Geography of China

Name ______________ Class _______________ Date ___/___/______

Tibetan PlateauSometimes called ‘the roof of the world’, the Plateau is part of the Himalayan mountains, containing tens of thousands of glaciers and

acting as the starting point to most major rivers in China and South-East Asia. This region is famous

for cheese and yak meat.

Taklamakan DesertThe world’s second largest shifting sand desert, the Taklamakan has a

continental climate – meaning it can go from extremes of -15 degrees in

the winter, to over 30 degrees in the summer with barely a drop of rain throughout the entire year. Staple

foods include spicy beef and camel.

Chinese Central PlainThis massive flatland has

been the centre of Chinese civilisation for thousands of

years, where emperors would rule and where the megacities of Beijing and

Shanghai stand. The staple food here is noodles and

chicken.

Southern Hills and River ValleysDifferent to it’s neighbour to the north, this region has warm summers and mild winters, lots of rainfall, and is bursting with lakes, mountains and rivers. The

staple food down here is rice and pork.

Inner MongoliaHome to more ethnic Mongolians than

the country of Mongolia itself, this region is characterised by vast elevated

grasslands (called Steppes) with a wet and a dry season. This region’s specialty food

is lamb and milk tea.

Which location are these photographs from? Use the information on your map for clues (Some will be easier than others!)

You can use locations more than once.

Taklamakan Desert Tibetan Plateau China Central Plain Southern Hills and River Valleys Inner Mongolia

Climate zones in China

Match the location in China to the type of climate (write this in your books using the subheading Climate zones in China).

Tibetan Plateau

Inner Mongolia

Southern River Valleys

China Central Plain

Taklamakan Desert

Humid Subtropical: Long, warm and humid summers with heavy precipitation, and short, mild winters with less precipitation.

Cold Desert: Almost no precipitation throughout the year, extremely cold winters due to cold air masses from Siberia.

Alpine / Highland: Due to the high elevation, temperatures range from cold to cool throughout the year. The air is mostly dry, but snow typically remains on the ground for 6-9 months each year.

Humid Continental: Large differences between the seasons, with a very hot and humid summer and often a very cold and dry winter (the seasons are roughly equal in length).

Semi-arid Steppe / Grasslands: Short, hot summers and long, cold winters. Distinct wet (winter) and dry (summer) seasons.

China has great physical d_____________. China is normally split into Northern China and Southern China along the Y__________ River – Northern Chinese people are usually considered to be hard-working and professional, and Southern Chinese people are typically laid-back and friendly.

The capital city of China is B_______, but the largest city is S_______ with over t______-four million i__________. Its official language is Ma_________ which is spoken throughout the country, but regional languages include C_________ in the South and Mo________ in the North-West. The Chinese people have an enormous di________ (meaning ‘scattered around the world’), especially in South-E_____ Asia (around Malaysia and Vietnam) and in Ch__________ throughout the world.

Modern day China is a republic, which means that a p________ is the leader of the country, but in the past an e________ would rule the country. He (sometimes a she) had absolute power over the country – but he/she was not always Chinese! China was conquered by the Mongols (the Yuan) and the Manchurians (the Qing) at different times, so modern China has a mixture of these cultures.

Key words for gap fill: Diversity / Twenty / East / Cantonese / Yangtze / Inhabitants / Beijing / Mandarin / Emperor / Shanghai / Mongolian / Diaspora / Chinatowns / President

Major rivers of China

Yangtze River

Pearl River

Task: In your books, describe the location of each major river in China, using geographical directions and any nearby major cities.(You must use a subheading: Major Rivers of China.)

Match the climate graph to the location. (use the map descriptions for clues)

Maximum temperature: _________________________Minimum temperature: _________________________Describe the precipitation pattern: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________I think this is ____________________________

Hong Kong, Southern China Inner Mongolia Lhasa, Tibet Taklamakan Desert

Maximum temperature: _________________________Minimum temperature: _________________________Describe the precipitation pattern: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________I think this is ____________________________

Extension: Chinese character pattern matchingChinese writing is made up of characters(symbols with meanings) instead of an alphabet like in English. Below are some examples of common characters.

國 – “Country”中 – “Middle”英 – “Hero”

文 – “Language”/”Culture”

學 – “Study”

校 – “Building”

人 – “Person”

To make Chinese words, we have to combine characters together for special meanings.

Task: Match the English word to the Chinese characters (match the meanings with the characters in the table on the left – think of it like matching patterns).

China (“Middle”+”Country”) 英文

UK (“Hero”+”Country”) 中國人

School (“Study”+”Building”) 中國

Chinese (“Middle”+”Language”) 英國

Literature (“Person”+”Culture”) 中文

English (“Hero”+”Language”) 英國人

(These ones are a little harder…)

Chinese person (China+”Person”) 學校

British person (Britain+”Person”) 文人

To make Chinese words, we have to combine characters together for special meanings.

“Hello” in Mandarin is 你好 (“You”+”Good”), and we say it like ‘Ni Hao!’ It’s like how we say “Are you alright?” in English.