Two Major Rivers Of China

Two great rivers run through China Proper: the Yellow River in the northward, and the Yangtze (or Yangzi ) River to the south. In fact, most of Prc Proper belongs to the drainage-basins of these two rivers. Both originate to the far due west in the Tibetan Plateau. The much smaller Xi River cuts through southern Cathay. The map below shows the current courses of these rivers, but over time there have been many changes. Sometimes the Xanthous River has emptied south of the Shandong peninsula, rather than north of it as it does today. And for long periods, the Huai River emptied into the sea.

Why do most of the rivers in China flow from the west to the east?

How many of the major cities of China are on major rivers?

Rivers of China Proper

China Proper was separated from the vast territories of Outer China to the north past the Great Wall, a huge construction projection and famous landmark of Chinese civilization.

To see pictures of the Great Wall, click here.
North China is dominated past the alluvial manifestly forth the Yellow River (shown on the right). This part of China Proper is more often than not flat and the soil, replenished by silt carried downwardly by the river, is well-suited to agriculture.
The Yellow River in its eye reaches is shown beneath.

For more information nearly the Yellow River, click hither.

Fields in the Xanthous River Plain, n of Prc source

The centre reaches of the Yellow River source

What crops do you think are suited to areas of loess soil?
Staple crops of Northward Prc include wheat, corn, sorghum (a grass ingather related to saccharide-cane), millet and soybeans. Recently, thanks to new varieties and methods, rice has become more than and more than widely grown.

Wheat

Corn

Millet

Sorghum

Soybeans

The region drained by the Yangtze (Yangzi) River, loosely called South Communist china, is hillier than Due north Red china. The region is besides warmer and more than humid.

Rice fields, south of China source

On the right is an infrared satellite picture showing the area effectually Lake Tai and the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River is well-nigh the height, Lake Tai, the one-half-moon blue shape, at the bottom. The region has been the virtually prosperous area in Mainland china since the tenth century, and is usually called the "country of rice and fish."

To learn more most the Yangtze River, click here.

Satellite view of Lake Tai region source

Rivers are an integral role of the daily life of people in S China.

Beneath is a picture of Suzhou in Jiangsu province showing houses along the K Canal. From n to south, the Grand Culvert is over i,700 kilometers (roughly 1,100 miles) long, linking Hangzhou in Zhejiang province with Beijing in the north. An extremely of import h2o project that was first started in the Sui dynasty (589-618), it connects several big rivers and provides an of import means of transportation and advice.

With the 2 pictures below in heed, how do you think the access to rivers and lakes would have fabricated the lifestyle of people in the south different from that of people in the n?

The moving-picture show on the left shows a "street" scene from Suzhou.

Canal in Suzhou, 1980 source

Although provinces such every bit Guangxi, much farther west, are generally more mountainous, they still commonly take navigable rivers.

River nigh Guilin, Guangxi province, 1978 source

Rice is one of the staple crops of Due south China. Below is a film of a farmer planting rice. When the fields are flooded like this, farmers let fish to swim among the stalks.

Why do you retrieve the farmers allow the fish to swim among the stalks?

Plowing a rice field in Taiwan, 1967 source

Answer

What do you suppose these people are doing in the motion picture on the left?

ANSWER

Tea is widely grown in the hilly regions in S Red china and many parts of West Cathay, such equally Sichuan province. In fact, tea is so pop in Communist china that it is considered a bones necessity of life.

Why do you lot recall tea is so popular?

HINT

In the past People's republic of china was overwhelmingly an agricultural society, simply it has had large cities from early on times. Today, Mainland china'south largest cities look much similar cities elsewhere, though some traditional styles of compages and graphic arts can exist too be found.

Chongqing, Sichuan, 2001 source

Much of what can be seen on the Bund in Shanghai dates from the commencement one-half of the twentieth century. The tall buildings farther from the river, below, have largely been built in the final ten years.

The Bund, Shanghai, 2001 source

Is there anything about this scene you would be unlikely to see exterior China?

Downtown Shanghai, 2001 source

Chinese cities, like cities everywhere, bring people together to buy and sell.

Chongqing market, 2001 source

For more than on the sorts of clothing people wearable today in Mainland china, see Eighties and Nineties in the unit on Vesture.

Summertime street scene, Shanghai, 2001 source

Why would a Chinese city today have both skyscrapers and street vendors? What does their existence tell united states of america about the Chinese urban economy?

Fruit vendor, Shanghai, 2001 source

For more on the sorts of billboards and other ad to exist seen in contemporary Chinese cities, see the section on Gimmicky Advertising in the Graphic Arts unit.

Shopping street, Shanghai, 2001 source