The Chinese language is one of the hardest in the world for an English speaker to learn. There are some 50,000 characters in the Chinese alphabet. We have 26. Their words are spoken in four different tones that can completely alter the meaning. Then there are the people.
China has the world's largest population.
In China there are 1.3 billion people crowded into an area about the same size as the United States. Food is another challenge. I landed in China expecting menus similar to Chinese restaurants in the United States. Chow Mein, Egg Foo Yong and fortune cookies never appear in Chinese restaurants. Instead, you get things like dog meat, plump cicada larvae served like shrimp cocktails, and stewed cow stomach.