The large size and its favorable location determine its strategic location.
Due to its large size, the country has diverse environments-both physical and cultural. Harsh environment protects the country on west and on the northern side, while its accessibility to ocean on the east and south favored the development of ports and international trade.
China, one of the ancient civilizations of the world, has at least become awake from its deep slumber and realizing its latent potentials has now steady progress in every walk of life. It has made the hydrogen bomb and developed heavy industries, which are indispensable for both economic and power growth. It is the third largest country of the world with an area of 9596961 sq. km. and as regards it had world's one-fourth population with 982,550,000 people. This population by now has crossed one crore definitely.
Location: In the north of China the great mountain ranges of East Siberia make the natural boundary. The Mongolian region is also north of China. In the northwest there are mountain ranges. Tien Shan, Pamirs and Tibet lie towards the west and Southwest of China. The Himalayas also lie in this direction. The southern side of China has boundary in the form of mountain slopes and tropical forests. On the east of it lie, the East China Sea and the Yellow sea. But for the Eastern coastal region China would have been land locked.
Physiography
Physiographically, China may be divided into-
(1) Southern China, centering on the Si-kiang;
(2) Central China and the Yangtze-kiang Basin; as
(3) Northern China, including the plain drained by the Hwang-Ho and the hilly Shantung Peninsula.
Southern China: Southern China is a mountainous region rising to the bleak Tibetan Highlands through the limestone plateau of Yuan. But most of the rugged forested interior is unsuited to cultivation, and the people in maritime districts have turned to the sea for their livelihood.
The Southern China is a mountain and valley section covering Yangtze and Xi (Hsi) river basins. It is the main agricultural region, having cool winter and hot moist summer. But the hot rainy summers, and relatively mild winters when some rain falls, favor the growth of sub-tropical products, and on the alluvial soils in river valleys, rice, sugar-cane, and cotton are cultivated on the lowlands, tea on the hill-sides.
Canton recently renamed Kwangchow, is the chief town of Southern China. It stands some 90 miles from the sea on the Canton River at the head of the delta built up by the Si-kiang, Pei-kiang, and the Tung-kiang.
The British island of Hong Kong (capital Victoria) lies at the mouth of the Si-Kiang. A fine natural harbor separates the island from the mainland.
Central China and the Yangtze-kiang Basin: From its source in the Kunlun Mountains to its mouths in the East China Sea, the Yangtze-kiang measures over 3,000 miles. Its basin, which forms Central China, comprises about one-third of the country. Together with its tributaries, and a remarkable network of canals, it is used for irrigation, transport, and drainage.
In the Yangtze basin the winters, though cold, are not so extreme or dry as those of Northern China, while the hot rainy summers favor the growth of rice, tea, and cotton.
In its course through China proper the Yangtze may be divided into four sections: the Red Basin of Szechwan; the Ichang Gorge; the Middle Basin; and the Lower Basin and Delta.
The Han enters the Yangtze at the point where the latter river enters its Lower Basin. Here stands the triple city of Hankow-Hanyang-Wuchang. Together the three places, known as Wuhan. This region is totally the creation of three big rivers namely Hwang Ho Yangtze and West (Itsi), which rise on the eastern slopes of the Tibet Yunan Plateau, and their course of flow is eastward. These cover a large area including Eastern lowland or China, which in reality is the heart line of the country. It includes the North China plain with such big cities as Nanking, Peking Shanghai and Tientsin. This area is the Hub of all industrial and agricultural activities. The largest concentration of population is centered in this area. The plain made by Hwang Ho is regular and continuous, but the plain of Yangtze is irregular and comparatively small.
Between the Yangtze and yellow rivers there is Hawaii River which is navigable and when in spate brings havoc. Manchuria has a low land and as a result of two rivers Liw Ho and Sungare is attracting population. Though it is not so fertile as the plains of Hwang Ho and Yangtze it is producing enough food stuff as to feed the teeming millions. Hanyang, on the opposite bank of the Yangtze, is noted for its iron and steel works, which are fed with coal and iron from the Hunan field to the south. Nanking, stand farther down-stream. It is a busy industrial city with cotton, silk, and other textile factories, and paper mills. Shanghai is the outlet for the Yangtze valley. The population of Greater Shanghai, including its sprawling industrial and residential suburbs, exceeds 7 million, and it ranks as one of the largest cities in the world. It is situated on the Whangpoo River.
Northern China: Northern China consists of the basin of the Middle and Lower Hwang-Ho, the lesser area to the north drained by the Pei Ho, and the Shantung Peninsula to the north-east. We may divide Northern China into
(a) the mountainous and upland area in the west,
(b). the lowland plain to the east, and
(c) the hilly Shantung Peninsula.
Much of this region is covered with loess, a yellow soil composed of dust brought by the prevailing winds from Mongolia. Though porous, it is extremely fertile and needs only water to make it bear wonderful crops.
This region consists of the southern rim of the basin of Gobi desert. This region in some places has high elevations, but in the middle of Gobi the elevations are low. The area is covered with steppe grass and scrub because of dry climate. Sedentary agriculture is being adopted here. River dams and irrigational facilities have bettered the region, but still the population is sparse. The area becomes very hot during summer and very chilly with high velocity winds.
The Northern China lying north of Qinlin (Chinling) mountains includes the middle and lower Hwang-Ho basin and Manchuria. It is a cold and dry region the plateau and plain sections respectively.
In Northern China the winters are dry and cold, and strong dust laden monsoon winds from the north-west blow almost continuously. The bleak and severe conditions have done much to make the northern Chinese a hardier folk than those living in the south. The summers are hot but the rainfall is less than in the rest of China, and in those years when it is insufficient, droughts and famines occur. Rice can be grown on the lowlands as far north as the Pei-ho, but the chief crops are of a hardier variety such as millet, wheat, barley, and soya beans. Cotton is cultivated in the Shantung Peninsula. In the Shansi Highlands, marking the western edge of the Northern Plain, anthracite and iron ore are mined. The chief port of Northern China is Tientsin (3,400,000), on the Pei Ho, whose outpost is Taku.
North-East Provinces (Manchuria): This region is formed by three provinces and is shaped like a lipped bowl, whose rim is formed by mountains and lip reaches the Yellow Sea. Like Northern China, it has fairly rainy summers though the winters are colder. Much of Manchuria is a steppe country, but the north and east are forested, and in spring timber rafts are floated down the Sungari to saw-mills at Harbin, and down the Yalu to mills at Antung at the mouth of the river.
It has desert basins of Sinkiang. These are two important basins namely Tarim Basin and Dzungaria Basin. These basin receive water from such rivers, which never meet the sea. They flow from the nearby mountains and are lost, but they supply water to these basins. These rivers have made oases after reappearing in some places as is visible in the margins of Takla Makan Desert.
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