Relief Features and Climatic Characteristics of China

China (officially the People’s Republic of China) occupies most of the territory of East Asia. It is the largest of all the nations in Asia, and the most populous one of the world. Stretching for about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from east to west, and 3,400 miles from north to south, it covers an area of nearly 3.7 million so miles (9.6 mil­lion sq. km), and is almost as large as all the European countries put together.

Among the major nations of the world, only Rus­sia and Canada are larger in area. With a land frontier of over 12,400 miles, and a coastline of nearly 8,700 miles, it makes borders with 14 countries including the two other large nations—Russia to the north, and India to the south. It faces Ja­pan and South Korea, across the Yellow Sea, and the Philippines beyond the China Sea.

The Chinese probably justifiably claim that their civilization is the oldest, con­tinuous living civilization that is unique in its longevity and resilience. There is strong historical evidence that the “essential char­acters” of the Chinese culture would have been evolving at least as early as 2700 B.C. For centuries, and probably for millennia, China has been the most populous coun­try in the world, and has supported one of the most enduring civilizations.

Surrounded by deserts and mountains to the north, west and east, and hemmed in by the sea to the east, Chinese civiliza­tion developed in relative isolation. Out­side influences were absorbed or modified to conform to the Chinese ethos. Al­though this made possible the flowering and refinement of a distinctive culture, it resulted in making China ill-prepared to cope with the rest of the world, particu­larly since the mid-19th century, when the country was confronted by technologi­cally superior foreign nations.

The early name of the country— Chung Kuo, “the Middle Kingdom”— indicates the inward orientation of the Chinese and their acceptance of the role as a civilizing agent for the less cultured peo­ple. Until the modern times the Chinese were only dimly aware of the existence of higher civilizations elsewhere, an attitude that was undoubtedly contributed in a large measure by the existence of physical barriers, and the intervening distance.

The cultural influences from India, Central Asia, during the 7th and 14th centuries, found no lasting place in Chinese life. The traditional Chinese remained essentially unchanged, and China continued to move largely in a cultural orbit of its own. Only during the modern times external chal­lenge presented by the political ideas emanating from the West became a cata­lyst for a revolution that began in the 20th century against the old regime which re­sulted in the establishment of a Communist government in 1949.

This event reshaped world’s political geogra­phy and China since came to rank among the most influential countries of the world. Since the 1970s when China de­cided to increase its interaction with the international economy, its role in world trade has grown and its importance in in­ternational affairs substantially enhanced.

Like the Indians the Chinese had at­tained a high degree of sophistication and maturity in fine arts, music, drama, litera­ture and philosophy centuries before the Europeans. As early as the 1st century A.D. they had invented such items as pa­per, compass, iron-ore, steel products and gun powder, the products that shaped the course of human history.

Relief Features:

Nearly one-third of China’s land surface is in the form of mountain chains which have exercised profound influence on the political, eco­nomic, and cultural development of the nation. World’s highest mountain peak— Mt. Everest which rises to 29,028 feet (8,848 meters) in elevation, lies at the bor­der between China and Nepal.

As a contrast, the lowest part of Turpan De­pression in the Uigur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang is 505 feet below sea level. The coast of the country contrasts greatly be­tween south and north. To the south of the Hangzhou Bay the coast is rocky and indented with several harbors and offshore islands; to the north, it is mostly flat and sandy except along the Shandong and Liadong peninsulas.

Broadly speaking, the surface features of China are complex, and highly varied that include rugged mountains, high pla­teaus, gently-sloping river plains, deserts, and areas below sea-levels, all set in an ir­regular checkerboard pattern. Within these fairly sizable regional units, however, the country can be easily divided into sev­eral regions containing a broad measure of coherence in physical features. At the broadest scale the relief is high in the west and low in the east with the result that the major rivers flow generally eastward.

The surface features of the country may be viewed at three levels: first level represented by the Plateau of Tibet with average heights of well over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level; the second level contains areas lying north of the Kunlun Mountains descending to elevations between 6,000 and 3,000 feet containing several basins, and plateaus including the Mongolian Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Loess Plateau region and the Yungui-Guizhou highlands; the third level he east of the previous two levels, and with few exceptions, is made up of hills and plains lying below 1,500 feet.

The broad zones contained within the three levels may be labeled as the southwest, the northwest and the eastern zones. The southwest is cold, elevated, mountainous region containing intermontane plateaus and inland lakes; the northwestern zone is arid, and eroded by winds; whereas eastern China is a re­gion shaped by the rivers which, in most part, have deposited alluvial plains.

The three broad zones, the southwest, the northwest, and the eastern can be fur­ther subdivided into several regional units on the basis of geologic structure, climatic conditions and geomorphologic develop­ment. A short review of these features of these is given below.

The southwest zone includes the high plateau and the Qaidam Basin in the west and the Yungui-Guizhou highlands in the east. Most of the Tibetan Plateau lies at ele­vations above 13,000-15,000 feet, with the flanking border areas at even higher alti­tudes; some peaks rising to heights of 23,000-26,000 feet, thus justifying the title of being the “Roof of the World.”

The in­terior slopes in the vast plateau of Tibet are generally gentle, and the exterior ones very steep. Much of the interior is without ex­ternal drainage. In the eastern and southern borderlands, however, several great rivers of Asia—Jiang Chang, Huanghe, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra and Indus—find their sources.

Within southern Tibet is a series of mountains and basins—its southern rim consists of the lofty Himalaya that extends for 1,500 miles, and contains close to 50 summits ex­ceeding 25,000 feet in elevation. Within the southern part of the plateau is a series of mountains and basins. In the northeast corner, lies the dry, desertic, Qaidam Basin at elevations between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, within which gravely sands and salt wastes predominate.

The Yungui-Guizhou region lies to the east of the Tibetan Pla­teau. It is a land of great canyons and rugged mountains, with a general north- west-to-southeast orientation. Northern Yungui and the western sections of Guizhou are deeply dissected, whereas the rest of Yungui is more plateau-like with ar­eas of rolling uplands. The general elevations are 9,000 to 12,000 feet. Scat­tered throughout the region are small lake basins, separated by mountains.

The northwest zone has at least three distinguishable regions. The Tarim Basin of Xinjiang lies to the north of the Tibetan Plateau, hemmed in between the lofty mountains. The Kunlun in the south and the Tien Shan in the north and the Pamirs on the west. The basin occupies one-fifth of a million square miles of desert land at an average altitude of about 3,000 feet.

In the middle of the basin is the Takla Makan Desert, one of the world’s most barren lands. Two important rivers: Tarim and Hotien (Kotan) traverse the desert that usu­ally carries water during the flooding period only. North of the Tarim Basin lies an­other large depression, the Junggar Basin.

Enclosed between the Tien Shan Moun­tain in the south and the Altai Mountain in the northeast, the latter separating it from the Mongolian People’s Republic, the Junggar Basin is a generally flat surface sloping gently to the southwest with eleva­tions between 1,000 and 1,500 feet and in the lowest part elevations drop to 620 feet.

A large part of the Junggar Basin is a desert covered by barchans (crescent-shaped sand dunes that move). The Tien Shan region is a large and complex system of mountain ranges and depressions. The altitude of the main chains of the eastern Tien Shan is be­tween 13,000 and 15,000 feet with several peaks rising to over 16,000 feet.

The west­ern section of the Tien Shan receives more precipitation, has several glaciers and riv­ers, and contains alpine meadow slopes that form the best grazing grounds in China. East of the Tien Shan region is the sprawling Gobi Desert which spills well into southern portions of the People’s Re­public of Mongolia and parts of the Inner Mongolian Province of China.

The rest of China, from the Russian border in the north to Vietnam in the south, includes several regions of varying sizes and topographical conditions repre­senting the third altitudinal level, and distinct from the regions of the northwest and the southeast, may be called Eastern China. The northernmost region in East­ern China is the Manchurian Plain flanked on the west and north by the Hinggalings—the Greater and the Lesser mountain ranges.

The Manchurian Plain is divided by the river systems—the Songhua in the north and the Liao in the south. Most of the area has an erosional rather than a depositional surface, but has a deep rich black soil important for agriculture. Southeast of the Manchurian Plain is a se­ries of ranges along the North Korean border, consisting in part of rugged peaks rising to 9,000 feet (2,736 meters), but mostly between 1,500 and 3,000 feet.

Al­most one and one half times as extensive as the Manchurian Plain, is the North China Plain which lies mostly at heights below 150 feet with a nearly flat, monotonous to­pography. The plain is the largest alluvial plain in eastern China and covers an area of over a quarter of a million sq. miles, and was formed by enormous deposits brought down by the Huanghe and its tributaries from the Loess Plateau in the west.

Situated west of the North China Plain and east of the deserts of northwest region of China is the Loess Plateau region of dry, barren hills and mountains of 4,000 to 5,000 altitudes on the average. To the north is the Great Wall of China, while the southern limit is the Qinling Moun­tains in the Shanxi Province.

Most of the region is covered with loess (windblown glacial deposits) to thicknesses of 150 to 650 feet. Several gorges traverse the region as the loess can be easily eroded by water. The Shandong Peninsula that juts into the Yellow Sea is a hilly area of old, crystalline rocks with relief averaging 1,500 feet in the east and a little higher on the west. The coast is largely Rocky Mountains.

In East­ern China, the most prominent mountain chain is that of the high and rugged Qin­ling Mountains that form a traditional divide between the “North” and “South”. The mountains are not only a topographic but a climatic barrier and a cultural divide. The altitude of the ranges varies from 3,000 to 10,000 feet, in general; though the western part rises to over 13,500 feet taper­ing toward the east.

The mountains have several parallel ridges, separated by deep canyons, and steep-sided valleys. The Qin­ling system is high enough to protect the Sichuan Basin from the Mongolian cold weather, and prevents the entry of much moisture into north and northwest China and thus forms a climatic divide between dry, cool north China and moist, warm south China. The Qinling has also re­mained a major topographic obstacle to communications.

South of the Qinling is the Sichuan Basin surrounded and thus protected by mountains on all sides. The basin is much warmer in winter than other more southerly areas. Most of it is hilly. The eastern portion contains series of ridges and valleys. East of the Sichuan Ba­sin is the important river in plains of Middle and Lower Chang Jiang, the flood plains of which are constricted by hills in the north and the south.

The flood plain trav­ersed through several lakes (Donting and Poyang) in the middle and lower courses before it makes a delta. Several thousand miles of irrigation canals and waterways crisscross the middle course of the river plains.

Close to China’s southeastern coast is the region containing Southeast Mountains. The mountains trend northeast to south­west, and at their higher reaches attain the elevations of 5,000 to 6,500 feet. The short, fast-flowing rivers have cut deep valleys. The coast is highly indented, with numer­ous islands in contrast to the comparatively smoother coastline to the north of Shang­hai.

To the west lies the Nam Mountains region which contains several mountains with a northeast-southwest trend line par­allel to the southeast mountains region. The mountains form a watershed between the Chang Jiang flood plain to the north and the Pearl River to the south.

The high­est peaks on the water divide reach the altitude of 6,500 feet or over. Here the only plain of significance is that of the Xi River. The coastline is rugged and irregu­lar; there are several bays and offshore islands, including that of Hong Kong. Xi River is the major river that rises in the highlands of eastern Yungui and Guizhou plateaus.

Climatic Characteristics:

The climatic patterns of such a large country as China are varied and result from a number of fac­tors; chief among these are:

(a) A vast but compact size,

(b) A west-Pacific Ocean loca­tion,

(c) An extensive latitudinal spread,

(d) The distribution of relief features within it, and

(e) Wind systems produced by all of these elements.

Most of the country lies inland, with great distances from its eastern coastal fringe. No large seas indent its vast, com­pact landmass to moderate the climate of extensive inland locations such as exists in Europe. During the winters due to the rapid and prolonged heat loss through ra­diation an unusually intense and persistent high-pressure system is developed in the regions of Mongolia and east Siberia.

Cold, dry air masses from the north and north­west flow to grip, much of the country during long winters particularly its north­ern and northwestern parts. The conditions are reversed in summer, when the direct rays of the sun cross Equator and move further north to their limit in the summer solstice, heat absorption ex­ceeds radiation.

The rising air brings low pressures in interior western China. The in-rushing warm, maritime, moist air masses from the south and southeast take the place of the retreating cold air masses of the dry interior, bringing moisture with them to most of eastern China. This win­ter and summer reversal of wind directions are the so-called monsoon winds.

The monsoon effect in China differs from the Indian monsoons. The winter dry season here is much longer in duration than the summer rainy season, whereas in India winter dry season is shorter than the summer rainy period. The gradual onset of summer wind-system is in sharp contrast to the sudden “outburst” of the summer monsoon in India.

In China, on the other hand, the winter air drift is markedly more pronounced than the summer one, because of the establishment of intensive winter high-pressure system. The great extremes of winter and summer weather conditions make the weather conditions of China more “continental’.’

China’s west-Pacific location affects the wind direction of the seasonal winds. The waters of the southwest Pacific and the seas bordering China, supply most of the moisture that China receives in sum­mer brought by southerly and southeasterly winds from the warmer, tropical areas. In winter, the winds origi­nate from the Siberian or Mongolian high-pressure and are thus land-based, dry, and northerly.

The effect of latitude on climate is also noticeable. Temperature (isothermal) dif­ferences are reflected in the north-south location. In general, 16°C isotherm of aver­age annual temperature roughly divides the eastern China into two parts: the northern one is the colder section and southern one the warmer China.

South of this isotherm, which runs roughly along an east-west axis, average annual tempera­ture is high, with mostly mild winters. The lower and middle Jiang Chang Basin have warmer temperature regimes, and the average temperatures increase gradually southwards toward the tropical, coastal ar­eas.

Oragraphical (induced by the presence of mountains) effect on climate is also sig­nificant. Four major mountain blocks are climatically significant to China. One is the Himalaya and the associated high Ti­betan Plateau region, which block the inflow of moisture into interior north­western China, from the south.

Second mountain block is that borders eastern sec­tion of the Tibetan Plateau which creates a similar barrier to Pacific moisture moving westward. The third is the Qinling system which runs west to east to reach the lower Chang Jiang plain. It is high enough to protect Sichuan Basin from the cold Mon­golian air masses.

It also prevents the entry of moisture into north and northwest China, and forms a climatic divide be­tween dry, cool northern China and moist, warm southern China. The fourth mountain block is the southeast hill-and- mountain complex. During the summer when air masses flow from the south and southeast, those mountains receive much of the oragraphic rainfall.

Rainfall in China generally decreases from the southeast to the northwest. Along the southern part of east coast a few places receive over 80 inches (200 cms) pre­cipitation annually. The Chang Jiang Valley gets about 40 inches; to its south, most areas get between 60 and 80 inches; and to its north 30 inches or less. In the lower reaches of the Huanghe only 20 inches of precipitation are received annu­ally.

By the time the southeast monsoons reach the interior and the distant interiors of the country such as western Inner Mongolia, Junggar Basin, Tarim Basin, Xinjiang and Xizang Plateau, it has lost much of its moisture; precipitation keeps on decreas­ing, and some remote western sections receive even less than four inches annually. These regions are not only far from the sea but the high mountains prevent the mois­ture-laden southerly monsoons during summer months from reaching these re­gions.

Among the various types of air move­ments that are responsible for precipitation incidences involved in China’s climates, four are significant: monsoon-type move­ments, convectional movements arising from local heating, the large cyclonic storm circulation, and the smaller but the more violent typhoons or hurricanes.

Convectional rainfall is associated with the orographic lifting of the air on the windward side of the mountains where the rising air masses are moist. The air masses condense as it meets the cold air above. Be­sides this, the formation of convection precipitation also occurs in the zone of contact between polar Siberian air and maritime tropical air where the frontal (be­tween warm and cold air mass) uplifting takes place.

The latter generally occurs in connection with the extra-tropical distur­bances or “cyclonic storms” generated around low pressure center. Such cyclonic storms are frequent in the central Jiang Chang basin. The seas east and west of the Philippines (South China Sea) are impor­tant source regions for the typhoons.

When the Mongolian-Siberian high-pres­sure area weakens or disappears as the summer advances from May onward, an increasing number of typhoons strike the China coast, particularly during the late summer, the highest frequency is in Au­gust. Typhoons bring heavy rains, and account for much of the precipitation along the southern coast, and often bring destruction on the area. Fortunately very few penetrate far inland; those which enter southeast China usually recurve the coast between Shanghai and Shandong penin­sula.

Soils and Vegetation:

For a major ag­ricultural country like China soils are an important resource and of great signifi­cance. Because vegetation and climate factors are important in their formation, and major soil patterns are associated with the climatic and vegetation conditions, al­though the original character of the soils and vegetation cover has changed in most of the cultivated regions of China due to the activities of man.

All of China south of and including the Qinling Mountains was once in forest; most of it has been cut down, and its slopes cover coarse grasses. The more inaccessible mountainous areas still support spruces and firs. In the densely settled eastern part of the country, it is difficult to identify natural vegetation. Over the millennia, most of the original stands have been cut, burnt, or cleared.

In the dryer, northern and western re­gions of China the soil cover is thin and poor in the mountains, on the Tibetan Pla­teau; and the prairie, steppe and desert soils in the Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and parts of northeast Manchuria. These soils of Tibetan Plateau are the result of sparse vegetation, and cold, dry climate.

The prai­rie and grassland soils of the north and northwest have resulted from the accumu­lation of humus and calcium carbonates in the soils. The soils range from the rich, black chernozem in the northeast; to thin, poor steppe, and gray-brown near desert soils. China’s most fertile soils are found in the river plains of Manchuria, the basins of the rivers Huanghe, Jiang, and Xi. Good soils are also found in much Sichuan Basin, and the loess region.

In eastern humid China, three main vegetational zones can be identified from south to north:

(1) A zone of tropical forest and grassland,

(2) A zone of subtropical ev­ergreen forests extending north to the Chang Jiang Basin and west to the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau, and

(3) A zone of deciduous forest extending from the Chang Jiang Ba­sin to the Amur Basin in the northern parts of Manchuria.

Forests now cover nearly 12 percent of China’s land surface, and the available for­est resources are thus quite modest. The Communist government has placed great emphasis on reforestation in recent years, and a large number of trees have been planted throughout the country.

Pres­ently, the major commercial forests are found in the northeast where large stands of birch, fir, conifers, and ash are found on the slopes of the mountains of Hinggan. The dry, western part of the country, in general, resembles Central Asia, a vast area of deserts and steppe land. Vegetation here is sparse, consisting of grasses and shrubs.