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Natural Resources
China is rich in natural resources, particularly coal, iron
ore, petroleum, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese,
molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc and uranium.
It has the world's largest hydropower potential, and, not surprisingly,
is building the world's largest dam at the downstream end of
the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.
Geography
The area of China is 9.32 million square km or 3.6 million
square miles, just slightly bigger than the United States
and a bit smaller than Canada. It is 5,200 km from west to
east, and 5,500 km from north to south. Its land boundary
stretches 22,000 km, and its coastline 18,000 km (32,000 km
if the combined coastline of the 5000 or more offshore islands
is included).
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 China
shares a border with 15 countries: Russia, Mongolia, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Burma or Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tadjikistan.
Across the sea, it faces Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei
and Indonesia.
About 43 per cent of China's land mass is mountains; 26 per
cent high plateaux, 19 per cent basins, and 12 per cent plains.
Only 7 per cent of the area is arable. China has seven of
the world's 19 tallest mountains, including the highest, Everest,
or Qomolangma as it is known in China. In contrast it also
has some of the world's lowest spots, notably the dry lake
Aydingkol in the Turpan Depression, lying 155 metres below
sea level.
China abounds in rivers. Their total combined length - 220,000
km - would girdle the earth five times. The largest is the
Yangtze at 6,300 km in length, followed by the Yellow River
at 5,464 km, the Heilong River at 3,420 km and the Pearl River
at 2,197 km. There is an abundance of lakes, and more than
2,800 exceed an area of one square km. Glaciers cover 44,000
square km in the mountainous west.
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Climate
The climate is monsoon: cold and dry in winter, warm and moist
in summer. The northern parts can get bitterly cold in winter.
Summer may bring sweltering heat.
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Plants
The flora of China is extremely diverse. Its 30,000 varieties
of higher plants make up 10 per cent of the world total. The
American naturalist E.W. Wilson, who spent 11 years in China
in the early part of the last century, noted that every important
genus of broad-leaved tree known in temperate regions of northern
hemisphere is represented in China, except the hickory, plane
and false acacia. All conifers are represented, too, he said,
except redwoods, swamp cypress, umbrella pine and true cedars.
North America has 165 genera of broad-leaved trees; China 260.
Wilson felt Chinese flora has more affinity with eastern
USA than Europe or Asia, and cited examples of the tulip tree,
Kentucky coffee tree, sassafras and the lotus family, all
of which have one genus in China and one genus in eastern
U.S.A. The magnolia, absent in Europe and western North America,
is represented by seven species in eastern U.S.A. and by 19
in China and Japan. Wisteria, catalpa and gordonia show similar
connections. Among plants dispersed worldwide, Wilson said
the Chinese species are usually more closely related to those
of North America than Europe. The reason he felt was the pattern
of glaciation, particularly the Third Ice Age, which affected
North America and Europe but left China largely untouched.
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Animals
China's fauna is also very diverse, with 4,440 species of vertebrates,
including 450 species of mammals, 1,186 birds, 196 amphibians,
320 reptiles and 2,000 aquatic animals. More than 100 species
of animals are peculiar to or found mainly in China. These include
the panda, takin, the red-crowned crane, eared pheasant, golden-haired
monkey, river dolphin, Yangtze alligator and giant salamander. |
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