Transportation arteries
The full name of the Philippines is calledRepublic of the Philippines,Located in southeastern Asia.
The Philippines is a group of more than 7,000 islandsArchipelago countries,The number of islands is constantly changing, with more than 400 more discovered in 2016.
The land area is 29970,000 square kilometers, about the size of three Chinese Jiangsu provinces.
It is bordered by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and Taiwan Province of China across the Bass Strait to the north.
It is separated from Indonesia and Malaysia by the Sulawesi Sea, the Sulu Sea and the Balabac Strait to the south and southwest, and the nearest place is less than 40 kilometers away from Malaysia.
The coastline is about 18,000 kilometers long, and natural harbors and straits are spread throughout the capitalManilaIt is the largest port.
Guarding Australia's access to Asia and Southeast AsiaTransportation arteriesLocation matters.
Tropical monsoon
Almost all of the Philippines is located between the equator and the Tropic of CapricornTropical,Most of the land is coveredTropical monsoon climateDeeply impacted.
Almost all year round, it is summer, and the average annual precipitation is more than 2,500 mm.
It's graceful everywhereTropical rainforest,There are all kinds of magical animals that live.
For example, those with contact lensesTarsiers,There are also those who hunt monkeys in the rainforest for a livingMonkey-eating Eagle,It is also the national bird of the Philippines.
But at the same time, the Philippines is also very unfortunate to becomeThe inevitable path of a typhoon in the western Pacific,Many of the typhoons that make landfall in China come after the Philippines first.
As a result, the Philippines is the country most affected by typhoons compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, with an average of more than 20 typhoons per year.
On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines, the fastest tropical cyclone on record in the world, killing 7,350 people in the Philippines.
The Land of a Thousand Islands
The Philippine archipelago consists mainly of the northLuzon,CentralVisayas,SouthernMindanaoIt consists of three major parts.
Among them, Luzon Island is the largest, accounting for 35% of the country's area.
These islands were formed by the collision of the Pacific plate with the Philippine Sea plateVolcanic island chain,The further south the island, the more volcanic** activity becomes.
Mountains occupy more than three-quarters of the country's total land area, and most mountains are above 2,000 meters above sea level.
There are many volcanoes, with 52 major volcanoes, 22 of which are active.
The highest peak in the Philippines is located on the southern island of MindanaoMount Apo,2954 meters above sea level.
Located in the southeastern part of LuzonMayon VolcanoIt is the largest and most active volcano in the country, and the volcanic form presents a perfect conical shape, which is more perfect than Mount Fuji.
Tropical agriculture
The entire Philippine plain and river valleys are scarce, and the coastal plains are scattered and narrow, with a maximum width of no more than 15 kilometers.
of northern LuzonCagayan ValleywithPlainsIt is the most important agricultural area in the country and the two major economic belts in the Philippines today.
To the north of Luzon, you can also see the spectacular rice terraces of Ifugao.
Although agriculture accounts for more than half of the population, the Philippines is not yet food self-sufficient due to poor agricultural infrastructure and natural disasters.
But under the warm rain and dew brought by the tropical monsoon, the Philippines became oneA large country of tropical cash cropsMost of the bananas, mangoes and pineapples in the Chinese market are from the Philippines.
The Philippines is also the largest in the worldCoconut Country,Half of the world's production.
The Cagayan Valley is the largest in AsiaTobacco production area,Luzon cigar smoke was once sold all over the world and enjoyed a great reputation in the world.
Colorful people
There were no indigenous people in the Philippine archipelago, and the Filipinos today are immigrants from far and wide.
The Philippines today isMulti-ethnicThere are more than 90 ethnic groups and more than 170 languages, most of which belong to the Malays, and Tagalog is the official language in south-central Luzon.
Among them,The VisayasIt is the most populous ethnic group, accounting for about 20% of the total population.
The people of Visayas, who love to get tattoos and are good at sailing, are said to have migrated from China via Luzon and appeared throughout the Visayas 30,000 years ago.
During the Song Dynasty in China, the Hakka people in Quanzhou, Fujian Province crossed the ocean to the Philippines and became the first generation of overseas Chinese, which has been thousands of years.
Historically, a large number of businessmen from the Zhangzhou area of Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China immigrated to the Philippines todayChineseIt accounts for 1% of the total population of the Philippines.
Because the various ethnic groups in the Philippines get along well with each other and intermarriage is common, 20% of Filipinos have Chinese ancestry.
Kingdom of Sulu
The Philippine archipelago has many islands, and the original settlement communities hunted and gathered, and basically had no concept of a state.
By the 14th century, slave states had begun to appear in some parts of the Philippine archipelago, and many Arabs had preached throughout the southern Philippines and established several sultanate regimes, and Islam began to spread across the islands.
14 In the 16th century, four sultanates, Sulu, Maguindanao, Mindanao, and Manila, emerged in the south and Manila.
The most famous is the maritime power -Kingdom of SuluAt that time, Sulu was one of the most important centers in Southeast Asia, rich in pearls, and its territory covered the present-day Malaysian state of Sabah.
In 1417, almost during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the king of Sulu led a huge delegation to China to make friends with a large number of local products.
The king was still on his way back to death in today's Dezhou, Shandong.
Today, the Philippines has 4 millionIslamists,Most of them are found in the southern islands.
Mindanao is still the traditional center of Islam and the center of the activities of the most powerful forces, and there are many armed forces.
These armed forces often kill innocent people indiscriminately and frequently carry out terrorist activities, which have become the greatest threat to the security of the Philippines.
Spanish flair
Portuguese navigator in 1521MagellanCircumnavigating the globe under the patronage of the King of Spain and landing on the island of Mactan near present-day Cebu, Cebu, Philippines, Magellan himself died in conflict with the local natives.
Following in Magellan's footsteps, the Spaniards occupied the islands one after another, and named the Philippine Islands after the Spanish princes.
Manila, an important port on the island of Luzon, has been used as the capital for more than 300 yearsColonial rule.
The Spanish colonial authorities began to open up sugar cane, abaca, tobacco, coffee plantations, the PhilippinesMonocultureThe economic structure of the colony began to take shape.
SpanishTo this day, it is the official lingua franca of the Philippines, especially among the upper classes, who speak Spanish.
SpaniardsCatholicIt has also gained a foothold in the Philippines, where today 81% of the total population is Catholic, and the Philippines is known as "the only Catholic country in Asia".
The influence of Catholicism was very far-reaching, Magellan's cross was placed in the church in Cebu, important international conferences were preached by clergy, and Christmas could be celebrated for many months.
American colonization
With the rise of the modern nouveau riche America, Americans are eager to know what it was like to be a colonial master. But the world has long been divided, and the Americans are not reconciled and decide to eat Spanish tofu. In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, Spain went offline, and the United States spent $20 million to support the Philippines. The United States was a little stronger than the Spanish colonization, and after coming to the Philippines, they built bridges, roads, schools, and vigorously promoted English. Most Filipinos today speak fluent English, also known as:"The third largest English-speaking country in the world". But when the Americans' butts were not hot, World War II broke out, and on January 2, 1942, the Japanese army broke through Manila.
In just three years, the Philippine economy was seriously damaged, and the Japanese army also created the same notorious as China's NanjingManila Large**. Although the United States ** in 1945, the war brought American generals great military exploits, leaving the Philippines with only a lot of white bones under the blue sea and blue sky.
Economic woes
The Philippines is oneA country with a mine at home.
Although the country is not large, butGold minesThe reserves rank third in the worldCopper minesThe reserves rank fourth in the world.
Once one of the world's top five exporters, the gold mines near Baguio City accounted for 70% of the country's gold reserves.
In recent years, it has also been found in the area of PalawanOil & Gas.
After the end of World War II, with the support of the United States, the Philippines copied the American political system in its entirety and becameAmerican-style democracy model room.
At the end of the 50s of the last century, the Philippines had become the country with the fastest economic growth and the highest degree of industrialization in Southeast Asia, and its per capita GDP was second only to Japan in Asia.
However, Marcos, who was democratically elected soon, amended the constitution, dissolved Congress, and shot the opposition party in broad daylight, ruling the Philippines for 22 years.
Financially, the second uncle and aunt are crazy to make money, and the people are living in poverty.
Finally, in 1986, the people took to the streets, and even American dads shook their heads and decisively gave up Marcos.
But to this day, the Philippines is Southeast Asia** Countries with the most serious corruption problems.
The infrastructure is backward, and the gap between the rich and the poor is too largeIt has always been a stubborn social problem in the Philippines that is difficult to solve.
Manila is home to wealthy people who spend money at Shangri-La hotels, as well as millions of poor people who live in slums and pick up garbage for a living.
Tourist hotspots
In recent years, although the process has been difficult, the PhilippinesThe economic environment is gradually improvingSince 2012, the economy has been growing at a high rate of more than 6%.
Filipinos take advantage of this good English to becomeOne of the world's leading customer service centers.
The back-office services of large multinational companies such as Procter & Gamble and Citigroup are basically provided by Filipino college students, and many Filipinos work as foreign teachers for Chinese children.
At the same time, the Philippines has become a popular island in Southeast Asia, hundreds of the world's top diving spots, and the world's longest white sand beachA world-class tourist hotspotTourism already accounts for more than 10% of GDP.
Today, Koreans are the largest source of tourists to the Philippines, and Chinese tourists are the second.
The Chinese economy has become an important part of the Philippine economy, and Chinese-run restaurants, banks, and real estate companies are very popular, and the richest man in the country is also Chinese.
Overseas Workers
Under the influence of Catholicism, the population of the Philippines has grown very rapidly, easily exceeding 100 million, with an average age of only 23 years old.
Due to the large population and the difficulty of employment, many Filipinos are forced to go abroad in search of job opportunitiesMore than 10 million Filipinos live abroad.
Domestic workers in Hong Kong, Canada, construction workers in Qatar, Filipinos all over the world do the most mundane and hardest work.
FilipinoOverseas WorkersIt is widely popular because of its hard work and high level of education, and has become a world calling card of the Philippines.
Rakuten friendly
It is often said that Filipinos areLatin peoples mixed in Asia,Calling Spanish names, speaking English, watching Korean dramas, and eating Cantonese morning tea.
Hundreds of years of mixed race, Filipinos are commonGood looks,Filipino girls often win prizes in international beauty pageants.
I like to play ** singing k, almost all the people e people,Whenever the ** sounds, it is very difficult to get Filipinos to sit quietly.
Although it has been wrapped in the fierce whirlpool of history, hovering in the cycle of colonial occupation-military **-violent revolution, and has not had a few good days, the FilipinosOptimistic and calm, warm and friendly, with a smile to resolve the hardships of life.
In their minds, it's all like the weather in the Philippines, where the storm is short-lived, and after a while the sky is clear.
Emerald pearls
Towering volcanic islands and rainy Pacific monsoons have shaped the Philippines as a beautiful country.
Like the emerald pearls of the sea, the Philippines is full of white sand beaches with clear water, colorful coral coasts, and friendly innocent smiling faces.
I hope that the world we live in will benefit the hardworking and kind people in the well-being of economic growth.
God's grace is sown in the depths of the sea, especially where the sun does not shine.