What's up.
My family is adopting a little girl from China. Her name is Wang Guoyan [they do last names first over there, which means Guoyan is her first name], and she's 8 years old. I'll be going to China to pick her up with my mom and little sister, Stacy [she's 14] sometime this summer. I'm pretty excited, and we've been researching Chinese culture and stuff recently.. so to make a long story short, I find alot of it really interesting... and here you go, my pick of China's best qualities. Enjoy :)

-Ancient Chinese mythology.
-Mmm... food.
-The concept behind Yin & Yang.
-Feng Shui who?
-More info[links]

Mythology.

Ancient Chinese myths told about the beginning of the world. A couple of the most famous stories:

Pan Gu's world: "Pan Gu was the firstborn. When about to die, he underwent transformation. Breath became the wind and clouds. Voice was thunder. The left eye was the sun, right eye the moon. The four limbs and body became the four directions and the mountain peaks. Blood was river and stream. Tendons were the mountain paths and roads, while flesh and muscle were the arable lands. Mane and beard became the stars, while fur was grass and trees. Teeth and bones were precious ores. Sperm was pearl and marrow jade; sweat became the quenching rains. The vermin crawling on its body, influenced by the vapors, changed into the black-haired masses."

Nu Gua makes people: "Nu Gua lived in a time shortly after the world had been formed from the remains of Pan Gu, after he had split the original Egg of Chaos into Yin and Yang and spent 18,000 years growing the sky, the earth and himself.However, other then her brother Fuxi there were no other intelligent beings. As Nu Gua loved to make things, she decided to make people. To do this she molded them from yellow clay, she built many of them, but this proved to be too too much work, even for a Goddess. So she sped things up by taking a rope and dipping it in mud and slinging it so that drops of mud fell from it, and each drop became a man or woman. In this way nobles were formed from the clay models while peasants were formed from the mud droppings. Later after the world was filled with men and women, the foundations of the sky started to fall and it was Nu Gua who saved the day by melting five different stones and repairing it."

Some Gods & Goddesses of ancient China:

Ch'eng Huang

Che'ng Huang is the god of moats & walls. Every village and town had their own "Che'ng Huang," usually an important person who had died and been promoted to godhood. He was chosen through dreams, but the Gods made the final decision. Che'ng Huang protects the city from attack and makes sure that the King of the Dead does not take any soul from his region without permission. He also exposes evil-doers to proper authorities, usually through dreams. His assistants are Mr. Ba Lao-ye and Mr. Hei Lao-ye [Mr. Daywatchman and Mr. Nightwatchman].

Kuan-Ti

Kuan Ti is the god of war as well as an oracle. He is known as "The Great Judge" who protects the people from injustice ad evil spirits. He is red-faced and always dressed in green. Kuan Ti was actually a real historical figure, a general of the Han dynasty known for his skill as a warrior and his justness as a ruler. There were more than 1600 temples dedicated to Kuan Ti.

Kwan Yin

Kwan Yin is the goddess of mercy and compassion. She is portrayed as lady dressed in white seated on a lotus plant, holding an infant. She was murdered by her father, and when she arrived in Hell she recited the holy books, and the ruler of the Underworld could not make the dead souls suffer. He sent her back to the world of the living, where she gained great spiritual insight and was awarded by immortality by the Buddha. She is a very popular goddess; her temple at the Mount of the Wondrous Peak was always filled with a mass of pilgrims shaking rattles and setting off firecrackers to get her attention.

Ti-Tsang Wang

Ti-Tsang Wang is the god of mercy. Wandering in the caverns of Hell, a lost soul may encounter a smiling monk whose path is illuminated by a shining pearl, and whose staff is decorated with metal rings which chime like bells. This is Ti-Tsang Wang. He will do all he can to help the soul escape hell and even to put an end to his eternal round of death and rebirth. Long ago, Ti-Tsang Wang renounced Nirvana so that he could search the dark regions of Hell for souls to save [from the kings of the ten hells]. Once a priest of Brahma, he converted to Buddhism and became a Buddha with special authority over the souls of the dead.

Yao Shih Fwo

Yao Shih Fwo is ne of the three foremost Buddhas of the Chinese Pantheon, and he is a Buddha of the past era. Better known to the people as the "Buddha of Medicine" or the "Master of Healing," he is dear to the hearts of many, because they have received his blessings in the forms of miraculous cures of all kinds of illness.