Apart from being the factory of the world and the most populous country in the world, there’s a lot about China that can leave you both baffled and amazed. From bizarre traditions to awe-inspiring cultural monuments and stunning natural landscapes, China has everything up its sleeve. Keep scrolling down to explore the facts about China that will leave you surprised!

1 20 million trees are cut every year to meet the Chinese consumption of 80 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks each year.

If these chopsticks were to be laid out, they could cover Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which is one of the world’s largest public squares, 360 times! Perhaps because of this, China’s forest cover is one of the lowest among all countries, at around 23% as of 2020. (source)

2 The rich and affluent in China who are sentenced to prison hire body doubles to take their place and serve the time.

If you are rich, you can buy anything you want. However, in China, this privilege extends to escaping prison sentences as well. The rich and powerful of the country have been known to hire “body doubles” to serve their time in prison. In fact, this is so common that the Chinese even have a phrase for it: “ding zui,” which literally means “substitute criminal.” The Hu Bin case of 2009 corroborates how one can evade a sentence even when their act has cost someone their life. (source)

3 The Chinese often dye their pets to have them resemble other wild animals. 

Several Chinese people have dyed their pets’ fur in a way that they resemble other animals. Take, for example, the golden retriever who was dyed orange and black to resemble a tiger or the dogs whose fur was dyed to make them look like pandas. Maybe these extravagant dye jobs have something to do with the nominal cost of it. You can make your dog look like a panda by spending a mere 1,500 yuan (approximately $218). (source)

4 China has WALL-E robot restaurants, with one of them, which is located in Anhui Province, having around 30 WALL-E robots that take care of the orders, the cooking, baking, and delivery of meals.

These robots, which cost approximately $10,000 as of 2014, were on top of the popularity p0ll during the 2010s. Around 30 of these robots greet customers and deliver their food to them. However, they also take care of cooking and baking duties in the restaurant, which, by the way, is an unauthorized restaurant.

Similarly staffed restaurants, and there are several in China, are all the rage among the Chinese. (source)

5 All the giant pandas in the world are on loan from China.

China has been lending pandas to other countries as a sign of goodwill since the Cold War, a tradition that has lived on. A newborn panda is sent back to China according to the agreement to help expand their gene pool. These baby pandas are shipped using FedEx. (source)

6 Millions of people in China still live in caves.

Many in China, especially those in the outskirts, live in caves, most of them being concentrated in the Shaanxi province. These caves are called “Yaodong” in Chinese, and most have a long, vaulted room with a semicircular entrance carved into the side of a mountain. Although living in caves might seem primitive, some of these caves can provide a very luxurious living. (source)

7 A “cult” branch of Christianity in China believes that Jesus is still alive and living in China as a Chinese woman.

Also called the “Church of the Almighty God,” this sect preaches that the “second Christ” is a woman who calls herself the “Almighty God.” This group has been cited as a cult and, quite often, as a terrorist organization. (source)

8 China has the world’s tallest outdoor elevator.

The magnificent glass Bailong elevator at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province of China is 326 meters tall, which officially makes it the tallest outdoor elevator in the world. The elevator is built on the outer part of a cliff in the national park and gives a breathtaking view of the karst formations in the park. The elevator can transport around 46 visitors to the top from the bottom or vice versa in less than two minutes. If you ditch the elevator, it will take you more than 2.5 hours to climb the mountain. (source)