What cultural beliefs, practices, and distinctive achievements and attitudes characterize china?

The cultural beliefs that characterize China are probably tied with the three major religions in China; Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, (though some say Confucianism is a philosophy and that Taoism is a way of life). Buddhism is the most important religion, (and probably largest), in China, and many phrases the Chinese say have roots in Buddhism. It's also very prevalent in Chinese literature, along with Zen, which ties into the Chinese cultural value of harmony and benevolence. 
The practices would include the Chinese new year, which marks the new year on the Chinese lunar calendar. It goes back to a legend in Chinese mythology about a monster who'd terrorize villagers during winter and they used bamboo set on fire to scare the monster away and put red paper on their doors, (they still light bamboo on fire in China).
The Achievements would maybe include the building of the Great Wall, which kept out the invading Huns, and probably influenced the attitude of isolationism, since a few times the Chinese have isolated themselves to preserve their culture, like when Europeans started coming and converting people to Christianity. Also paper. Most cultures just used parchment to paint or write, and inventing paper, (along with the typewriter), probably influenced art, literature, and how writings were read and how easy it was to produce writings.

This is all you, but i can give you some topics that you could try. if it rained when you want to do something outdoors, it 'limits' that human activity. maybe you want to do an experiment that goes throughout the whole year and you have to have above freezing the entire year. this 'limits' your activity. i thought of those just off of the top of my head. something that gets to me that might be getting to you is you are thinking too hard about what to do. think simply, and if it is too simple, then bump it up just a little bit.