China, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-hua, also

spelled (Pinyin) Zhongguo or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chung-kuo, officially

People’s Republic of China or Chinese (Pinyin) Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo or (Wade-
Giles romanization) Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo, country of East Asia. It is the
largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the
world. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it covers approximately
one-fourteenth of the land area of Earth. Among the major countries of the world,
China is surpassed in area by only Russia and Canada, and it is almost as large as
the whole of Europe.

China
China
Shanghai: financial district
Shanghai: financial district
Shanghai: Huangpu district
Shanghai: Huangpu district
China has 33 administrative units directly under the central government; these
consist of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities (Chongqing,
Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), and 2 special administrative regions (Hong Kong
and Macau). The island province of Taiwan, which has been under separate
administration since 1949, is discussed in the article Taiwan. Beijing (Peking),
the capital of the People’s Republic, is also the cultural, economic, and
communications centre of the country. Shanghai is the main industrial city; Hong
Kong is the leading commercial centre and port.

Within China’s boundaries exists a highly diverse and complex country. Its
topography encompasses the highest and one of the lowest places on Earth, and its
relief varies from nearly impenetrable mountainous terrain to vast coastal
lowlands. Its climate ranges from extremely dry, desertlike conditions in the
northwest to tropical monsoon in the southeast, and China has the greatest contrast
in temperature between its northern and southern borders of any country in the
world.

The diversity of both China’s relief and its climate has resulted in one of the
world’s widest arrays of ecological niches, and these niches have been filled by a
vast number of plant and animal species. Indeed, practically all types of Northern
Hemisphere plants, except those of the polar tundra, are found in China, and,
despite the continuous inroads of humans over the millennia, China still is home to
some of the world’s most exotic animals.

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Probably the single most identifiable characteristic of China to the people of the
rest of the world is the size of its population. Some one-fifth of humanity is of
Chinese nationality. The great majority of the population is Chinese (Han), and
thus China is often characterized as an ethnically homogeneous country, but few
countries have as wide a variety of indigenous peoples as does China. Even among
the Han there are cultural and linguistic differences between regions; for example,
the only point of linguistic commonality between two individuals from different
parts of China may be the written Chinese language. Because China’s population is
so enormous, the population density of the country is also often thought to be
uniformly high, but vast areas of China are either uninhabited or sparsely
populated.

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With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, China is one of the few existing
countries that also flourished economically and culturally in the earliest stages
of world civilization. Indeed, despite the political and social upheavals that
frequently have ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity
and resilience as a discrete politico-cultural unit. Much of China’s cultural
development has been accomplished with relatively little outside influence, the
introduction of Buddhism from India constituting a major exception. Even when the
country was penetrated by such “barbarian” peoples as the Manchu, these groups soon
became largely absorbed into the fabric of Han Chinese culture.

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This relative isolation from the outside world made possible over the centuries the
flowering and refinement of the Chinese culture, but it also left China ill
prepared to cope with that world when, from the mid-19th century, it was confronted
by technologically superior foreign nations. There followed a century of decline
and decrepitude, as China found itself relatively helpless in the face of a foreign
onslaught. The trauma of this external challenge became the catalyst for a
revolution that began in the early 20th century against the old regime and
culminated in the establishment of a communist government in 1949. This event
reshaped global political geography, and China has since come to rank among the
most influential countries in the world.

Central to China’s long-enduring identity as a unitary country is the province, or

sheng (“secretariat”). The provinces are traceable in their current form to the
Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). Over the centuries, provinces gained in importance as
centres of political and economic authority and increasingly became the focus of
regional identification and loyalty. Provincial power reached its peak in the first
two decades of the 20th century, but, since the establishment of the People’s
Republic, that power has been curtailed by a strong central leadership in Beijing.
Nonetheless, while the Chinese state has remained unitary in form, the vast size
and population of China’s provinces—which are comparable to large and midsize
nations—dictate their continuing importance as a level of subnational
administration.

Land
China stretches for about 3,250 miles (5,250 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles
(5,500 km) from north to south. Its land frontier is about 12,400 miles (20,000 km)
in length, and its coastline extends for some 8,700 miles (14,000 km). The country
is bounded by Mongolia to the north; Russia and North Korea to the northeast; the
Yellow Sea and the East China Sea to the east; the South China Sea to the
southeast; Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, and Nepal to the south;
Pakistan to the southwest; and Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan
to the west. In addition to the 14 countries that border directly on it, China also
faces South Korea and Japan, across the Yellow Sea, and the Philippines, which lie
beyond the South China Sea.

Relief of China
Xinjiang, China: Kyrgyz mosque in the Pamirs
Xinjiang, China: Kyrgyz mosque in the Pamirs
Broadly speaking, the relief of China is high in the west and low in the east;
consequently, the direction of flow of the major rivers is generally eastward. The
surface may be divided into three steps, or levels. The first level is represented
by the Plateau of Tibet, which is located in both the Tibet Autonomous Region and
the province of Qinghai and which, with an average elevation of well over 13,000
feet (4,000 metres) above sea level, is the loftiest highland area in the world.
The western part of this region, the Qiangtang, has an average height of 16,500
feet (5,000 metres) and is known as the “roof of the world.”

The second step lies to the north of the Kunlun and Qilian mountains and (farther
south) to the east of the Qionglai and Daliang ranges. There the mountains descend
sharply to heights of between 6,000 and 3,000 feet (1,800 and 900 metres), after
which basins intermingle with plateaus. This step includes the Mongolian Plateau,
the Tarim Basin, the Loess Plateau (loess is a yellow-gray dust deposited by the
wind), the Sichuan Basin, and the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau.

The third step extends from the east of the Dalou, Taihang, and Wu mountain ranges
and from the eastern perimeter of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the China Sea.
Almost all of this area is made up of hills and plains lying below 1,500 feet (450
metres).

The most remarkable feature of China’s relief is the vast extent of its mountain
chains; the mountains, indeed, have exerted a tremendous influence on the country’s
political, economic, and cultural development. By rough estimate, about one-third
of the total area of China consists of mountains. China has the world’s tallest
mountain and the world’s highest and largest plateau, in addition to possessing
extensive coastal plains. The five major landforms—mountain, plateau, hill, plain,
and basin—are all well represented. China’s complex natural environment and rich
natural resources are closely connected with the varied nature of its relief.

Mount Everest massif

Mount Everest massif
The topography of China is marked by many splendours. Mount Everest (Qomolangma
Feng), situated on the border between China and Nepal, is the highest peak in the
world, at an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres; see Researcher’s Note: Height
of Mount Everest). By contrast, the lowest part of the Turfan Depression in the
Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang—Lake Ayding—is 508 feet (155 metres) below sea
level. The coast of China contrasts greatly between South and North. To the south
of the bay of Hangzhou, the coast is rocky and indented with many harbours and
offshore islands. To the north, except along the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas,
the coast is sandy and flat.

China is prone to intense seismic activity throughout much of the country. The main
source of this geologic instability is the result of the constant northward
movement of the Indian tectonic plate beneath southern Asia, which has thrust up
the towering mountains and high plateaus of the Chinese southwest. Throughout its
history China has experienced hundreds of massive earthquakes that collectively
have killed millions of people. Two in the 20th century alone—in eastern Gansu
province (1920) and in the city of Tangshan, eastern Hebei province (1976)—caused
some 250,000 deaths each, and a quake in east-central Sichuan province in 2008
killed tens of thousands and devastated a wide area.

China’s physical relief has dictated its development in many respects. The
civilization of Han Chinese originated in the southern part of the Loess Plateau,
and from there it extended outward until it encountered the combined barriers of
relief and climate. The long, protruding corridor, commonly known as the Gansu, or
Hexi, Corridor, illustrates this fact. South of the corridor is the Plateau of
Tibet, which was too high and too cold for the Chinese to gain a foothold. North of
the corridor is the Gobi Desert, which also formed a barrier. Consequently, Chinese
civilization was forced to spread along the corridor, where melting snow and ice in
the Qilian Mountains provided water for oasis farming. The westward extremities of
the corridor became the meeting place of the ancient East and West.

Thus, for a long time the ancient political centre of China was located along the
lower reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River). Because of topographical barriers,
however, it was difficult for the central government to gain complete control over
the entire country, except when an unusually strong dynasty was in power. In many
instances the Sichuan Basin—an isolated region in southwestern China, about twice
the size of Scotland, that is well protected by high mountains and is self-
sufficient in agricultural products—became an independent kingdom. A comparable
situation often arose in the Tarim Basin in the northwest. Linked to the rest of
China only by the Gansu Corridor, this basin is even remoter than the Sichuan, and,
when the central government was unable to exert its influence, oasis states were
established; only the three strong dynasties—the Han (206 BCE–220 CE), the Tang
(618–907CE), and the Qing, or Manchu (1644–1911/12)—were capable of controlling the
region.

Apart from the three elevation zones already mentioned, it is possible—on the basis
of geologic structure, climatic conditions, and differences in geomorphologic
development—to divide China into three major topographic regions: the eastern,
northwestern, and southwestern zones. The eastern zone is shaped by the rivers,
which have eroded landforms in some parts and have deposited alluvial plains in
others; its climate is monsoonal (characterized by seasonal rain-bearing winds).
The northwestern region is arid and eroded by the wind; it forms an inland drainage
basin. The southwest is a cold, lofty, and mountainous region containing
intermontane plateaus and inland lakes.

The three basic regions may be further subdivided into second-order geographic
divisions. The eastern region contains 10 of these, the southwest contains two, and
the northwest contains three. Below is a brief description of each division.

The eastern region

The Northeast Plain
Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range
Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range
The Northeast Plain (also known as the Manchurian Plain and the Sung-liao Plain) is
located in China’s Northeast, the region formerly known as Manchuria. It is
bordered to the west and north by the Da Hinggan (Greater Khingan) Range and to the
east by the Xiao Hinggan (Lesser Khingan) Range. An undulating plain split into
northern and southern halves by a low divide rising from 500 to 850 feet (150 to
260 metres), it is drained in its northern part by the Sungari River and
tributaries and in its southern part by the Liao River. Most of the area has an
erosional rather than a depositional surface, but it is covered with a deep soil.
The plain has an area of about 135,000 square miles (350,000 square km). Its basic
landscapes are forest-steppe, steppe, meadow-steppe, and cultivated land; its soils
are rich and black, and it is a famous agricultural region. The river valleys are
wide and flat with a series of terraces formed by deposits of silt. During the
flood season the rivers inundate extensive areas.

The Changbai Mountains

To the southeast of the Northeast Plain is a series of ranges comprising the
Changbai, Zhangguangcai, and Wanda mountains, which in Chinese are collectively
known as the Changbai Shan, or “Forever White Mountains”; broken by occasional open
valleys, they reach elevations mostly between 1,500 and 3,000 feet (450 and 900
metres). In some parts the scenery is characterized by rugged peaks and precipitous
cliffs. The highest peak is the volcanic cone of Mount Baitou (9,003 feet [2,744
metres]), which has a beautiful crater lake at its snow-covered summit. As one of
the major forest areas of China, the region is the source of many valuable furs and
famous medicinal herbs. Cultivation is generally limited to the valley floors.

The North China Plain

Comparable in size to the Northeast Plain, most of the North China Plain lies at
elevations below 160 feet (50 metres), and the relief is monotonously flat. It was
formed by enormous sedimentary deposits brought down by the Huang He and Huai River
from the Loess Plateau; the Quaternary deposits alone (i.e., those from the past
2.6 million years) reach thicknesses of 2,500 to 3,000 feet (760 to 900 metres).
The river channels, which are higher than the surrounding locality, form local
water divides, and the areas between the channels are depressions in which lakes
and swamps are found. In particularly low and flat areas, the underground water
table often fluctuates from 5 to 6.5 feet (1.5 to 2 metres), forming meadow swamps
and, in some places, resulting in saline soils. A densely populated area that has
long been under settlement, the North China Plain has the highest proportion of
land under cultivation of any region in China.

The Loess Plateau

Yan River in the Loess Plateau
Yan River in the Loess Plateau
This vast plateau of some 154,000 square miles (400,000 square km) forms a unique
region of loess-clad hills and barren mountains between the North China Plain and
the deserts of the west. In the north the Great Wall of China forms the boundary,
while the southern limit is the Qin Mountains in Shaanxi province. The average
surface elevation is roughly 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), but individual ranges of
bedrock are higher, reaching 9,825 feet (2,995 metres) in the Liupan Mountains.
Most of the plateau is covered with loess to thicknesses of 165 to 260 feet (50 to
80 metres). In northern Shaanxi and eastern Gansu provinces, the loess may reach
much greater thicknesses. The loess is particularly susceptible to erosion by
water, and ravines and gorges crisscross the plateau. It has been estimated that
ravines cover approximately half the entire region, with erosion reaching depths of
300 to 650 feet (90 to 200 metres).

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The Shandong Hills
These hills are basically composed of extremely ancient crystalline shales and
granites of early Precambrian age (i.e., older than about 2.5 billion years) and of
somewhat younger sedimentary rocks dating to about 540–420 million years ago.
Faults have played a major role in creating the present relief, and, as a result,
many hills are horsts (blocks of the Earth’s crust uplifted along faults), while
the valleys have been formed by grabens (blocks of the Earth’s crust that have been
thrust down along faults). The Jiaolai Plain divides this region into two parts.
The eastern part is lower, lying at elevations averaging below 1,500 feet (450
metres), with only certain peaks and ridges rising to 2,500 feet and (rarely) to
3,000 feet (900 metres); the highest point, Mount Lao, reaches 3,714 feet (1,132
metres). The western part is slightly higher, rising to 5,000 feet (1,524 metres)
at Mount Tai, one of China’s most sacred mountains. The Shandong Hills meet the sea
along a rocky and indented shoreline.

The Qin Mountains

The Qin (conventional Tsinling) Mountains in Shaanxi province are the greatest
chain of mountains east of the Plateau of Tibet. The mountain chain consists of a
high and rugged barrier extending from Gansu to Henan; geographers use a line
between the chain and the Huai River to divide China proper into two parts—North
and South. The elevation of the mountains varies from 3,000 to 10,000 feet (900 to
3,000 metres). The western part is higher, with the highest peak, Mount Taibai,
rising to 12,359 feet (3,767 metres). The Qin Mountains consist of a series of
parallel ridges, all running roughly west-east, separated by a maze of ramifying
valleys whose canyon walls often rise sheer to a height of 1,000 feet (300 metres)
above the valley streams.

The Sichuan Basin

This is one of the most attractive geographical regions of China. The Sichuan Basin
is surrounded by mountains, which are higher in the west and north. Protected
against the penetration of cold northern winds, the basin is much warmer in the
winter than are the more southerly plains of southeast China. Except for the
Chengdu Plain, the region is hilly. The relief of the basin’s eastern half consists
of numerous folds, forming a series of ridges and valleys that trend northeast to
southwest. The lack of arable land has obliged farmers to cultivate the slopes of
the hills, on which they have built terraces that frequently cover the slopes from
top to bottom. The terracing has slowed down the process of erosion and has made it
possible to cultivate additional areas by using the steeper slopes—some of which
have grades up to 45° or more.

The southeastern mountains

Southeastern China is bordered by a rocky shoreline backed by picturesque
mountains. In general, there is a distinct structural and topographic trend from
northeast to southwest. The higher peaks may reach elevations of some 5,000 to
6,500 feet (1,500 to 2,000 metres). The rivers are short and fast-flowing and have
cut steep-sided valleys. The chief areas of settlement are on narrow strips of
coastal plain where rice is produced. Along the coast there are numerous islands,
where the fishing industry is well developed.