Natural Environments Chapter 27:1

China developed in isolation from the rest of the world. Because they viewed their country as the center of the world, they called their homeland Zhōng Guó, or “Middle Kingdom.”

Effects of Isolation development of one culture across a wide area strong sense of cultural identity resulted in the oldest, continuous culture

Mountains make up about forty-percent of China’s area.

The Himalayas close-off China to the southwest. Plateau of Tibet Himalayas

The Kúnlún Shān and Tiān Shān ranges to the west cut-off China from Europe. Tiān Shān Kūnlún Shān Plateau of Tibet Tarim Basin

[Image source: The Gobi Desert straddles the border of present-day China and Mongolia.

[Image source: Most of the Gobi Desert is a barren, rock-strewn plain.

Bactrian camels in the Gobi Desert

[Image source: Most Chinese peasants focused on developing the agricultural resources of the fertile river valleys and plains.

Three major rivers drain eastern China: Huáng Hé (Yellow River) Cháng Jiāng (Yangtze) Xī Jiāng (West River)

Huáng Hé 黃河 The “Breadbasket of China.”

On it’s 2,900 mile (4,640 km) journey to the sea through north China, the Huáng Hé cuts through a thick layer of loess, a rich yellow soil.

The Huáng Hé is also known as “the Great Sorrow” because of frequent, devastating floods. [Image source:

The silt deposits brought by the flooding river has made the North China Plain a rich agricultural area.

Yangtze River The Yangtze is also known as the Cháng Jiāng. 长江

It is called the Cháng Jiāng (“Long River”) by the Chinese, because it is the longest river in China.

The Cháng Jiāng is the “Rice Bowl of China.”

Xī Jiāng ( 西江 ) [Image source:

The Huáng Hé valley was settled as early as 5000 B.C. [Image source:

One Chinese myth tells of how the universe was created from the body of a giant named Pángŭ. [Image source:

Chinese legends celebrate the deeds of hero-kings known as the sage emperors.

Sage-Emperor Yŭ (Dà Yŭ) was known as the “Great Engineer” because he tamed the Huang He.

“When widespread waters spread to Heaven and serpents and dragons did harm, Yao sent Yu to control the waters and to drive out the serpents and dragons. The waters were controlled and flowed to the east. The serpents and dragons plunged to their places.”

[Image source: Sage-Emperor Yŭ founded the legendary Xià Dynasty.

Taiwan (Formosa) [Image source: environmental-changes-along-taiwans-west-coast/]

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