China

C

The North-East

Comprising all of Dongbei east of the Greater Khingan Range, the north-east region incorporates the Dongbei Pingyuan (Manchurian Plain) and its bordering uplands. The plain has extensive tracts of productive soils. The uplands are hilly to mountainous, with numerous broad valleys and gentle slopes. The Liaodong Peninsula, extending to the south, is noteworthy for its good natural harbours.

D

Northern China

This region lies between the Mongolian Borderlands on the north and the Yangzi River Basin on the south and consists of several distinct topographic units. The Loess Plateau on the north-west is formed by the accumulation of fine windblown silt (loess). The loosely packed loess is readily subject to erosion, and the plateau’s surface is transected by sunken roads, vertical-walled valleys, and numerous gullies. The region is extensively terraced and cultivated. The North China Plain, the largest flat lowland area in China, consists of fertile soils derived from loess. Most of the plain is under intense cultivation. Located to the east, the Shandong Highlands on the Shandong Peninsula consist of two distinct areas of mountains flanked by rolling hills. The rocky coast of the peninsula provides some good natural harbours. To the south-west are the Central Mountains, which constitute a formidable barrier to north-south movement.

E

Southern China

This region embraces the Yangzi Valley and the topographically diverse regions to the south. The Yangzi Valley consists of a series of basins with fertile alluvial soils. These lowlands are crisscrossed with waterways, both natural and artificial, and dotted with lakes. The Sichuan Basin, located to the west, is enclosed by rugged mountain spurs of the Central Highlands and constitutes a relatively isolated area of hilly terrain. The area is known for its intensive terraced farming. The highlands of South China extend from the Tibetan Plateau east to the sea. In the west the deeply eroded Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is bordered by a series of mountain ranges separated by deep, steep-walled gorges. One of the world’s most scenic landscapes is found in eastern Guizhou, where the terrain is dominated by tall limestone pinnacles and pillar-like peaks. To the east are the largely deforested and severely eroded Nan Ling hills, and along the coast are the rugged South-Eastern Highlands, where bays with numerous offshore islands provide good natural harbours. Lying south of the Nan Ling hills is the Xi Basin, predominantly a hilly area with infertile soils; the numerous streams of this region, however, are bordered by fertile, flat-floored alluvial valleys. The broad delta plain of the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) is commonly called the Canton delta.

F

The Tibetan Plateau

Occupying the remote south-western extremity of China is the high, mountain-rimmed plateau of Tibet; the world’s highest plateau region, it has an average elevation of about 4,510 m (14,800 ft) above sea level. Bordering ranges include the Himalaya on the south, the Pamirs and Karakorum Range on the west, and the Kunlun Shan and Qilian Mountains on the north. The surface of the plateau is dotted with salt lakes and marshes, is crossed by several mountain ranges, and also contains the headwaters of many major southern and eastern Asian rivers, including those of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangzi (Chang Jiang), and Huang He (Hwang Ho or Yellow River). The landscape is bleak, barren, and stony.

G

Rivers and Lakes

All the major river systems of China, including the three longest—the Yangzi, Huang He, and Xi—flow in a generally west to east direction to the Pacific Ocean. In all, about 50 per cent of the total land area drains to the Pacific. Only about 10 per cent of the country’s area drains to the Indian and Arctic oceans. The remaining 40 per cent has no outlet to the sea and drains to the arid basins of the west and north, where the streams evaporate or percolate to form deep underground water reserves; principal among these streams is the Tarim.

The most northerly major Chinese river is the Amur River (Heilong Jiang), which forms most of the north-eastern boundary with Russia. The Songhua (Sungari) and Liao rivers and their tributaries drain most of the Dongbei Pingyuan and its surrounding highlands.

The major river of North China is the Huang He. It is traditionally referred to as “China’s Sorrow” because, throughout Chinese history, it has periodically devastated large areas by flooding. The river is dyked in its lower course, and its bed is elevated above the surrounding plain as a result of the accumulation of silt. The river rises in the marginal highlands of the Tibetan Plateau and follows a circuitous course to the Bo Hai (Po Hai, an arm of the Yellow Sea), draining an area more than twice the size of France. The Yangzi River of central China has a discharge more than ten times that of the Huang He. The longest river in Asia, it has a vast drainage basin. The Yangzi rises near the source of the Huang He and enters the sea at Shanghai. It is a major transport artery. It is the subject of a controversial project to dam it at its famous Three Gorges.

Serving the major port of Guangzhou are the estuarine lower reaches and tributary complex of the Xi, the most important river system of southern China. The river, which has numerous tributaries and distributaries, has a discharge three times as great as that of the Huang He.

Most of the important lakes of China lie along the middle and lower Yangzi Valley. The two largest in the middle portion are the Dongting and Poyang. In summer these lakes increase their areas by two to three times and serve as reservoirs for excess water. Lake Tai is the largest of several lakes in the Yangzi delta, and Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake lie just to the north of the delta.

Saline lakes, many of considerable size, abound in the Tibetan Plateau. The largest is the marshy Qinghai Lake (also known as Koko Nur) in the less elevated north-east, but several others nearly as large occur on the high plateau. In the arid north-west and in the Mongolian Borderlands are a number of large lakes, most of which are also saline; principal among these are Lop and Bosten lakes east of the Tarim Basin. Ulansuhai Lake, which is fed by the Huang He, is in Nei Monggol Autonomous Region; Hulun Nur lies west of the Greater Khingan Range in Dongbei.

More than 2,000 reservoirs have been constructed throughout the nation, primarily for irrigation and flood control. Most are small, but the largest, the Long Men reservoir on the Huang He, has a capacity of 35.4 billion cu m (1,250 billion cu ft).