The House of China is open every Sunday from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm.  Refreshments are served.  Each guest receives their own name in Chinese characters as a souvenir.  Travel and culture pamphlets may be picked up free of charge.  Various displays, exhibits and furnishings maybe viewed inside the cottage.

Lawn Program:
The yearly lawn program normally takes place the first Sunday in October, to celebrate the Moon Festival or Harvest Festival.  The stage of the lawn area becomes alive at 2:00 pm with the sights and sounds of China featuring traditional, colorful and acrobatic lion dances.  Dance, song, music and displays of martial arts add to the fun of this program.

Foods served:
For the Lawn Program, the Ethnic Food Fair and December Nights Festival you can enjoy savory barbeque beef skewers, rice, egg rolls, noodles and moon cakes, which is traditionally served for the harvest festival.  Popular pearl tapioca tea drink is eagerly enjoyed by many visitors.

Festivals Outside the HPR House:
The Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important festival for the Chinese people. It is normally in February, the dates vary according to the Lunar Calendar.  A “ Street Fair” takes place  in the Asian Thematic District of the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, for two fun filled days.  Admission is free and the festival  features 50-75 food, craft and display booths  along with continuous entertainment and children’s  activities.

Scholarship Program:
An annual Essay Contest is helded each spring in which students from the local Chinese Language Schools are encouraged to apply.

It takes place at local Restaurants, the dates vary and are announced in advance.

The contest awards attractive cash prices for first, second and third places.  It has to be written in Chinese and the subjects usually cover cultural and historical events.

For much of the past 2000 years China has been the driving force in Asia.  The continent’s largest country is the most populous in the world, home to one in five of all people.  Chinese technology was the most advanced in those early years and attracted and astonished Marco Polo, who arrived in 1275.

Modern history began in 1911 when a republican form of government replaced the Manchu Imperial dynasty. Dr. Sun Yet Sen was the founder of the Republic. Dignity was regained in the hearts of the Chinese people after decades of colonial interference in China’s internal affairs and the Imperial Governments inabilities to govern.
Years of economic turmoil followed. In the 1980’s new reforms under Deng Xiao Ping started and still continue today.

Today’s China is dynamic in many areas.  In 2008 Beijing will host the Summer Olympic Games.

History of the House:
The history of the House of China in Balboa Park dates back to 1935. Originally, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association took charge. When the first Lawn Program was held, a band and parade went from “Old Chinatown” to Balboa Park and the climax was a display of 10,000 firecrackers.

The House of China has plans to bring professional entertainers from China to San Diego. They are looking for groups who will be acrobats and dancers.

Land Area: 9,326,410 sq km
Population:  1,321,851,888 (July 2007 est.)
Capital City: Beijing, PRC
Language:  Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry)
Religion:  Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.)
Form of Government: Communist state
Economy: China's economy during the last quarter century has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy. Reforms started in the late 1970s with the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, the foundation of a diversified banking system, the development of stock markets, the rapid growth of the non-state sector, and the opening to foreign trade and investment. China has generally implemented reforms in a gradualist or piecemeal fashion, including the sale of equity in China's largest state banks to foreign investors and refinements in foreign exchange and bond markets in 2005. The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, China in 2006 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still lower middle-income and 130 million Chinese fall below international poverty lines.
Export: machinery and equipment, plastics, optical and medical equipment, iron and steel

Click map for larger view

Source: The World Factbook - China