The Importance of Geography to Chinese History

“Floodwater dashed up against the skies... God issued a command allowing Yu to spread out the self-replacing soil so as to quell the foods in the Nine Provinces.” This myth from China’s remote past may reflect stories about the efforts of early rulers to control the flood waters of the Huang River- the mighty river that has been central to Chinese civilization since the earliest of times.” (Holt, World History textbook, 76). China is located in the far east side of Asia. They have very rugged mountains in the west, some of the tallest in the world. In the south there are many plateaus, moving north; there are semi-deserts. The heart of China, the China Proper, has been significant though it’s early years. China has three major rivers that they used for transportation, crops, and ect. they are

based in lowland plains which makes up 12 percent and basins that take about 19 percent of

The Himalayan Mountains as well as the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts isolated the Chinese civilization. This seclusion slowed cultural advancements from taking place in the region. Travelers did eventually arrive in China and brought with them new technologies and goods from outside the region. 1, 3

• Left writing records, though origins remain murky ( surviving records are from the latter part of the dynasty (12th century B.C.E.)

Tracing back the history of China, Xia Dynasty of the second millennium BCE was the earliest dynasty in China, which was centered along the Yellow River. Before China was unified, it was the time during which most of China's cultural tradition arose. Chinese civilization ascended and developed in a vast area, one-third larger than the United States if such dependencies as Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet are included. For centuries China was almost completely isolated from the other centers of civilization by mountains, deserts, and seas. This isolation helps explain the great originality of China's culture. China has many mountain ranges and three river systems that rise close together on the high Tibetan plateau and flow eastward to

All river valley civilizations relied on the river that was near them. The snow from the mountains in the west of China created the two most important rivers in ancient China. In ancient China, people relied

Mandate of Heaven is an ancient Chinese belief and philosophical that heaven granted emperors the right to rule based on their ability to govern well and fairly.

This was a result of China being extremely ethnocentric as shown by its nickname, “Middle Kingdom,” which means that China is the center of the world. The products that China exported before the end of trade around the world were silk, iron, and bronze (document 1). The goods that were brought into China were gold, glass, ivory, animal hides, horses, and cattle (document 1). One positive impact that this trade did have on China was that as it traded with places like India, the cultures began to mix, resulting in the introduction of Buddhism to China (document 1), which is now a very popular religion although it was not accepted at first. A negative impact of trade was the bubonic plague or

The classical civilizations of the 600 BCE-600 CE period were characterized by large empires rising out of the earlier city states. Rulers/military officials extended their influence through conquered new and nearby lands, expanding of land and increasing availability and variability of resources as they added more people and wealth; China, under the Han dynasty, was no exception to this trend. To illustrate, the Silk Road, a trading route interconnecting Europe, Asia, and North Africa/Middle East was named after China’s main cash crop, silk, which was prized for its soft smoothness and durability, in Rome, the Middle East, and other civilizations. This meant that merchants had a large impact in and outside China. The big silk trade also led

The geography of China has affected its people for thousands of years. Rivers such as the Huang He and the Yangtze have benefited its people because they were able to trade, get food and water and settle down in this area. These rivers were beneficial because they helped to facilitate trade. (“The Study Of History”). The Chinese traded goods such as silk, salt, teas, sugar, porcelain and other luxurious goods (“Ancient China”). While this was beneficial to the Chinese there were also many negatives effects that the geography had in China. The Himalayan mountains had some negative effects on the Chinese. The Himalayas kept them isolated for a long time. This then meant that there was a lack of cultural diffusion which was occurring (“Himalayan Mountains Documentary…”). The Chinese weren’t able to trade goods and ideas because it was hard for them and other civilizations

2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New

The empires of this time period had some innovative ideas and discoveries that permanently changed their nations and in some cases, the world. Both Rome and China had two unique and important cultural characteristics that completely changed their nations. For the Romans, their unique cultural characteristics were new ideas. The first of these new ideas, their unique Judicial System is the basis for many current judicial systems around the world, the other new idea, Christianity is now one of the worlds most practiced Religions. Whereas the unique cultural characteristics of China, namely the creation of paper and the formation of the “silk road” were more practical cultural characteristics, but no less impactful for both their

Geography has influenced how people lived their daily life in ancient China. In ancient China, people settled in the area where others could not get to so they could be safe. Sometimes, this area was very dry so instead of growing crops they hunted animals. In Michigan, since we have The Great Lakes around us, it is very accessible to clean, fresh water than in Arizona so we have more opportunities to use the water. Both reasons show how geography impacts daily life. Geography played a huge role in people's daily life in ancient China.

Both Meng Yue’s, Shanghai and the Edges of Empires and Carol Philips and Nancy Bouchier’s, “Building and Re-building a City through Sport: Hamilton, Ontario and the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1930–2003,” use individual cities as focal points to derive demographic, cultural, and political information.

Chinese culture is truly one of the great civilization our world has come across. It boasts a vast geographic expanse, over 4000 years of written history, as well as a rich and profound traditional society. Many aspects of Chinese civilization can be traced back many centuries. It is so diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended, and presents itself a priceless benefit to the world.