming a ring around its perimeter. The first stone to be placed at the site was the Heel Stone. It was erected outside of a single entrance to the site. 200 years later 80 blocks of bluestone was transported fr
22、om a quarry almost 200 miles away in the Prescelly Mountains. It is surmized that these blocks were transported by way of rafts along the Welsh coast and up local rivers, finally to be dragged overland to the site. These stones were erected forming two concentric circles.At some point this construct
23、ion was dismantled and work began on the final phase of the site. The bluestones were moved within the circle and the gigantic stones that give Stonehenge its distinctive look were installed. Some of these massive stones weigh as much as 26 tons! It remains a mystery how such huge stones could have been moved from the quarry at north Wiltshire by a supposedly primitive people.
