FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189  
190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   >>   >|  
bounded N. by Mongolia, W. by Turkestan and Tibet, S.W. by Burma, S. by Tongking and the gulf of that name, S.E. by the South China Sea, E. by the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, Gulf of Chih-li and Manchuria. Its area is approximately 1,500,000 sq. m. This vast country is separated from the rest of continental Asia by lofty tablelands and rugged mountain ranges, which determine the general course--west to east--of its principal rivers. On the north and west the Mongolian and Tibetan tablelands present towards China steep escarpments across which are very few passes. On the S.W. and S., on the borders of Yun-nan, high mountains and deep valleys separate China from Burma and Tongking. On the narrow N.E. frontier the transition from the Manchurian plateau to the alluvial plain of northern China is not abrupt, but, before the advent of railways, Manchuria afforded few and difficult means of access to other regions. Thus China was almost cut off from the rest of the world save by sea routes. I. THE COUNTRY Western China consists of highlands often sparsely, and eastern China of lowlands densely peopled. Western China contains the only provinces where the population is under 100 per sq. m. From the Tibetan and Mongolian tablelands project mountain ranges which, ramifying over the western region, enclose elevated level tracts and lower basins and valleys. East of this mountainous region, which extends into central China and covers probably fully half of the kingdom, are, in the north a great alluvial plain and in the south a vast calcareous tableland traversed by hill ranges of moderate elevation (see Sec.Sec. _Mountains_ and _Geology_). In north-eastern China there is only one mountain system, the group of hills---highest peak 5060 ft.---forming the Shan-tung peninsula. This peninsula was formerly an island, but has been attached to the mainland by the growth of the alluvial plain. Besides the broad division of the country into western and eastern China it may also be considered as divided into three regions by the basins of its chief rivers, the Hwang-ho (Yellow river) in the north, the Yangtsze-kiang in the centre, and the Si-kiang (West river) in the south. In the northern provinces of Kan-suh and Shen-si the basins of the Hwang-ho and Yangtsze-kiang are separated by a mountain chain with various names--the eastern termination of the Kuen-lun range of central Asia. These mountains, in China, attain, in the Tsing-
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189  
190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   212   213   214   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

mountain

 

eastern

 
tablelands
 

ranges

 
alluvial
 

basins

 

Tongking

 

Tibetan

 

rivers

 

Mongolian


provinces

 
northern
 

regions

 

peninsula

 
Western
 
mountains
 
valleys
 

country

 

separated

 
Manchuria

region
 

western

 

Yellow

 

central

 
Yangtsze
 
Geology
 

Mountains

 

system

 

mountainous

 

tracts


elevation
 

attain

 

kingdom

 

highest

 

calcareous

 

tableland

 

extends

 

moderate

 

covers

 
traversed

termination

 
divided
 
considered
 

centre

 

island

 
forming
 

division

 
Besides
 

attached

 
mainland