Geography Shapes Life in Ancient China

Barriers

• Natural barriers isolate China’s fertile river valleys from other parts of Asia.

• Eastern Borders:– Pacific Ocean

• Western Borders:– Taklimakan Desert – Himalaya mountains curve around western border

• Northern Border:– Gobi Desert

Geography made it difficult to spread ideas and goods

throughout China.

Chinese civilizations developed very differently because of these barriers

Himalaya Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSFur_X5moo

River Systems

• Two major river systems flow toward the Pacific Ocean- Chang Jiang or Yangtze- Huang He

• River floodwaters deposit silt– create fertile soil for farming– North China Plain is between rivers• is the center of Chinese civilization

Varied Climates• China is similar to U.S.– dry in west– seasonal in north– warm in southeast– rice grown in moist south– wheat and millet grown in drier north

• Surrounding countries: Mongolia, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Laos, Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (color them yellow)

• Bodies of water: Huang He, Chang Jiang, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, Bay of Bengal

• Landforms: Himalayas, Plateau of Tibet, TaklaMakan Desert, Bogda Mtns, Gobi Desert, North China Plain

• A Map Key, Label China, Color China green

Information and History on Ancient China Geography

• http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/geography/story/sto_set.html– A short interactive web-book

Resources

• http://www.eduplace.com/ss/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/reviews/pdfs/LS_6_08_01.pdf

• http://www.ancientchina.co.uk/geography/home_set.html

• http://www.boncherry.com/blog/tag/christie-douglas/• http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1213-wwf.html• http://mountainspics.com/q/what+are+the+himalayan+

mountains/

• http://qwickstep.com/search/chang-river.html• https://

worldhistoryatyhs.wikispaces.com/Weather+and+Climate+of+China

• http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/year1/geography.php