The Geography of China

Objective: How did geography influence the development of Ancient China?

East Asia Political Map

Essential Question
Does the environment shape people, or do people shape the environment?

Geographic Isolation

China - the most isolated of the civilizations we have studied thus far.

Long distance from Egypt, Mesopotamia, India.

Chinas Physical Barriers

What are the benefits of being an isolated civilization?

What attitudes about themselves might people develop if they are isolated?

Landforms

2/3 of China is Mountains or Plateaus 2 major Deserts

Takla Makan and Gobi Deserts

Takla Makan Desert

Chinas River Systems

Huang He (Yellow River)

Region of first Chinese civilization (Shang) Loess = fine wind-blown yellow soil

Fertilizes river valley

Yellow River - The River of Sorrows

Loess creates dangerous flood conditions as it sinks to the bottom. Villages in the valley were often destroyed in devastating floods.

Fear of Floods engrained in Chinese culture.

Chinas Environmental Challenges

Agriculture Production

Monsoon Precipitation Patterns

Population Density

China as % of World Population

Chinas Heartland

Only about 10 percent of Chinas land is suitable for farming. Much of the land lies within the small plain between the Huang He and the Chang Jiang in eastern China. This plain, known as the North China Plain, is Chinas heartland. Throughout Chinas long history, its political boundaries have expanded and contracted depending on the strength or weakness of its ruling families. Yet the heartland of China remained the center of its civilization.

Brown China vs. Green China

Pasture and Oasis

Double-crop rice

South China

Man-Made Changes to the environment

Controlled the flooding of rivers through large scale irrigation projects.

Channels, Levies, Canals, Reservoirs, Rice Paddies

This led to the rise of strong central government. Why?

Man-Made Changes

I opened passages for the streams throughout the nine provinces, and conducted them to the sea. I deepened channels and canals, and conducted them to the streams.
- Chinese Ruler

Rice Cultivation

Requires warm climate (South China ,Yangzi R.) Very Labor Intensive Rice feeds more people than any other grain.

Terraced Rice Paddy

Rice Paddies (Fields) Must be flat; Often terraced (cut into hills) Seedlings planted by hand Channels flood the Paddies Paddies drained when crop is ripe

Contacts with the World

Outlying regions were the home of nomadic invaders

Mongolia, Xinjiang, Manchuria

China called them Barbarians and believed they lacked civility.

Nomads brought technology from Middle East (Cultural Diffusion). China Referred to itself as the Middle Kingdom. Why might this be so?