Students and China
Students United Kingdom and Ireland
In the past, the term "student" was reserved for people studying at University level in the U.K. Children studying at school were called pupils or schoolchildren. However, the American-English use of the word "student" to include pupils of all ages, even at elementary level, is now spreading to Britain, as also other places where British English is primarily used, such as Australia and Singapore. In South Africa, the term "learner" is preferred.
In England and Wales, teenagers who attend a college or secondary school for further education are typical called "sixth formers". If pupils follow the average pattern of school attendance, pupils will be in the "lower sixth" between the ages of 16 and 17, and the "upper sixth" between 17 and 18. They "go up" to University after the upper sixth.
In Scotland pupils sit Highers at the end of fifth year after which it is possible for them to gain entry to university. However, many do not achieve the required grades and remain at school for sixth year. Even among those that do achieve the necessary grades it is common to remain at school and undertake further study and then start university at the same time as their friends and peers.
At universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland the term "fresher" is used to describe new students who are just beginning their first year. Although it is not unusual to call someone a fresher after their first few weeks at University, they are typically referred to as first years. There is little derogatory connotation to this name in the UK, except for an occasional reference to "freshers" in a tone that implies naivety. More commonly, it will be used in a kindly fashion. For instance, a University official might ask a student if they are a fresher without any hint of a put down.
The term, "first year" is the more commonly used and connotation free term for students in their first year. The week at the start of a new year is called "Freshers' Week" or "Welcome Week", with a programme of special events to welcome new students. An undergraduate in the last year of study before graduation is generally known as a "finalist", or simply a third year or a fourth year.
The ancient Scottish University of St Andrews uses the terms "bejant" for a first year (from the French "bec-jaune" - "yellow beak", "fledgling"). Second years are called "semi-bejants", third years are known as "tertians", and fourth years, or others in their final year of study, are called "magistrands".
For school pupils, first of all is primary school and it starts off with an optional "nursery" year followed by Reception and then move on to "year one, year two" and so on until "year six". In state schools, children join secondary school when they are 11-12 years old in what used to be called "first form" and is now known as "year 7". They go up to year 11 and then join the sixth form, either at the same school or at a separate Sixth form college. A student entering a private, fee-paying school would join the "third form" - equivalent to year 9. Many schools have an alternate name for first years, some with a derogatory basis, but in others acting merely as a description - for example "shells" or "grubs".
Commonly known as China
The Peoples Republic of China, commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population. It is titularly a socialist republic ruled by the Communist Party of China under a single-party system, and has jurisdiction over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two largely self-governing Special Administrative Regions. The PRC's capital is Beijing.
At approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the People's Republic of China is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area, and the second largest by land area. Its landscape is diverse with forest steppes and deserts in the dry north near Mongolia and Russia's Siberia, and subtropical forests in the wet south close to Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The terrain in the west is rugged and high altitude, with the Himalayas and the Tian Shan mountain ranges forming China's natural borders with India and Central Asia. In contrast, mainland China's eastern seaboard is low-lying and has a 14,500-kilometre long coastline bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea and on the east by the East China Sea beyond which lies Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
Ancient Chinese civilization
One of the world's earliest-flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River which flows through the North China Plain. For over 4,000 years, China's political system was based on hereditary monarchies. The first of these dynasties was the Xia but it was later the Qin Dynasty who first unified China in 221 BC. The last dynasty, the Qing, ended in 1911 with the founding of the Republic of China by the Nationalist Kuomintang. The first half of the 20th century saw China plunged into a period of disunity and civil wars that divided the country into two main political camps - the Kuomintang and the Communists. Major hostilities ended in 1949, when the Peoples Republic of China was established in mainland China by the victorious Communists. The KMT-led Republic of China government retreated to Taipei, its jurisdiction now limited to Taiwan and several outlying islands. As of today, the PRC is still involved in disputes with the ROC over issues of sovereignty and the political status of Taiwan.