China and U.S.

Although there are many similarities between China and U.S., people in these 2 countries in general don't know each other very well.

People in U.S. call themselves Americans, while U.S. is really only 1 of the many countries in America. It is correct, in fact this way. But what is incorrect is, generally Americans are referring to people from U.S. Although people from Canada are Americans too, they normally are referred to as Canadians. Rather they are commonly considered NOT Americans (might they want to even).

China's name is in fact not China. It is probably one of the few countries in the world whose popular names are not how they call themselves in their own countries. China is really Zhongguo (spelt in pingyin, a Chinese prononciation annotation), pronouces more like Jongguo if spelt in English way. It means central kingdom.

U.S. is a melting pot. Citizenships and Nationalities are the same thing in a lot of coutries, but not here. People and cultures from all over the world come here, and converge. Ask someone's nationailty, you get a list of different ones. Most people with European backgrounds are like this. It is rather rare when someone tells you "I am Irish" and shuts right there.

Many cultrues have converged or melted in China. It is a common misconception, that Chinese is a race. It is a really a family of many races. There are 56 of them. The majority is Han, which is commonly considered as Chinese by most. But there are really 55 much smaller groups of others. In China's thousands of years of history, there have always been wars between ethnic groups. Whoever won, would always take over China, establish their dynasty, and rule over others. My mom in fact is half Han and half Manchu. This in fact will make my son 1/2 Japanese, 3/8 Han and 1/8 Manchu, eligible for being a mud.