What Is The Geography Of China

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.

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.

Reforms And Contemporary History

After Mao’s death, the Gang of Four was quickly arrested by Hua Guofeng and held responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. ElderDeng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted significant economic reforms. The CCP loosened governmental control over citizens’ personal lives, and the communes were gradually disbanded in favor of working contracted to households. This marked China’s transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly open-market environment. China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, the suppression of student protests in Tiananmen Square brought condemnations and sanctions against the Chinese government from various foreign countries.

Chinese Communist Partygeneral secretaryXi Jinping has ruled since 2012 and has pursued large-scale efforts to reform China’s economy , and has also reformed the one-child policy and penal system, as well as instituting a vast anti corruption crackdown. In 2013, China initiated the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure investment project.

On 1 July 2021, the People’s Republic of China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the CCP with a huge gathering in Tiananmen Square and cultural artistic performance in Beijing National Stadium in Beijing.

Don’t Miss: Who Is Kaepernick’s Biological Father

Unique Irrigation And Terracing

Other impressive features of China are irrigation and terracing. These have even resulted in changes in the Great Canal and the Great Wall.

Over the years the Chinese have terraced the hill slopes of the country and also controlled the water flow through irrigation to the farms. Also, they have done even more in terms of the management of natural resources and pioneering in terms of the production of food. That is, they make use of land that would otherwise not have been good for farming. This was achieved by the creation of level land by terracing the hills and controlling the water to prevent soil erosion. This meant access to water for the rice production on the terraces.

The hills are now sculpted into resembling steps of terraces. The hills have thus been changed to be level to be able to plant. Not only this, they have moved rock and earth and stabilized the retaining walls. This has resulted in sluices that control the flow of the water.

The construction of the terraces on the slope has not only created levels but in addition the platform for the correct control of rainwater. The water flow is slowed down and this is made even more efficient so that the water can be controlled as it moves from higher levels to lower ones. It is then used for the purposes of agricultural production and also reduces droughts and floods.

An Assemblage Of Pieces

This background essay introduces the diversity of China’s natural and man-made features, as well as the relative population of its various areas. Used as background information, learners can explore the many different uses of maps . Road maps to find our way to other places. Physical maps show different landforms and elevations and bodies of water. Historical maps help us understand political boundaries and the movement of people, goods, and ideas. Military leaders need maps as they plan their campaigns, and tourists need maps in order to figure out interesting places to visit. Many maps show both natural and man-made features. They often reflect values of the people who create them and define their place in the world. Maps were used for military and political purposes and show how China viewed itself in relation to the rest of the world. In China ownership of a map indicated sovereignty over the land it depicted.

A distinct geographic print might include the following variables: physical and environmental features, such as climates, soils, topography, and location historic patterns and their relationship to the natural environment the economic activities and resources that define the area today.

Read Also: Mitty High School Summer Geometry

How Different Regions Are Divided

In general, the country can be divided into two areas: the South and the North. A geographical line formed by Qinling Mountain and Huai River is usually seen as the boundary of these two large areas. The climate, landscape, as well as peoples lifestyle varies a lot between the North and the South. However, this doesnt automatically mean that inside each area there is a great similarity.

Thats part of the reason why there are 34 administrative divisions, including 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, four municipalities directly under the central government, and two special administrative regions. The concept of the province is similar to state in the US and county in the UK. Among the 34 divisions, there are world-renown cities like Beijing, Shanghai , Xian and Henan . Others are known for their natural landscapes and great views, like Tibet and Yunnan. The largest administrative region of the country is Xinjiang autonomous region, which makes up one-sixth of Chinas overall territory. Guangdong province has the largest population, which is more than 1 billion.

Description Of Ladscape Types And Mineral Resources Of China

China is located in the eastern part of Eurasian continent, occupying the territory of 9,600,000 km2. The Chinese land frontier is 22,800 km long. China borders on the PDRK from north-east on the RF from north-east and north, on Mongolia from north on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from north-west on Tajikistan , Afghanistan , Pakistan from west on India from south-west and south on Nepal , Bhutan , Myanmar , Laos and Vietnam from south. From east and south east, China has maritime boundaries with the Republic of Korea, Japan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The CPR territory stretching from Pamir to the Pacific Ocean shores and from the Amur to the South Chinese Sea features a wide variety of natural conditions, diversity of landscapes, richness of earth interiors, conditioned by complicated relief and unusual position of the country in the belt of most sharply manifested fight of oceanic and continental influences at the border of different climatic zones.

The highest locality in China is Quinghai-Tibetan Plateau, located at the height of 4,000 m above sea level. It is a location place of the Himalayas ridge with its main 8,849-m high peak Chomolungma, which is more often called as worlds topthe worlds peak. The lowest place in China is located at the depth of 200 m below sea level.

Travel Destinations

Read Also: What Grade Do You Take Algebra

Class And Income Inequality

China has had the world’s largest middle class population since 2015, and the middle class grew to a size of 400 million by 2018. In 2020, a study by the Brookings Institution forecast that China’s middle-class will reach 1.2 billion by 2027 , making up one fourth of the world total.

From 1978 to 2018, the average standard of living multiplied by a factor of twenty-six. Wages in China have grown a lot in the last 40 yearsreal wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007. Per capita incomes have risen significantly when the PRC was founded in 1949, per capita income in China was one fifth of the world average per capita incomes now equal the world average itself. By 2018, median wages in Chinese cities such as Shanghai were about the same as or higher than the wages in Eastern European countries. China has the world’s highest number of billionaires, with nearly 878 as of October 2020, increasing at the rate of roughly five per week. China has a high level of economic inequality, which has increased in the past few decades. In 2018 China’s Gini coefficient was 0.467, according to the World Bank.

Demographics Languages And Religion

With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the , India is the world’s second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% from 2001 to 2011, compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade . The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males. The median age was 28.7 as of 2020. The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361 million people. Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the “” have caused India’s population to grow rapidly.

India is home to : and . Other languages spoken in India come from the and language families. India has no national language., with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government. is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a “subsidiary official language” it is important in , especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 “scheduled languages”.

The 2011 census reported the with the largest number of followers was , followed by the remaining were , , , and others . India has the Muslim populationthe largest for a non-Muslim majority country.

Also Check: Math Poems For High School Algebra

China’s Northeast Is Frozen In Winter

Winter is long, frozen, and snowy in Northeast China.

Harbin, also called ‘Ice City,’ freezes for four months a year. The average low in January in Harbin is -25°C .

At this time, it is a special attraction for tourists interested in beautiful snow sceneries and snow activities. A tourist highlight is the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, the biggest ice festival in the world, which attracts 10 to 15 million visitors annually. Huge snow sculptures can exceed 600,000 square meters each.

Floods Hit Southern China

Southern China is often subject to heavy rain but this year the rains have come early and in greater quantity than normal. In some parts of Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian rainfall records have been broken and hundreds of thousands have been evacuated from flooded homes. Yingde, Guangdong on the Bei River is one of the worst affected areas. This is worrying because the bulk of the rainy season is yet to come.

Northern China is suffering not from rain but the heat, the increased drain on the electricity supply for air conditioning is causing concern. All in all, with the excessive heat in Europe and US, the predictions of climate change do seem to be confirmed this year.

Read Also: What Does Relief Mean In Geography Terms

Percent Of China’s South Extends Into The Tropics

Xishuangbanna, bordering Laos and Myanmar, has tropical rainforest, minority peoples and elephants.

Hainan, is a tropical island as big as a small country with sprawling rainforest, volcanic hot springs, and tropical beaches

Hong Kong’s beaches are also in the tropics and add to the appeal of this phenomenal destination, with skyscrapers clinging to mountains, and a thriving tourism industry.

The areas covered in the last two facts give China the biggest range of temperatures of any nation on earth: below -40 to above 40 °C.

Tying It All Together: From Empire To State

Clearly, to create political “China,” it is still important to tie these different regions together. Transportation remains the most crucial factor. As the means of tying the country and its regions together proceeded, a common written language and shared cultural values evolved. The written language and the bureaucratic class that used it were pivotal in creating a net of a shared experience and cultural values that bonded the disparate geographies and spoken languages of China and linked the past to the present.

Because the origins of China’s empire lay in its interior, imperial highways were initially the most important features of the transportation system. The network of imperial highways was first established by Qin Shihuangdi , who united the kingdoms of China in 221 B.C.E. He also initiated the construction of a canal system. By the Song dynasty , canals linked the lower Yangzi Valley and regions south of it to the North China Plain. Natural lakes and rivers also helped unify the Chinese Empire, with the Yangzi and its tributaries tying together coastal and interior regions. Except in Qinghai and the Tibetan Plateau and Xinjiang, an extensive rail system links China and is the most common form of long-distance travel.

Read Also: What Is Human Development In Psychology

Human Rights And Internal Conflicts

There is consensus that the former military regime in Myanmar was one of the world’s most repressive and abusive regimes. In November 2012, , Barack Obama’s Special Assistant to the President on Human Rights, wrote on the White House blog in advance of the president’s visit that “Serious human rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including against women and children.” Members of the United Nations and major international human rights organisations have issued repeated and consistent reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Myanmar. The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly called on the Burmese military junta to respect human rights and in November 2009 the General Assembly adopted a resolution “strongly condemning the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” and calling on the Burmese military regime “to take urgent measures to put an end to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

Child soldiers

Slavery and human trafficking

Genocide allegations and crimes against Rohingya people

Government reforms

Homosexual acts are and can be punishable by life imprisonment.

Selected Sources And Suggested Further Readings

Buxton, Leonard H. China: The Land and the People. New York: Gallery Books, W.H. Smith, Pub., 1988. Hsieh Chiao-min and Jean Kan Hsieh. China: A Provincial Atlas. New York: Macmillan Publishing, U.S.A., 1995.Knapp, Ronald G. China’s Vernacular Architecture: House Form and Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.—. The Chinese Houses. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1990.—, ed. “Chinese Landscapes.” The Village as Place. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992.McColl, Robert W. “House and Field in the Karakorams.” FOCUS, 37, no. 4 .—. “By Their Dwellings Shall We Know Them-An Analysis of Housing Form and Function Among Inner Asians.” FOCUS, 39, no. 4 .—. “China’s Modern Silk Road.” FOCUS, 44, no. 2 .Sivin, Nathan, ed. The Contemporary Atlas of China. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Whitehouse, Patrick, and Maggy Whitehouse. China by Rail. New York: Vendome Press, 1989.Zhao, Songqiao. Geography of China: Environment, Resources, Population, and Development. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1994.

Read Also: How To Play Chess On Cool Math Games

Facts On China’s Geography That Will Entice You To Travel

Candice Song

China has the most diverse and breathtaking geography in the world.

It has the highest altitude and temperature differences of any country, mighty rivers, huge deserts, grasslands, karst zones, cities, and conurbations.

These 10 most impressive things about China’s geography should interest travelers.

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.

Need Help?

Also Check: What Is Coordinate Geometry Definition