Ancient China Geography

Ancient China was (and still is) surrounded by high mountains, deserts, plateaus, and an ocean in the east. Because of this, it was pretty safe from outside invasions (though they had plenty inside). The Himalaya mountains, the highest mountain in the world, is in western China. The Pacific Ocean is on the east coast of China. Then, there is the vast Quinghai-Tibetian plateau in southwest China. The Gobi Desert in central China and the Taklamakan Desert is in northwest China (Taklamakan means, "Once you go in, you never come out."

Question:  

Ancient China was surrounded by desert, mountains, and ocean. What impact did these natural borders have on the culture?

• Ancient China's rivers would often flood and wipe out unfriendly invaders.

• Because of the mountains, deserts, and the ocean surrounded China it was hard for outside invaders to enter.

• The Great Wall of China kept everybody from entering China without permission.

Many kingdoms and nations were south of China, such as the Khmers (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), Siam, Thailand, Burma, and others, including India and Nepal. We know that the Pacific Ocean is on China's east coast, but what Ocean is south, of India, Burma, and Thailand?

The ocean that is south of India, Burma, and Thailand is?

• The great ocean to the south of India, Burma, and Thailand is the Indian Ocean.

• The great ocean to the south of India, Burma, and Thailand is the Atlantic Ocean

• The great ocean to the south of India, Burma, and Thailand is the Arctic Ocean

China's neighbor to the north is called Mongolia. Mongolians often tried to do hit and run raids on Chinese villages, so the Emperor Qin Shihuangdi ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China. Many years later the Khan Dynasty under Genghis Khan invaded most of China during China's warlord years. The Mongols empire lasted for quite some time and they even tried to invade Japan, but both times their ships were destroyed by Typhoons (Japan called it the Divine Wind).

Question: Why did Qin Shihuangdi order the building of the Great Wall?

• The wall was never breached, and no large army could cross it.

• The wall was built just for looks, and a nice way to travel on the wall road by foot or horse.

• The basic idea was to keep the Mongols from hit and run raids on small Chinese villages.

The two main rivers in China are the Huang He (Yellow) River and the Yangtze River. Both were needed for the amount of heavy farming the Chinese people did, and they also dug canals to help out other areas without natural rivers. Many lived near the rivers, which means, many perished due to floods (and still do in modern times). The Chinese would even use the high hills for farming, using a version of farming called Terrace farming. They would dig sections up and down the mountain with watering coming from the top.

Question: What was one of the bad things about living near the two main rivers in China?

• One of the issues with living near the river waters of the Huang He and Yangtze rivers was the fact that many people drowned because of the regular floods.

• One of the problems was getting the water to the top of the mountains for terrace farming.

• One of the main issues was that people were dumping their garbage and human waste into the rivers and poluting the rivers.

The main deserts were the Taklamakan and the Gobi. The Gobi was huge but many crossed it and also roads were built in the Gobi Desert. However, the Taklamakan was one the people did not like to cross. When the Chinese extended the Silk Road to other places outside of China, they built the road around the Taklamakan Desert.

Question: What does Taklamakan translate to English?

• "Come in, have fun, enjoy the weather, and do"your job!"

• "You can go in, but you will never come out!"

• "Beware of the deadly snakes!"