An Overview of St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city in Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. In 1914, the name of the city was changed to Petrograd, then to Leningrad in 1924, and in 1991 back to Saint Petersburg.

Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703. From 1713 to 1728 and from 1732 to 1918, Saint Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies moved from Saint Petersburg (then named Petrograd) to Moscow. It is Russia’s second largest city after Moscow with almost 5 million inhabitants, mostly consisting of Russians (90%), Tartars, Ukrainians, Jews, Byelorussians, Poles, Karelians. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea (source).

Saint Petersburg is often described as the most Western city of Russia. Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The city is legendary for its White Nights: those long summer days when the sun barely dips below the horizon.

St Petersburg has always been a city of ideas. Petersburgers incited the Russian Revolution, ushering in 70 years of communist rule. And it was St Petersburg that encouraged democracy when the tide began to change (source).

Religion in St. Petersburg

Although Orthodoxy is the major religion in Russia, St.Petersburg is a center for many confessions. Besides Orthodox temples there are Lutheran, Catholic and Baptist churches, a mosque, and a synagogue. Many of the temples were closed or destroyed during the time of Soviet rule, but in the past several years extensive restorations have been carried out, and currently no religion is restrained by the state.

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An Overview of Guangzhou

Guangzhou,  known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People’s Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port. The city is famous for foreign trade and business and holds China’s largest trade fair, the Canton Fair.

According to the official People’s Daily newspaper, Cantonese is the first language for half of the residents that reside in the provincial capital Guangzhou, while the other half speak mainly Mandarin. Other languages, such as Hakka, are spoken in significant numbers as well (source).

In the era of tea clippers, Guangzhou was known in the West as “Canton.” The food and the language of the area are still known as “Cantonese.” The Cantonese are proud and hardworking people known throughout China and the world over for their famous cuisine and tack for business (source).

Religion

Huaisheng Mosque, located in Guangzhou, is one of the oldest mosques in China, along with 3 other Muslim mosques. Buddhism, however, has continued to remain the most influential religion in the life of the people. Guangzhou does have a Jewish community and synagogue, as well as a Catholic church, and a Daoist association. As with other areas in China, there is official pressure against underground, non-registered churches in Guangzhou (source).

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An Overview of Chengdu

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It is one of the most important economic, transportation, and communication centers in Western China. According to the 2007 Public Appraisal for Best Chinese Cities for Investment, Chengdu was chosen as one of the top ten cities to invest in out of a total of 280 urban centers in China. It was recently named China’s 4th-most livable city by China Daily.

Chengdu is a port and the commercial center of the Chengdu plain, the main farming area of Sichuan. Its irrigation system dates back to the second century B.C. A transportation hub, it is the rail center for SE China. Products include textiles, processed foods, chemicals, machinery, railway equipment, aluminum, electronics, and paper. High-grade iron ore is mined at nearby Lugu. An old walled city, Chengdu was in existence during the Ch’un-ch’iu period (770–475 B.C.). It was the capital of the Shu Han dynasty (3rd century A.D.) and one of the earliest (9th century A.D.) printing centers in China. A cultural seat since ancient times, it is commonly called “little Beijing.” Its numerous institutions of higher learning include Sichuan Univ., Chengdu Technical Univ., and two medical colleges (source).

The native language in Chengdu is Sichuanese, otherwise referred to as Sichuan dialect. More precisely, “Chengdu Dialect”  is widely used in lieu of “Sichuanese” due to the largely different accents of Sichuanese speakers residing elsewhere (source).

Religion

As the cultural center of Sichuan province, all religions are practiced in Chengdu. However, the dominating religion in Chengdu is still Buddhism. Chengdu is also the cradle of Taoism in China. In the Han Dynasty, Zhangling created Wudoumi Taoism in Heming Mountain, Chengdu City, which symbolized the birth of Taoism in China.  At present, there are 5 major Christianity Churches in Chengdu, including Shangxiang Church, Enguang Church, Jintang Wufeng Gospel Hall, Dujiangyan Gospel Hall and Luodai Gospel Hall (source).

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