Geography of China

Situated in the southeastern part of the Eurasian Continent, the People's Republic of China has both marine and land boundary line of more than 20,000 kilometers and a coastline of 18,000 kilometers,with a total land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, next only to Russia and Canada. Its territory extends over 50 latitudes from north to south, embracing the equatorial belt, the tropics, the subtropics, the moderate temperate zone and the cold temperate zone. And from east to west, it covers over 62 longitudes, and has longitudinal regular divisions of forests, grasslands, deserts, plains, hilly lands and high lands.

It shares land borders with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Stan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and North Korea.

The country can be divided into 8 regions:



1. At the top of the staircase are the plateaus of Tibet and Qinghai in the southwest. The Tibetan Highlands average 4500m above sea level. Thus is also referred to as the 'Roof of the World'. At the southern rim of the plateau is the Himalayan mountain range, with peaks averaging 6000m high, among which Mt. Everest, known to the Chinese as Qomolangma Peak, reaches more than 8000m.

2. The Xinjiang-Inner Mongolian Uplands include the eastern Ordos Desert, the southern part of the Gobi Desert and the Turpan depression - 505 feet below sea level. It also boasts the largest inland basin in the world, the Tarim Basin, where the Taklamakan Desert (the largest in China) as well as China's largest shifting salt lake are suited.

3. Inner Mongolian Border Uplands include the Gobi and eastern lowlands, distinguished by rugged terrain and little agriculture, though the southern area has fertile loess soil deposited by wind.

4. Eastern highlands includes the Shandong Peninsula and the northeast coastal region. The region is hilly and full of coal.

5. Eastern lowlands provide the best farming for the country. The three main plains in this region are the Manchurian Plain with large coal and iron deposits, the North China plain productive in wheat though subject to flooding, and the Yangtze River valley, flat land with good rainfall, including the fertile delta among Nanjing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

6. Central Uplands, located between the eastern lowlands and the Tibetan plateau, drop to less than 1000m above sea level.

7. The Sichuan Basin, with mild climate and long growing season, makes it a good area for agriculture.

8. Southern Uplands cover Southeast China and Hainan. The only level area in this region is the delta of the Pearl River where Guangzhou is located.


The world's 14 highest peaks are all found in China, each more than 8,000 meters above sea level.

Most of China's rivers flow east. Rivers flow from west to east into the Pacific Ocean except a few in the southwest China that flow to the south. Melting snow and ice from the mountains of western China and the Qinghai -Tibet Plateau is the main source of the headwater for many of the country's largest rivers: the Yangtze (Chang Jiang), Yellow (Huang He), Mekong (Lancang Jiang) and Salween (Nu Jiang) rivers.
The Yangtze River, the nation's largest river and the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon, originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and has a length of 6,300 kilometers.

The Yellow River, about 5460km long and the second longest river in China, is the birthplace of Chinese civilization.

The Salween River (Nu Jiang) runs from eastern Tibet into Yunnan province and then into Myanmar.

The Grand Canal, the third great waterway of China, is the longest artificial canal in the world. Originally it stretched for 1800km from Hangzhou in south China to Beijing in the north. But now most of it is no longer in use.