China Study Abroad – May 2007 Overview of Land, Climate and Agriculture Goal: Give you an idea of the diverse landscape, climate & agriculture landscape, climate & agriculture in China & how they have in China & how they have impacted population distribution impacted population distribution

You can use this map to locate items we discuss today

~ 41 N ~ 30 N Where is China? AmesBeijing ShanghaiTallahassee Ames and (Beijing or Shanghai or Hangzhou) lie at about the same latitude. Tallahassee, Florida and (Beijing or Shanghai orHangzhou) lie at about the same latitude.

Topography of China Where is the “Roof of the World”? What happens to topography moving from western China to the eastern seacoast? ft 3,200 ft 16,000 ft 6,500 ft

Trans-Siberian Railroad Mongolia Himalaya Plateau of Tibet Taklamakan Desert Kashgar Gobi Desert North Korea

Huang He/Yellow River 3,400 miles Yangtze 4,000 miles Xi Jian – Pearl 1,200 miles Identify four major rivers in China. Amur River 2,760 miles Brahmaputra Mekong Irrawaddy

Created a huge Fertile flood plain For agriculture

Three Gorges Dam 600 ft high 600 ft high 1.5 miles wide 1.5 miles wide 300+ mile long lake 300+ mile long lake Largest artificial lake Largest artificial lake Reduce flooding Reduce flooding Provide electricity Provide electricity Improve shipping Improve shipping 370 mi

$ 75 billion 10% of China’s electricity 140 villages displaced 2,000,000 people relocated 1,600 factories lost 80,000 acres of ag land Concern with large sediment load filling reservoir load filling reservoir June, 2003 closed dam Fully functional 2009

Huang He/Yellow River 3,400 miles Yangtze 4,000 miles Xi Jian – Pearl 1,200 miles Identify Major Oceans/Seas Amur River 2,760 miles East Sea

Major Deserts in China Created By: Mary Irlbeck Major Deserts in China Created By: Mary Irlbeck (

China has 10 deserts in all; they include: -Badain Jaran Desert-Lop Desert -Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert-Ordos Desert -Gobi Desert-Shapotou -Hami Desert-Taklamakan -Kum-tagh Desert-Tengger Desert

Badain Jaran Desert LOCATION: Located in provinces of Gansu & Ningxia of China as well as Inner Mongolia SIZE: 49,000 sq. kilometers (30, 000 sq. miles) Home to tallest stationary dunes in the world Home to over 100 spring-fed lakes that lie between dunes

Gobi Desert LOCATION: Located in China & southern Mongolia SIZE: 1,295,000 sq. kilometers (500,000 mi²) (One of the largest deserts in the world) Is known to be a cold desert, common to see frost & occasionally snow on it’s dunes

Lop Desert LOCATION: Located in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China Two characteristic features of this almost dead-level region are: 1. Broad, unbroken expanses of clay intermingled with sand; often arranged in terraces 2. Absence of drift-sand and sand dunes, except in the south

Taklamakan LOCATION: Located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China SIZE: 270,000 sq. kilometers Largest sand-only desert in the world Known as “Desert of Death” or “Place of No Return” Remains of mummies (from up to 4,000 years ago) also found here

Tengger Desert LOCATION: Located in the Gansu Province in China SIZE: 36,700 square km Composed of more sand than rock, so dust storms frequently occur (Agricultural practices & grazing have contributed to this problem)

The End

TemperateContinental SubtropicalHumid SubtropicalHumid What are the major climatic zones of China & Korea? Temperate Semi-arid TropicalWet-Dry TropicalWet Highlands TemperateArid

0-4 in 4-20 in in in > 60 in

January (-8 – 75 F) July (45 – 104 F)

Forest Cropland Grassland Where are the forests & grassland in China?

China Population Density

Beijing Seoul Tokyo Shanghai Hangzhou Taiwan Hongkong Pyongyang Trans-Siberian Railroad Bangkok Singapore Daegu

USA 3,717,000 sq mi 300,000,000 people arable land 19% income $37,000 China 3,705,000 sq mi 1,300,000,000 arable land 10% income $3,600 How much of China is arable land?

Arable Land China – 0.2 acres/person US – 1.6 acres/person Is rice grown near Beijing? Where are the major rice growing areas? Where do you go to see corn grown?

Farming in China

Rice

Tea

Farmland continues to expand at the cost of deforestation 20,000 ha/yr reduction in subtropical/tropical forest in Yunnan Province

Integrated bamboo/chickens

Pig Building Fruit Orchard Fish Pond Chickens grazing

Sustainability of Agriculture in China Rice production in southeastern is arguably considered sustainable Northern China in mid- and upper Yellow River Basin is problematic

China Minerals, Industry

Land boundaries total: 22,143.3 km total: 22,143.3 km Coastline: 14,500 km Afghanistan Afghanistan – 76 km Bhutan Bhutan km India India - 3,380 km Kazakhstan Kazakhstan - 1,533 km North Korea North Korea - 1,416 km Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan km Laos Laos kmMacau Mongolia Mongolia - 4,673 km Myanmar Myanmar - 2,185 km Nepal Nepal - 1,236 km Pakistan Pakistan kmRussia (northwest) 40 km (northeast) 3,605 km Tajikistan Tajikistan km Vietnam Vietnam - 1,281 km 1 mile = 1.6 km What Countries Border China?

Grand Canal - world's oldest and longest canal - Hangzhou to Beijing 1,795 Km (1,114 miles) long; 24 locks - 60 bridges. Canal began in 486 B.C. with furious construction from AD

China has more than 60,000 mi of navigable inland waterways. The busiest is the Grand Canal, which extends about 1,200 mi from Beijing to Hangzhou.

Great Wall of China separate walls built separate walls built between 770 – 476 BC between 770 – 476 BC Emperor Qin combined them into the Great Wall them into the Great Wall in 214 BC in 214 BC

About 4,000 miles long

Silk roads of China Brittney Morris

Xian: Big Wild Goose Pagoda Jiayuguan Pass Mountainous sceneries in Tianshan Taklamakan Desert