China geography reveals the fact that China is third biggest country of the world
with an area of 9.6 million square meters and that is 6.6 percent of the world's
total land area.
The physical geography of China shows that the land includes plateaus,
plains, basins, foothills, and mountains. The terrain is mountainous with two
thirds of the land covered by mountains, hills and plateaus. This helps understand
the development of the Chinese civilization and later coming of the colonial
powers through the sea route.
China geography in the east along the shores of the Yellow River and the East
China Sea has alluvial plains, in the north of the edges of the Mongolian Plateau
are grasslands, south is dominated by the hills and low mountain ranges and
in the central east are the deltas of the Huang He and the Yangtze River. While
most of the arable land of China lies along these rivers and they were the centers
of the ancient civilization.
China geography also reveals that there is great number of rivers and the inland
river system accounts for 36 percent of the landmass. The Yangtze River is the
longest river and the third longest in the world ( 6,300 km). China also has
got numerous lakes numbering to 2,800 natural lakes. The geography of China
also shows that in the west , the north has a great alluvial plain and hills
ranges and the Himalayas that contains the planets highest peak traverse the
south. Besides the land area China also has neighboring seas and numerous islands.
The climate of China varies greatly. In the north summer daytime temperature
rises to 30 degrees and winters similar to Arctic. The central zone has a temperate
climate with hot summers and cold winters. The southern zone has a subtropical
climate with hot summers and mild winters. China has rich flora and fauna as
it lies in two of the worlds major zoogeographic regions, the Paleartic and
the Oriental.
Chinese human geography shows that it has got a population that makes it the
world's most populous country. The Chinese geography shows the vastness of the
country and the bareness of the western hinterland has important implications
for the defense planning. But historically the civilization has been oriented
to inland region centered in the middle and the lower reaches of the Yellow
River. Now with economic reforms the urban geography of China has vastly changed.
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