Reclaimed Land In China
Since 1949, China has carried out extensive land reclamation projects. Between 1949 and the 1990s, it created more artificial land than any other country. A total area of about 13,000 square kilometers has been reclaimed from the sea. In Guangdong, a land reclamation project is in progress in Xiamen. About 150 square kilometers was planned to be reclaimed from the sea in 2009. From June 2004 to the present, land reclamation is on going in Shantou, where there are plans to reclaim 146 square kilometers.
Between 2003 and 2006, the Shanghai government spent 40 billion yuan on the Nanhui New City, formerly called Lingang New City Project of Shanghai, to reclaim 133.3 square kilometers of artificial land from the sea. Between 2009 and 2020, Jiangsu planned reclaim 21 parcels of tidal areas along the southern Yellow Sea, yielding a total of 1,817 square kilometers of new land. The largest single land reclamation project in Zhejiang Province, the Xuanmen Land Reclamation Project in Yuhuan County, started in 1975. It comprised three phases, of which phase II covered 53.3 square kilometers , and phase III 45.3 square kilometers . Total land reclamation in the area of Taizhou City between 2004 and 2010, including the project mentioned above, will be 266.7 square kilometers.
Wet Rice Agricultural Cycle
Briefly explained, wet rice agriculture is an intensive farming system in which dense populations and the intensive use of the earth are complementary.
- Rice seeds are sown broadcast in seedbeds where the densely packed seedlings are allowed to grow for approximately a month before being transplanted into fields.
- The preparation of fields by plowing and harrowing is labor intensive activity as is the transplantation process.
- Water must be moved on and off the planted areas according to a schedule
- On-going weeding is carried out to insure maximum yields.
- Harvesting and the preparation of the rice for storage are additional labor intensive activities requiring more people.
Although some mechanization of the process of rice production has occurred over the centuries, the production of paddy rice continues to involve the intensive use of human labor even to the degree that there sometimes is insufficient labor available for a particular activity. Theà student reading on wet rice agricultureà describes the relationship between the rice cycle and Chinese family patterns.
List Of Countries And Dependencies By Area
The top 10 largest countries occupy nearly half of the world’s dry land.
This is a list of the world’s countries and their by land, water and total area, ranked by total area.
Entries in this list include, but are not limited to, those in the standard, which includes and dependent territories. All 193 plus the two observer states are given a rank number. not in ISO 3166-1 are included in the list in ranked order. The areas of such largely unrecognised are in most cases also included in the areas of the more widely recognised states that claim the same territory see the notes in the “notes” column for each country for clarification.
Not included in the list are to parts of the continent of or entities such as the that have some degree of sovereignty but do not consider themselves to be sovereign countries or dependent territories.
This list includes three measurements of area:
- Total area: the sum of land and water areas within international boundaries and coastlines.
- Land area: the aggregate of all land within international boundaries and coastlines, excluding water area.
- Water area: the sum of the surface areas of all inland water bodies within international boundaries and coastlines. Coastal may be included. are not included unless otherwise noted. Contiguous zones and are not included.
Data is taken from the unless otherwise noted.
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Introduction To World Regional Geography
East Asia is surrounded by a series of mountain ranges in the west, Mongolia and Russia in the north, and Southeast Asia to the south. The Himalayas border Tibet and Nepal the Karakoram Ranges, Pamirs, and the Tian Shan Mountains shadow Central Asia and the Altay Mountains are next to Russia. The Himalayan Mountains are among the highest mountain ranges in the world, and Mt. Everest is the planets tallest peak. These high ranges create a rain shadow effect, generating the dry arid conditions of type B climates that dominate western China. The desert conditions of western China give rise to a sizeable uninhabitable region in its center. Melting snow from the high elevations feeds many of the streams that transition into the major rivers that flow toward the east.
Lying north of the Great Wall and encompassing the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia is the vast Mongolian steppe, which includes broad flat grasslands that extend north into the highlands. North China includes the Yellow River basin as well as the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin. Areas around parts of the Yellow River are superb agricultural lands, including vast areas of loess that have been terraced for cultivation. Loess is extremely fine silt or windblown soil that is yellow in color in this region. Deciduous forests continue to exist in this region, despite aggressive clearcutting for agricultural purposes. The Great Wall of China rests atop hills in this region.
China’s Top Geographical Wonders
The many national parks and protected wildlife areas within China offer a multitude of locations that travelers can interact with the wilder side of China. With a total of 225 national parks and 50 UNESCO World Heritage Sites covering thousands upon thousands of square kilometers within China, the opportunities to explore outside the major cities are boundless.
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A Poem About China’s Land: ‘at Heron Lodge’
For centuries the diverse landscape of China has inspired artists and poets. Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhihuans poem At Heron Lodge romanticizes the land, and also shows an appreciation of perspective:
Mountains cover the white sun
And oceans drain the yellow river
But you can widen your view three hundred miles
Plan Your Tour Of China’s Geographical Wonders Today
Let China Highlights take you on an adventure through China’s most stunning landscapes and cultural vistas. Schedule a ready-packaged trip with us today or contact us to set up a custom tour that meets your unique needs. You could plan a natural scenery tour of the famous Zhangjiajie mountains that will take you up close and personal with the wilds of China. Or take a lush and vibrant tour of Jiuzhaigou’s colorful valleys and experience the natural wonders of Sichuan province for yourself.
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Geography And Climate Of China
China is located in Eastern Asia with its borders along several countries and the East China Sea, Korea Bay, the Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea. China is divided into three geographic regions: the mountains to the west, the various deserts and basins in the northeast, and the low lying valleys and plains in the east. Most of China, however, consists of mountains and plateaus such as the Tibetan Plateau, which leads into the Himalayan Mountains and Mount Everest.
Because of its area and variations in topography, China’s climate is also varied. In the south, it is tropical, while the east is temperate and the Tibetan Plateau is cold and arid. The northern deserts are also arid and the northeast is cold temperate.
Major Rivers In China
Major Rivers : 1) Yangtze 2) Yellow River 3) Amur River source 4) Mekong River source 5) Brahmaputra River source 6) Indus River source 7) Salween River source 8) Irrawaddy River source 9) Pearl 1) Red River source .
Mountains give rise to all the main rivers of China. A southern branch of the Kunlun Mountains divides the watersheds of the Yellow and the Yangtze River. The Yangtze has traditionally divided China into north and south. The Yellow river takes a more northern route and empties into the Yellow Sea southeast of Beijing. Other important Chinese rivers include the Pearl River , Amur River in the north, Haiho River, Huaiho River and Brahmaputra is an important river in Tibet. One of its tributaries flows through Lhasa. The Mekong River originates in China. The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, embraces the Jinsha , Lancang and Nujiang rivers in the Yunnan section of the Hengduan Mountains. The Salween is an important river in Myanmar
Most of the great rivers within China flow eastward toward the Pacific. In the northeast, the Amur drains a great part of the Manchurian Basin as it flows along its 4,350 kilometers course. The Amur flows for 3,101 kilometers in Northeast China and an additional 1,249 in Russia. Other north-eastern rivers include the Liao, the Tumen, and the Yalu. The latter two both rising in Mt. Paaktu, flowing northeast and southwest respectively, and forming the boundary between China and the DPRK.
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Natural Resources In China
China has more than 150 minerals. These include coal, zinc, gold, uranium, iron, petroleum, mercury, natural gas, lead, and tin. China is one of the countries in the world that has the largest amount of deposits of important economic minerals. This means that these minerals can be economically used.
Not only that, it has many animal and plant resources. It has more than 32, 000 species of plants and 100,000 species of animals. These include the giant panda that is very rare. It cannot be found anywhere else in the world. It has a lot of nature reserves because the government is trying to conserve natural wildlife and habitats.
China also has a lot of marine resources. 90% of the marine land can support agriculture. The beaches make up about 20,800 square kilometers. The salt pans make about 17 million tons of salt each year. This makes up 1/3 in the whole world. The marine habitats hold around 2,500 species of fish.
Because of Chinaâs geographical location in the world, it is vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides, and floods because of the seismic and climate conditions. The vulnerability has increased as more people move to the urban regions and there is a lot of destruction to the environment. The most common natural disasters are tsunamis, cyclones, ongoing droughts, and earthquakes.
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People Development And Environmental Issues Of The Loess Plateau
The Loess Plateau is one of the places Chinese where civilization began andwas formerly a part of the Silk Road leading to Central Asia. Since 1949 mining and industry have become important. “A visitor to Chinas Loess Plateau would rightly be puzzled that the region was once the cradle of Chinese civilization,Paul Mozur wrote in the New York Times. Through thousands of years of farming, much of the once fertile soil has been leached to the point of infertility. Massive dust storms pick up the loose soil and carry it as far as Tokyo and Taipei. During sunset, fumes from factories block out the sun well before it can be observed sinking below the horizon.
Norma Diamond wrote in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures: The Loess Plateau remains overwhelmingly Han in ethnic composition. The heavy deposits of windblown less soils are fertile but fragile, prone to erosion, gullying, and landslides. Much of the land is not arable. Rainfall is unpredictable. Winter temperatures fall below freezing and the summers are hot. Agriculture is most successful along the Huang He and the Wei and Fen rivers. Wheat, millet, and maize are the main crops and some double cropping is possible. The rural areas support a lighter population density than the North China Plain, and the general standard of living is markedly lower except in the southeast sector. In the northwest and beyond the Great Wall, the desert begins.”
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The Southeast Coast And Shanghai
Physical characteristics: This region shares the entire Yangzi Valley’s dominant characteristics of water, wetlands, and hot and humid summers. However, the influence of the Pacific Ocean as well as access thereto make the area distinctive. The ocean’s warm current creates milder winter temperatures than in the interior. In addition the nearby mountains are favorable for crops other than aquaculture , which is prominent in the lowlands. Mild climates and abundant rainfall mean farmers in this area generally expect to obtain three or more crops every year. Some form of food, whether from land or sea, is always abundant and in surplus.
History: This was the first region to feel the impact of the West through the Opium War and “Treaty Ports” of the eighteenth century. It has had the greatest number of Christian missionaries, Chinese Christians, and Christian churches in China. Like so many of China’s distinct physical environments, it is dominated by ethnic peoples not fully identifiable as “Han,” who speak distinct languages and often have closer ties to Chinese overseas.
Housing: plaster or brick to offset rain in rural areas, apartment buildings in urban areas
Social organization: class, family, or business compounds
Transportation: boats and ships on rivers and canals, cars, buses, and bicycles
Food staples: rice, seafood, and tropical fruits
China Has The World’s Third Largest Desert
The Gobi, the world’s third largest desert, along with the Taklamakan Desert, once separated central Asia from China. Deserts once divided West from East until the advent of the Silk Road, when these two worlds were connected for the love of trade.
Desertscover nearly a fifth of China, and they have dunes that stretch hundreds of miles. Read more on China’s Top 5 Deserts.
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River Basins Of China
There are two major river systems that provide fresh water to the vast agricultural regions of the central part of China Proper. The Yellow River is named after the light-colored silt that washes into the river. It flows from the Tibetan highlands through the North China Plain into the Yellow Sea. Dams, canals, and irrigation projects along the river provide water for extensive agricultural operations. Crops of wheat, sorghum, corn, and soybeans are common with vegetables, fruit, and tobacco grown in smaller plots. The North China Plain has to grow enough food to feed its one thousand people per square mile average density. This plain does not usually produce a food surplus because of the high demand from the large population of the region. Beijing borders the North China Plain. Its nearest port, Tianjin, continues to expand and grow, creating an economic center of industrial activity that relies on the peripheral regions for food and raw materials. Cotton is an example of a key industrial crop grown here.
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Lower Yangtze And Maritime South
The Lower Yangtze and South Central China is dominated by Wuhan and Shanghai, major industrial and commercial cities. Norma Diamond wrote in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures: This area had important urban centers as well as an affluent and productive agricultural sector even before the nineteenth-century rise of the treaty ports. It includes suburban Shanghai Municipality, the provinces ofJiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and parts of Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. With its lakes and numerous navigable waterways, it is one of the richest and most densely populated areas of inner China. The climate is mild, with 240 frost-free days, and rainfall is ample. Double cropping is common, with alternation of winter wheat and summer rice. Cotton, silk, pigs and poultry, vegetable farming, ocean and freshwater fisheries, and rural industries have for generations supplemented peasant income. In recent years the expansion of towns and cities, exploitation of rich natural resources, and a thriving free market system have made this the leading area in industrial and agricultural output.
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3) Chinas Bailong Elevator carries visitors more than 300m up a cliffs edge.
4) You can buy green-bean-flavoured ice pops in China!
5) In Ancient China, soldiers sometimes wore armour made from paper.
6) In 2010 a 2,400-year-old pot of soup was unearthed in Xian, China.
7)The Forbidden City, a palace complex in Beijing, contains about 9,000 rooms!
Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Imperial China primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!
8) Found in northern China, long-eared jerboas have ears that are one-third longer than their heads!
9) People race boats with dragon designs at a Chinese festival in the spring.
10)Chinese monal birds sometimes build nests in caves.
11) Put together, all of Chinas railways lines could loop around earth twice!
12) The mortar used to bind the Great Walls stones was made with sticky rice!
13) 7th-century Emperor Tang of Shang had 94 ice men who made him ice-cream.
14) Temperatures in Chinas Turpan Depression can range from 49°C in summer to -29°C in winter.
24) Chinas giant pandas are good swimmers.
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Qinghai And The Tibetan Plateau
Physical characteristics: Altitude, which can average 3962.4 meters , best defines the physical environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Except in the bright sunlight, it always is very cold. Located mostly in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, the region is arid to semi-arid. This means that despite a latitude close to the Tropic of Cancer, Qinghai and Tibet are nontropical for the most part. Still, there are areas along its southern and western boundaries, where rhododendron and banana trees grow in the shadow of active glaciers. This is attributable to the heavy rainfall and temperatures associated with the Indian monsoon.
History: Because of the region’s adjacence to India and central Asia, the people, economies, and even religion of Qinghai and Tibet have seldom been affected by those of China in the east. Even Mongolia had closer cultural links to this region than did China proper. Animal husbandry and nomadism are traditional ways of life. Until the 1950s, one out of every five Tibetans was a Buddhist nun or monk. Monasteries have been at the center of society since at least the eighth century.
Economic activities and resources today: Qinghai and Tibet remain remote and largely unpopulated. Where conditions permit, the Chinese have encouraged the westward migration of farmers from overpopulated areas to the east. Animals continue to be raised, and wool weavings are another important product. Goods are also produced from indigenous gold and turquoise.