China’s Geographic Regions

Area

China is the world’s fourth largest country, trailing only Russia, Canada, and the United States in total area. Its 9,596,690 sq km (3,705,303 sq mi) encompass the highest points in the world (in the Himalayas of its southwestern regions) and one of the lowest in its northwestern basins (in the Turfan Depression). Nearly 70% of the country is covered by mountains, hills, or plateaus.

Basins and plains make up the remainder of the topography. The plains, which are the heart of China’s agricultural regions, are mostly located in the eastern parts of North and South China.

Geographic Regions

There are numerous ways to divide China into geographic regions. In the past, one simple classification was the distinction of “China proper,” or “the core region of the Chinese empire.” In general, the western (Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai) and northern (Inner Mongolia, Manchuria) areas of modern China tended to fall outside the domain of this definition, and hence were labeled “Frontier China” or “Outer China.” Today, within China, such distinctions are not used nor even acknowledged. Many of the areas outside “China proper” are also the country’s ethnic minority regions, and Chinese leaders are very sensitive about ethnic separatist aspirations in some of these remote areas.

Also common are the terms “North China” and “South China,” which correspond to historical divisions that occurred at various times in China’s history when both northern and southern dynasties existed. The divide between the two Chinas is usually given as the Qin Ling (Tsinhng Mountains) to the west and the Huai He (Huai River) to the east. Under this classification, the two major rivers of China—the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chiang Jiang (Yangtze River)—and their tributaries are neatly contained in the northern and southern parts of China, respectively. There are climatological, agricultural, linguistic, and physical differences between the two regions. However, in terms of ethnicity, the people of both the north and south are overwhelmingly Han Chinese.

China can also be divided into regions based on their physical topography.

The Eastern Highlands

Beginning in central Shandong Province, midway between Beijing and Shanghai, and spanning to the other side of the Yellow Sea in eastern Northeast China (Manchuria), is a series of hills and mountains that trend southwest-northeast toward the western border with Russia. To the far north in this group lies the Xiao Hinggan Ling (Lesser Khingan Range) which borders Russia along the Amur River. The hills and mountains within

Manchuria contain some of China’s largest forest reserves, and accordingly, they serve as the nation’s primary source of timber production.

The Mongolian Border Uplands

On the northern end of this region is the Da Hinggan Ling (Greater Khingan Range), which borders the Manchurian Plain to the east and Mongolia to the west. To the south are two mountain ranges running north-south—Taihang Shan (T’ai-hang Mountains) and Luliang Shan (Lu-liang Mountains)—that lie between the northern loop of the Huang He and the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain). Between the two ranges, and within the lower portion of the northern loop of the Huang He, lies an area known as the Huangtu Gaoyuan (Loess Plateau). The soil, known as loess, consists of fine-grained, yellowish brown glacial debris that is easily eroded by wind and water. The Huang He (Yellow River) gets its name from the extensive loess sediment that it absorbs in its course through this region.

The Eastern Lowlands

The Eastern Lowlands are the agricultural heartland of China. From north to south, this region consists of the Dongbei Pingyuan (Northeast or Manchurian Plain), the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain), and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) valley. Despite its agricultural output, it is also an extensively urbanized region that contains six of China’s ten largest urban metropolises, including Shanghai and Beijing, the two largest. Even the rural areas in this region are densely populated. The Dongbei Pingyuan is known as both an agricultural and industrial area, and it also hosts extensive coal and iron-ore mining operations.

The Central Uplands

Located between the Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Eastern Lowlands to the east are mountains collectively known as the Central Highlands. The most well known of these ranges are the Qin Ling (Tsinling Mountains), which run east-west and form a watershed divide between the tributaries of the Huang He to the north and the Chang Jiang to the south. These mountains also provide the south with some protection from the cold northern winds, and they block portions of the north from much of the summer monsoon moisture that comes from the south.

The Sichuan Pendi (Szechwan Basin)

The Sichuan Pendi (Szechwan Basin; also called the “Red Basin” for the red sandstone found in the area) is a region of low hills and valleys surrounded by mountains and high plateaus on all sides. The Pendi is one of the most densely populated areas in China and is also a major agricultural region. High humidity and reduced air circulation (due to the surrounding ring of mountains) make parts of the Sichuan Pendi one of the foggiest places in China.

The Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) flows through the southern part of the Basin and is joined by the southward-flowing Jialing Jiang (Jialing River) at Chongqing, the most populous city of central China. This industrial metropolis is located at the upstream end of the immense reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam. Pollution is a major problem in the rivers and streams that feed into the Chang Jiang at Chongqing. Because the reservoir reduces the river’s flushing capacity, the city initiated a 38-million _yuan (USD 5 billion) pollution remediation program in an effort to prevent it from becoming the world’s largest cesspool.

However, of late, the water quality in the upper reaches of the Chang Jiang has shown little improvement and has worsened in some areas.

The Xinjiang-Mongolian Uplands

This immense northern region encompasses several large deserts and arid basins divided by towering mountain ranges. At the far eastern end of the region is the southern portion of the Gobi Desert, which extends northward into Mongolia. To the southwest, separated by the Daqing Shan (Daqing Mountains) of the Mongolian Border Uplands region, lies the Mu Us Shamo (Ordos Desert), a desert surrounded by the northern loop of the Huang He on three sides and the Loess Plateau to the south.

Moving westward, the Tengger Shamo (Tengri Desert) and Badain Jaran Shamo (Badain Jaran Desert) of Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) Province give way to the two great basins of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the far west—the Tarim Pendi (Tarim Basin) and the Junggar Pendi (Dzungarian Basin). These two areas are divided by the western ranges of the Tian Shan (Tien Shan). Within the Tarim Pendi lies the vast Taklimakan Shamo (Takla Makan Desert), a sandy, barren wasteland that remains largely uninhabited outside the oasis towns and villages on its northern and southern fringes. To the northeast of the desert is the Turpan Pendi (Turfan Depression), which lies 154 m (504 ft) below sea level. Despite the general aridity of the region, fruit is grown in the Turpan Pendi using irrigation techniques.

The most highly populated areas of Xinjiang are in the Junggar Pendi, which, although dry by most standards, receives more rainfall than the Tarim Pendi and the desert areas to the west. The oil and coal deposits within the Junggar Pendi are some of China’s largest.

The Tibetan Highlands

The entire southwestern region of China is made up of the Tibetan Highlands. Most of this region consists of a high-altitude plateau surrounded by some of the world’s highest mountains. The Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, and the western half of Sichuan Province comprise the majority of this region, although parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, and Yunnan Province are also within this enormous area. Despite its large size, it is the least populated region within China, largely due to the area’s extreme elevations, which are over 3,050 m (10,000 ft) in most places. The largest cities lie in the far south of the region, near the Himalayas, and close to the Yarlung Zangbo Jiang (Brahmaputra River). In 2006, the last leg of an ambitious railway project was completed, linking Lhasa, the capital of Xizang, to the large city of Xining on the northeastern edge of the plateau.

The Southern Uplands

Occupying all of southeastern China, the Southern Uplands are relentlessly hilly. The largest tract of level land is found in the Zhujiang Sanjiaozhou (Pearl River Delta), where the large cities of Guangzhou (Canton) and Shenzhen are located. In recent years, economic and population growth in this area has been fueled by the creation of Special Economic Zones to take advantage of the region’s proximity to Hong Kong.

To the west, the hills become more mountainous. Much of eastern Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces in the western part of the region consists of limestone plateaus. In some areas, these plateaus have weathered to produce striking landscapes of limestone towers, such as the Stone Forest near Lunan in Yunnan Province.