GeographyChina

China stretches some 5,000 kilometers acrossEast Asian landmassan erratically changing configurationbroad plains, expansive deserts,lofty mountain ranges, including vast areasinhospitable terrain. The eastern half ofcountry, its seacoast fringedoffshore islands, isregionfertile lowlands, foothillsmountains, desert, steppes,subtropical areas. The western halfChina isregionsunken basins, rolling plateaus,towering massifs, includingportion ofhighest tableland on earth.

The vastness ofcountry andbarrenness ofwestern hinterland have important implicationsdefense strategy. In spitemany good harbors alongapproximately 18,000-kilometer coastline,nation has traditionally oriented itself not towardsea but inland, developing as an imperial power whose center lay inmiddlelower reaches ofHuang He (Yellow River) onnorthern plains.

Image:MapChina.png

Location

Eastern Asia, borderingEast China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea,South China Sea, between North Korea Vietnam

Geographic coordinates: 35 00 N, 105 00 E

Area

total: 9,596,960 km²
land: 9,326,410 km²
water: 270,550 km²
China isworld's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada,US)

Figures forsizeChina differ slightly depending on where one drawsnumberill-defined boundaries. The official figure byPeople's RepublicChina9.6 million square kilometers, makingcountry slightly smaller than Canada,somewhat larger thanUnited States. The RepublicChina puts this figure at 11 million square kilometers, accountingouter Mongolia. China's contourreasonably comparablethat ofUnited Stateslies largely atsame latitudes.

Border countries

Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast) 3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam 1,281 km

Land boundaries: total: 22,143.34 km
Coastline: 14,500 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or toedge ofcontinental margin
territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate

The climateChinaextremely diverse; tropicalsouthsubarcticnorth.

Monsoon winds, caused by differences inheat-absorbing capacity ofcontinent andocean, dominateclimate. Alternating seasonal air-mass movementsaccompanying windsmoistsummerdrywinter. The advanceretreat ofmonsoons accountlarge degree fortiming ofrainy season andamountrainfall throughoutcountry. Tremendous differenceslatitude, longitude,altitude give risesharp variationsprecipitationtemperature within China. Although most ofcountry lies intemperate belt, its climatic patternscomplex.

China's northernmost point lies alongHeilong JiangHeilongjiang Province incold-temperate zone; its southernmost point, Hainan Island, hastropical climate. Temperature differenceswintergreat, butsummerdiversityconsiderably less. For example,northern portionsHeilongjiang Province experience an average January mean temperaturebelow 0°C, andreading may dropminus 30°C;average July mean insame area may exceed 20°C. By contrast,centralsouthern partsGuangdong Province experience an average January temperatureabove 10°C, whileJuly meanabout 28°C.

Precipitation varies regionally even more than temperature. China south ofQin Ling experiences abundant rainfall, mostit coming withsummer monsoons. Tonorthwest ofrange, however, rainfalluncertain. The farther northwest one moves,scantiermore uncertainbecomes. The northwest haslowest annual rainfall incountryno precipitation at allits desert areas.

TerrainDrainage

Mostly mountains, high plateaus, desertswest; plains, deltas,hillseast.

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)

Terrainvegetation vary greatlyChina. Mountains, hills,highlands cover about 66 percent ofnation's territory, impeding communicationleaving limited level landagriculture. Most ranges, including allmajor ones, trend eastwest . Insouthwest,Himalayas andKunlun Mountains encloseQing Zang Plateau, which encompasses mostXizang Autonomous Region (also known as Tibet)partQinghai Province. It ismost extensive plateau inworld, where elevations average more than 4,000 meters above sea level andloftiest summits risemore than 7,200 meters.

FromQing Zang Plateau, other less-elevated highlands, rugged east-west trending mountains,plateaus interrupted by deep depressions fan out tonortheast. A continental scarp markseastern marginthis territory extending fromGreater Hinggan Rangenortheastern China, throughTaihang Shan (a rangemountains overlookingNorth China Plain) toeastern edge ofYunnan-Guizhou Plateau insouth (see fig. 4). Virtually all oflow-lying areasChina--the regionsdense populationintensive cultivation--are found eastthis scarp line.

East-west ranges include someAsia's greatest mountains. In addition toHimalayas andKunlun Mountains, there areGangdise Shan (Kailas) andTian Shan ranges. The latter stands between two great basins,massive Tarim Basin tosouth andJunggar Basin tonorth. Rich depositscoal, oil,metallic ores lie inTian Shan area. The largest inland basinChina,Tarim Basin measures 1,500 kilometers from eastwest600 kilometers from northsouth at its widest parts.

The Himalayas formnatural boundary onsouthwest asAltai Mountains do onnorthwest. Lesser ranges branch out, some at sharp angles frommajor ranges. The mountains give riseallprincipal rivers.

The spine ofKunlun Mountains separates into several branches asruns eastward fromPamir Mountains. The northernmost branches,Altun Shan andQilian Shan, rimQing Zang Plateauwest-central ChinaoverlookQaidam Basin,sandyswampy region containing many salt lakes. A southern branch ofKunlun Mountains divideswatersheds ofHuang He andChang Jiang (Yangtze River). The Gansu Corridor, west ofgreat bend inHuang He, was traditionally an important communications linkCentral Asia.

North of3,300-kilometer-long Great Wall, between Gansu Province onwest andGreater Hinggan Range oneast, liesNei Monggol Plateau, at an average elevation1,000 meters above sea level. The Yin Shan,systemmountainsaverage elevations1,400 meters, extends east-west throughcenterthis vast desert steppe peneplain. Tosouth islargest loess plateau inworld, covering 600,000 square kilometersShaanxi Province, partsGansuShanxi provinces,someNingxia-Hui Autonomous Region. Loess isyellowish soil blownfromNei Monggol deserts. The loose, loamy material travels easily inwind,throughcenturieshas veneeredplateauchokedHuang Hesilt.

Becauseriver level drops precipitously towardNorth China Plain, wherecontinuessluggish course acrossdelta,transportsheavy loadsandmud fromupper reaches, muchwhichdeposited onflat plain. The flowchanneled mainly by constantly repaired manmade embankments; asresultriver flows onraised ridge fifty meters or more aboveplain,waterlogging, floods,course changes have recurred overcenturies. Traditionally, rulers were judged by their concernor indifferencepreservation ofembankments. Inmodern era,new leadership has been deeply committeddealing withproblemhas undertaken extensive flood controlconservation measures.

Flowing from its source inQing Zang highlands,Huang He courses towardsea throughNorth China Plain,historic centerChinese expansioninfluence. Han Chinese people have farmedrich alluvial soils ofplain since ancient times, constructingGrand CanalChinanorth-south transport. The plain itselfactuallycontinuation ofDongbei (Manchurian) Plain tonortheast butseparated frombyBo Hai Gulf, an extension ofHuang Hai (Yellow Sea).

Like other densely populated areasChina,plainsubject not onlyfloods butearthquakes. For example,miningindustrial centerTangshan, about 165 kilometers eastBeijing, was leveled by an earthquakeJuly 1976 that reportedly also killed 242,000 peopleinjured 164,000.

The Qin Ling mountain range,continuation ofKunlun Mountains, dividesNorth China Plain fromChang Jiang Deltaismajor physiographic boundary betweentwo great partsChina Proper. Itinsensecultural boundary as well, influencingdistributioncustomlanguage. South ofQin Ling divide aredensely populatedhighly developed areas oflowermiddle plains ofChang Jiang and, on its upper reaches,Sichuan Basin, an area encircled byhigh barriermountain ranges.

The country's longestmost important waterway,Chang Jiangnavigable over muchits lengthis nowsite ofThree Gorges Dam. Rising onQing Zang Plateau,Chang Jiang traverses 6,300 kilometers throughheart ofcountry, draining an area1.8 million square kilometers before emptying intoEast China Sea. The Sichuan Basin, favored bymild, humid climate andlong growing season, producesrich varietycrops; italsoleading silk-producing areaan important industrial regionsubstantial mineral resources.

Second only toQin Ling as an internal boundary isNan Ling,southernmost ofeast-west mountain ranges. The Nan Ling overlookspartChina wheretropical climate permits two cropsricebe grown each year. Southeast ofmountains liescoastal, hilly regionsmall deltasnarrow valley plains;drainage area ofZhu Jiang (Pearl River)its associated networkrivers occupies much ofregion tosouth. West ofNan Ling,Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau risestwo steps, averaging 1,2001,800 meterselevation, respectively, towardprecipitous mountain regions ofeastern Qing Zang Plateau.

The Hai He, likeZhu Jiangother major waterways, flows from westeast. Its upper course consistsfive rivers that converge near Tianjin, then flow seventy kilometers before emptying intoBo Hai Gulf. Another major river,Huai He, risesHenan Provinceflows through several lakes before joiningChang Jiang near Yangzhou.

Inland drainage involvingnumberupland basins innorthnortheast accountsabout 40 percent ofcountry's total drainage area. Many riversstreams flow into lakes or diminish indesert. Someusefulirrigation.

China's extensive territorial watersprincipally marginal seas ofwestern Pacific Ocean; these waters washshores oflongmuch-indented coastlineapproximately 5,000 islands. The Yellow, East China,South China seas, too,marginal seas ofPacific Ocean. More than halfcoastline (predominantly insouth)rocky; most ofremaindersandy. The BayHangzhou roughly dividestwo kindsshoreline.

Natural resources

coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)

Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 43%
forestswoodland: 14%
other: 33% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 498,720 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards

Frequent typhoons (about five per year along southerneastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts

Environment

Main article: EnvironmentChina

Environment - current issues

Air pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from reliance on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly innorth; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation; estimated lossone-fifthagricultural land since 1949soil erosioneconomic development; desertification; tradeendangered species.

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law ofSea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban

Wildlife

China liestwo ofworld's major zoogeographic regions,Palearctic andOriental. The Qing Zang Plateau, XinjiangNei Monggol autonomous regions, northeastern China,all areas north ofHuang HeinPalearctic region. Central, southern,southwest China lie inOriental region. InPalearctic zonefound such important mammals asriver fox, horse, camel, tapir, mouse hare, hamster,jerboa. Amongspecies found inOriental region arecivet cat, Chinese pangolin, bamboo rat, tree shrew,also gibbonvarious other speciesmonkeysapes. Some overlap exists betweentwo regions becausenatural dispersalmigration,deer or antelope, bears, wolves, pigs,rodentsfoundall ofdiverse climaticgeological environments. The famous giant pandafound only inlimited area alongChang Jiang.