Chinese Geography: Readings and Maps | Asia for Educators | Columbia University
Chinese Geography: Readings and Maps
The consultant for this unit was Professor               Ronald Knapp of the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz.               Professor Knapp is a geographer who specializes on China.
This unit begins with a set of maps, both general and outline, and               then divides discussion of China's geography into four topical areas.               The discussion refers to the maps and other visuals imbedded in the               text. Suggested Questions for Discussion that               can be used to guide students through the material in all four topics           are grouped together at the end of the units.
MAPS
Outline Maps (For classroom activity)
RIVERS, BORDERS, and CIVILIZATIONS
Autonomous Regions and China's Minorities
Special Administrative Regions (SARs)
Maps
General Maps (China in Asia)
Visit the following sites to view and select maps as               well as other general background information about China.
China's                         Linguistic Groups (1990)
Outline Maps (For classroom use)
The outline maps included below are designed to be used as transparencies               that can be overlaid on an overhead projector to demonstrate the diversity               of China's physical and cultural geography. Copies can be printed out               and reproduced also for student use. Many of the descriptive sections               below utilize the maps in ways to sharpen student's understanding of               China's geography. They may all be printed out now or printed as they               are introduced below.
Rivers,                 Borders and Civilization
Major Rivers
China's two major rivers , the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Yangzi or Yangtze               River), as well as the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) delta system marked by the Xi Jiang (West River) in southeastern China, have provided the               framework for agricultural development and population growth throughout               China's history. Another river, the Heilong Jiang (known also as the               Amur River, its Russian name) marks the border between China and Russia;               at times in the past, this area was one of confrontation between the               neighbors. The drainage basins of China's rivers differ in terms of               extent and topography, offering varying opportunities for agricultural               development. Because some of China's largest rivers have their source               regions on the high Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and drop great distances               over their middle and lower courses, China is rich in hydroelectric               resources.
Each of these rivers has special characteristics and associated problems               at different locations along their courses. (Note that "he" and "jiang" are               both translated into English as "river." In English, there               are of course many words that differentiate flowing water according               to size and character — stream, brook, creek, river, just for               a couple of examples. In the Chinese language, similar differences               are expressed but the common words usually translated into English               as "river" can be further clarified somewhat. "Jiang" 江 is the               most common descriptor for "river" in Chinese, signifying a stream that is often geologically               young which cuts through a narrow valley. "He" 河 ,               on the other hand, is generally used for a river that is broad and               geologically old. In this regard, much of the lower course of the Huang               He is reminiscent of the sluggish Mississippi River while the middle               and upper sections of the Chang Jiang resemble the unruly Colorado               River. It is thus redundant to say Huang He River or Chang Jiang River.)
Huang He (Yellow River). China's second longest river, the Huang He rises                 in Qinghai province and flows some 5464 km to the Yellow Sea. Crystal                 clear lakes and sluggish meandering are characteristic in its upper                 reaches. Along the Great Bend of the Huang He in its middle course,                 the unruly river carves its way through the loessial plateau with                 substantial erosion taking place. As the river erodes the loess,                 it becomes a "river of mud" (Loessial soil is called huang tu or "yellow earth" in                 Chinese and it is the color of this suspended loess in the river                 that has given the Huang He its name "Yellow River.") Carrying                 40% sediment by weight in summer (for other rivers in the world 3%                 would be considered a heavy sediment load), the river deposits vast                 amounts of alluvium as it courses across the North China Plain. Over                 the centuries, deposition has raised the bed of the Huang He so that                 it is in some ways "suspended" precariously above the lower                 surrounding agricultural areas, contained by levees and embankments                 built to control what historically was "China's Sorrow"— the bringer of flood and famine.
Chairman                     Mao surveys the Lower Huang He from atop a dike
The lower course of the Huang He has changed 26 times in China's                 history, most notably nine times including major floods in 1194 AD                 and again in 1853, that brought untold disaster to the villages and                 towns of the North China Plain. ( See Map of Course Changes of the Huang He. ) What was once a scourge that plagued                 the Chinese people throughout much of their history continues to                 be one of China's great natural challenges — preventing both flooding                 and drought in a region with more than 100 million people. Siltation                 at the mouth of the Huang He extended the length of the river by                 about 35 km (20 miles) between 1975 and 1991. The North China Plain                 is indeed a "gift" of the Huang He.
Throughout the loessial uplands, some 40 million Chinese still live                 in cave-like or subterranean dwellings that are an especially appropriate                 response to the peculiar nature of loess and the absence of alternative                 building materials such as timber.
Chang Jiang (Yangzi River). As China's "main street," this artery courses over 6300 km through several of China's most                 economically developed regions. Excellent river ports — Shanghai,                 Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Wuhan, Yichang, and Chongqing — are located near                 or along the Chang Jiang, making it one of the world's busiest inland                 waterways. As much of 40% of the country's total grain production,                 70% of the rice output, and more than 40% of China's population are                 associated with its vast basin that includes more than 3,000 tributaries.                 The flow of the Chang Jiang is some 20 times greater than that of                 the Huang He. With its numerous tributaries, the Chang Jiang drains                 nearly 20% of China's total area. Its upper reaches tap the uplands                 of the Tibetan Plateau before sweeping across the enormous and agriculturally                 productive Sichuan Basin that supports nearly 10% of China's total                 population. It is in the middle course of the Chang Jiang that the                 controversial Three Gorges Dam project is                 being constructed.
As a huge public works project — the largest dam in the world,                 rivaling the building not only of China's great historical projects                 such as the Grand Canal and Great Wall as well as modern projects                 elsewhere in the world — the Three Gorges Dam project is wrapped                 in environmental, engineering, and political controversy. Increasing                 clean energy, controlling floods, and stimulating economic development                 are but a few of objectives of the dam. Below the Three Gorges Dam                 are the great flood plains of the Chang Jiang as well as the major                 tributaries on its north and south banks. At the mouth of the river                 is the great and productive Yangzi delta and metropolitan Shanghai.                 With the completion of this project, disastrous floods are expected                 to be eliminated.
The                   second worst flood of the past 130 years struck the Chang Jiang                   valley in Summer 1998 and affected 240 million people, killing                   some 3656, and leaving 14 million homeless. The flood is estimated                   to have left 14 million people homeless, destroying 5 million houses,                   damaging 12 million houses, flooding 25 million hectares of farmland,                   and causing over US$20 billion in estimated damages. On the adjacent                   infrared image, the extensive flooded area is shown in blue, other                 water areas in black, vegetation in red, and clouds in white.
Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) Delta. Situated in Guangdong province                 just to the north of Hong Kong and Macao, the delta of the Zhu Jiang                 is the most significant farming area in southeastern China. Some                 regard it as one of the most productive and sustainable ecosystems                 in the world because of its integrated dike-rice paddy-fish pond                 agricultural system. Between 1988 and 1995, land                 reclamation along the banks of the river and along the coast                 added farm land and space for fish ponds as well as created space               for rapidly expanding settlements.
Early Civilizations
Looking at the map of historical borders and the map showing the major rivers highlights the important fact that the earliest               hearths of Chinese civilization developed along its river valleys. One               of the cradles of Chinese civilization, the Neolithic site called Banpo,               was located along a tributary of the Huang He not too far from the present-day               city of Xi'an in Shaanxi province. Hemudu, on the southern shores of               Hangzhou Bay that lies to the south of the Yangzi River delta, is another               of China's important Neolithic sites. The Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1027               BC) was also situated around the Huang He (Yellow River), and eventually               spread southward to the Chang Jiang (Yangzi River) and Xi Jiang.
Mountains and Deserts
The west of China is comprised of mountains and deserts as well as plateaus that do not provide much arable land               for agriculture. Throughout most of history, the civilization that               grew up to the east in what is today China was not surrounded by other               nearby major civilizations. To this extent the Chinese were "isolated" from               competing civilizations although there was a broad and fluid frontier               zone on the western margins. This geographical fact is important to               remember when discussing the Western encroachment on China from the               sea during the late imperial period.
Although the mountains and deserts of the west limited contact between               early imperial dynasties and other centers of civilization in the Inner               Asia, Middle East, South Asia, and Europe, there were some important               and notable exchanges of culture. The legendary Silk Road facilitated               the exchange of goods and ideas between China and each of these areas.
Historical Borders
Like many other countries, the historical borders of china have varied over time. Under the Han dynasty (202               BC-202 AD), China's great historical empire, these early boundaries               were significantly expanded, as the series of historical               maps of China shows. The extent of China's territory was greatest               under the last dynasty, called the Qing (Ch'ing) or Manchu dynasty               between 1644-1912. China's territory was more extensive under the Qing               empire than it is today.
Bordering Nations
China is at the core of a cultural sphere or region known as East Asia.                 Looking at the map of bordering nations , it is possible to identify China's neighbors,                 some of which received substantial cultural influence from China.                 China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam historically form the East Asian             or Sinitic cultural sphere.
The large number of countries with which China shares borders makes               Chinese foreign policy especially complex (unlike the U.S., for example               which shares borders only with Canada and Mexico).
Supplementing Geography: Great Wall, Grand Canal,             Terracing and Irrigation
The Chinese attempted to correct perceived "deficiencies" in               their physical geography by building massive civil engineering projects               that would help bring about unity and provide defense as well as by               countless smaller scale efforts at modifying their physical landscapes.
Great Wall. What is known today as the Great Wall ( see map of the Great Wall and the Grand Canal ) was reputedly first completed                 during the Qin (Ch'in) dynasty (221-206 BC) when segments of the                 wall existing from earlier periods were connected. Early walled ramparts                 were constructed of rammed or tamped earth. The brick-faced walls                 seen today were built much later during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).                 Although not a single continuous wall, the Great Wall and its associated                 military encampments and guard posts figured in attempts by many                 dynasties to manage the nomadic peoples, sometime referred to as "barbarians," who lived north of it on the grasslands or                 steppes. For the most part, the Great Wall should be viewed as a                 zone of transition — rather than a fixed border — between farming                 areas with sedentary villages and pasture lands with nomadic lifestyles.
Grand Canal. Since China's major rivers — the Huang He                 and Chang Jiang — flow from west to east and there is no natural                 communication north to south except by way of a coastal route, the                 Chinese dug the Grand Canal as a safe, inland water route between                 the two major rivers, in the process connecting a number of minor                 regional rivers. Constructed around 605 AD to serve commercial as                 well as military considerations, the canal was extended several times,                 most notably to the Hangzhou in 610 and eventually in 1279 to Dadu,                 the great Mongol (Yuan dynasty) capital. During the Ming and Qing                 dynasties which followed the Mongol dynasty, the Grand Canal ensured                 that Beijing, the great successor imperial capitals to Dadu, had                 sufficient grain from the southern rice bowl areas. The Grand Canal                 is the longest artificial waterway in the world and has a long history                 of barge traffic along its course. Although many parts of it fell                 into disrepair over the years, today it is still possible to traverse                 the man-made Grand Canal from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province northward                 1801 km to Beijing.
Terracing and Irrigation. At least as significant as major engineering works like the Grand Canal and the Great Wall are the                 countless alterations of China's physical landscapes by centuries                 of human effort. These human modifications traditionally focused                 on terracing hill slopes and controlling water via irrigation as                 well as reclaiming marginal land. In managing natural resources and                 expanding opportunities for the production of food, the Chinese have                 reclaimed, even created, land that in many areas of the world would                 have been considered impossible to farm.
Creating level land through terracing of hill slopes. Throughout                       the rugged areas of northern and southern China, farmers over the                       centuries have sculpted the hilly land into step-like landscapes                       of terraces. Sometimes terraces are relatively natural features that                       need only be modified in order to produce level areas for planting,                       while in others extraordinary efforts must be carried out to move                       earth and rock, stabilize retaining walls, and create sluices for                       controlling the flow of water. Drainage control and water storage                       are as important as the level land itself.
Population and                 Agriculture
Population and Arable (Farming) Land
It is a well known fact that China is the most populous nation in               the world. China's total population of 1,252,800,000 nearly exceeds               the combined populations of Europe (579,700,000) and South               America (311,500,000) and the United States (272,573,000) and Japan               (125,200,000). By comparison, the population of the United States is               equivalent to only 22% of China's population.
Such a huge population imposes substantial stress on the country's               natural resources, including especially arable land. Although China               ranks fourth in the world in terms of total arable land, the pressure               of population on this precious available agricultural land is acute               and makes China's struggle to increase its agricultural output to feed               its population all the more difficult. Looking at the map of China's agricultural regions and crops , you will see that China's arable               land is primarily in the eastern region, the same area where a majority               of China's vast population is concentrated. In addition to extensive               areas of western China which are relatively uninhabited, substantial               portions of southern China are unfavorable for agriculture because               of mountainous topography. There are significant variations from province-to-province               in terms of cultivated land, multiple-cropping, and overall production               of various crops.
China feeds somewhat less than one-quarter (25%) of the world's population               on approximately 7% of the world's arable land.
Viewing the map showing the U.S. and China superimposed , it can be seen that China has               only a slightly larger land area, 3.69 million square miles compared               to the 3.68 million square miles of the United States. However, while               approximately 40% of the U.S. land can be cultivated, only 11% of China's               land is arable. Much of the arable land in the United States, of course,               is actually not used for farming but instead is used for pasture or             has been developed for other uses.
Like China, the U.S. has a densely populated east coast. Unlike the               U.S., however, China's farmland is not concentrated in a relatively               underpopulated central section of the country. Of the roughly 273 million               population in the U.S., less than 3% are engaged in farming while the               U.S. has about 80% more farmland than does China and 10 times more               farmland per capita. The following map compares the densities of population             in the United States and China:
Despite the high population density reflected               on the map, China is not an urban society even though its total               urban population (311,000,000) exceeds the actual total population               of the United States. (The urban population of the U.S. is approximately               194,7000,000, some 75% of the country's total; many Americans, of course,               live in suburban communities.) Although some seventy-four per cent               (74%) of China's population is still primarily engaged in agriculture               and living in rural areas, these same farming areas have undergone               substantial industrialization and commercialization in the past two               decades since 1979.
Agriculture in China
The production of grain accounts for some 80-90% of all agricultural               crops in China. Rice, wheat, corn, barley, and millet are the principal               grain crops, each of which represents a particular adaptation to specific               environmental conditions.
Crops. Wet rice or paddy rice agriculture is carried out                 particularly in fertile areas of southern and central China where                 a mild climate favors two and sometimes three crops per year. The                 growing of rice is frequently rotated with other crops such as winter                 wheat, sweet potatoes, corn, and vegetables of various types. Vegetable                 oil producing plants — specifically rape-seed (the oil of which                 is known in the U.S. as canola oil), peanuts, and sesame — are widely                 grown throughout this region on appropriate soils.
In addition to relatively mild winter temperatures and a long                   growing season, heavy and predictable summer monsoon rains and                   overall sufficient annual rainfall are the basis for substantial                   productive agriculture. It is important to recognize that China's                   southern and central rice-growing regions are quite diverse.
Wet Rice Cycle. Briefly explained, wet rice agriculture                 is an intensive farming system in which dense populations and the                 intensive use of the earth are complementary.
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Geography and Regions
The cross-hatching nature of China's five mountain ranges, the step-like               staircase decrease in elevation from the lofty Tibetan plateau towards               the sea, and the location of rivers make for a number of distinct geographical               regions that fall into a checkerboard composition of basins, plateaus,               and plains. Note the problems these pose for political and economic             unity on the overlays of mountains and deserts and rivers .
For the sake of elementary convenience, the landmass of China can               be divided into two basic components:
A vast Western region occupying nearly 2/3 of the                 country that is generally too high, too cold, and/or too dry to support                 a dense agricultural population. Much of this higher western area                 occupies the two upper steps of the topographic staircase: Qinghai-Tibetan                 plateau, sometimes known as the "roof of the world" with average elevations above 4000 meters and a broad arc-like step                 running northeast/southwest from the grasslands of the Inner Mongolian                 steppes through the deserts and basins of Xinjiang to the Yunnan-Guizhou                 plateaus of southwestern China.
An Eastern region occupying 1/3 of the country — that                 portion of China east of the Tibetan Plateau and generally south                 of the Great Wall — forming the core of China Proper. It is                 framed on the west by mountain ranges about 1000 meters in elevation — Greater                 Khingan, Taihang, Wushan, and Xuefeng — and includes the densely                 settled North China Plain along the lower course of the Huang He                 and numerous plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Chang                 Jiang. This diverse region includes the eighteen traditional provinces                 of imperial China, and can be divided into Northern China and Southern                 China with the Qinling Range and Huai River forming the natural                 zone of demarcation between them. It is customary to include Northeast                 China, often still referred to as Manchuria, in this Eastern                 region.
Interregional Trade
A benefit of China's varied geography is that a shortage of resources               in one part of China can be overcome by trade with another part. In               this way China historically has been able to develop internally by               promoting interregional trade, as opposed to going outside               the country as many smaller European countries had to do. Instead of               industrializing to overcome shortages, China traded within its               own borders, thus promoting commercial development.
Similarly, a shortage in labor in one area could be filled by migration               within the country or by shifting manufacturing to another area. Geographic               factors that facilitated this internal trade were the Chang Jiang (Yangzi               River), the complex network of rivers in the south, and China's long               coastline. China thus did not feel great pressure to develop labor-saving               technologies or to engage in extensive expansionist or colonizing activities               beyond its borders, in contrast to the West and Japan. (This contrasts               markedly with the political and economic history of Europe, where the               existence of many small countries led to trade barriers and local shortages,               prompting individual countries to make technological advances and wage               costly wars that contributed to the rise of large financial empires               and engage in expansionist imperialism.)
Disparity among Regions
A recurrent problem, however,               is that some regions in China have developed more quickly than others               because of their location. For example, the coastline of China with               its ports and fertile soil has developed more rapidly than western               China with its deserts and mountains. Western China is more isolated               and thus lags behind the coastal regions, a condition that can be seen               clearly in this view of the Earth at night where only lights and fires               are visible.
Again, compare the U.S. and China to highlight the importance               of locational factors and physical geography to economic development.
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Political Divisions
The People's Republic of China has 34 major                 political divisions (Although the PRC considers Taiwan to be                 one of its provinces, Taiwan remains politically separate as the             Republic of China).