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Overview of Chinese Territory
 China is located at the east coast of the largest continent (Eurasia) as well as the western margin of the largest ocean (Pacific). It has a land area of about 9.6 million square km, occupying 6.5 percent of the total land area of the world. From the confluence of the Heilong River and its tributary, the Wusuli River, westward to the Pamir Plateau, the distance is more than 5200 km. From midstream of the Heilong River north of Mohe, southward to Zengmu Shoal of the Nansha Islands near the equator, the distance is more than 5500 km. Its population of more than 1.3 billion accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world population.
China has more than 32000 km of coastline (including the mainland shore more than 18,000 km and island shore more than 14000 km), and a boundary line of more than 20,000 km, bordered to the north-east by DPR Korea, to the north by Russia and Mongolia, to the west and south-west from north to south by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkin, Bhutan and to the south by Burma, Laos and Viet Nam.
The country is marketed the following geographical co-ordinates: Latitude from about N53 ° 31 ′ to about N3 ° 50 ′ Longitude from E73 ° 40 ′ to 135 ° 05 ′
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Three Tiers of The Territory |
| The First Tier
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the "Roof of the World" is the highest in the world, its average height being 4 kilometers above sea level. The Himalayas and Mount Qomolangma (Everest) stand at the juncture of the Chinese and Nepalese borders. At 8848.13 meters above sea level, it is both the highest and youngest place on earth, having only risen from the sea 30 million years ago.
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| The Second Tier
The vast area from the Kunlun, Qilian and Hengduan Mountains to Greater Xing'an, Taihang, Wu and Xuefeng Mountains forms a lower tier 1 to 2 thousand meters above sea level.Here, there are three large plateaus and basins.The Inner Mongolian, Loess and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateaus. There are three large basins on the second tier, namely, the Junggar, Tarim and Sichuan.
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| The Third Tier
This third tier consists of those places with an altitude of less than 500 meters. The Northeast, North China and Lower Yangtze Valley Plains are, from north to south, the Great Plains of China.
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The Coastline and The Sea |
Most of China's rivers flow eastward toward the sea. The country faces the Pacific, and is also embraced from north to south by the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and South China Sea. The country's coastline is long and sinuous, the total length is 18,000 kilometers. Along this coastline are numerous harbors.
The country's harbors can also be divided into two kinds. The first are river-mouth harbors, spreading at places where large rivers enter the sea. Among them are Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The second kind are those formed geologically without rivers, such as Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Zhanjiang, Beihai, Haikou, Jilong and Gaoxiong.
Offshore of the long coastline are over 5000 of them. The Zhoushan Archipelago and the South China Sea Islands are both masses of huge islands.The largest two islands are Taiwan and Hainan. The total island area is over 80,000 square kilometers.
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Mountains |
The Chinese mountain ranges can be divided into three categories:
First, the mountains running east to west are divided into three sub-ranges: the northernmost is comprised of the Tianshan Mountains and the Yinshan Mountains; the middle section is the Kunlun and the Qinling Mountains; the southern tier is the Nanling Mountains.
Second, the mountains running northeast to southwest are also divided into three sub-ranges: the westernmost includes the Greater Xing'an Mountains, the Taihang Mountains, the Wushan Mountains and the Xuefeng Mountains; the middle is made up of Changbai Mountain and Wuyi Mountain. The easternmost section is the Taiwan Mountains.
Third, mountains running from the northwest to the southeast are the Altai Mountains and the Qilian Mountains
In addition, the Himalayas connect with the Hengduan Mountains, both forming a huge mountainous arc. |
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| A Brief of Major Mountain ranges in China |
| Names |
General Elevationsm?/strong> |
Main Peaks And Their Elevationsm?/strong> |
| Altay Mountains |
1,000-3,500 |
Youyi PeakSino-Mongolian?4,374 |
| Changbai Mountains |
2,300 |
Changbai Peak 2,691 |
| Greater Xing'an Mountains |
1,500 |
Mount Huanggangliang 2,029 |
| Hengduan Mountains |
2,000-6,000 |
Mount YulongYulong Snow Mountain?5,5 |
| Himalayas |
6,000 |
Mount Qomolangma Sino-Nepalese?,848 |
| Kunlun Mountains |
5,000-7,000 |
Mount Muztag 7,723 |
| Nanling Mountains |
1,000 |
Yuecheng MountainZhenbao Peak?,123 |
| Qinling Mountains |
2,000-3,000 |
Mount taibai 3,767 |
| Qilian Mountains |
Over 4,000 |
Mount Qilian 5,547 |
| Taihang Mountains |
1,500-2,000 |
Mount Xiaowutai 2,882 |
| Taiwan Mountains |
3,000-3,500 |
Mount yushan 3,997 |
| Tianshan Mountains |
3,000-5,000 |
Mount Jengish Chokusu 7,439 |
| Wuyi Mountains |
1,000-1,500 |
Mount Huanggang 2,158 |
| Wushan Mountains |
800-1,200 |
Wuyunsing Peak 2,400 |
| Yinshan Mountains |
1,000-2,300 |
Huhebashige 2,364 |
Rivers and Lakes |
Spread over the country's vast territory are numerous large rivers. There are more than 1,500 of these rivers, draining a total area of over 1,000 square kilometers. The aggregate annual river runoff is 2.7 trillion cubic meters, ranking sixth in the world, while the volume of total water resources proudly ranks first. Total water reserves have the power generation potential of 680 million kilowatts; of this number, 370 million kilowatts can be readily produced.
The country also has numerous lakes there are over 130 lakes larger than 100 square kilometers in area. In addition to natural lakes, China has many artificial lakes - reservoirs.
The Yangtze River
The Yangtze River is the largest river in the country. With a length of 6,300 kilometers, it ranks number three in the world. Its main stream and tributaries are a rich water resource, accounting for approximately 40% of the total for the whole country.
The Yellow River
The Yellow River is China's mother river; China's ancient civilization was born on its banks. Its total length is 5,464 kilometers.
Five Great Freshwater Lakes
Among the lakes are the country's largest, Boyang Lake; the second largest, Dongting Lake, the third largest, Taihu Lake, and the smaller Hongze Lakeand Chaohu Lake.
Qinghai Lake
Qinghai Lake is the largest inland salt lakes in the country.
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Mineral Resources |
The country is rich in mineral resources, possessing deposits of almost all known minerals. To date, deposits of 162 types of minerals have been discovered, with proven reserves of 148 of them.
Coal
The country was the world's first to use coal. Total proven reserves have already reached over 900 billion tons. Shanxi Province is the country's key region for coal production.
Oil
China has huge oil reserves: from the Northeast Plain, Bohai Bay, and the North China Plain to Hubei and Hunan Provinces in the south, large-scale oilfields have been established. The Daqing Oilfield, the Shenli Oilfield in Northern China, the Bohai Oilfield, the South China Sea Oilfield, the Xingjiang Oilfield and others are all well known.
Natural Gas
Natural gas production follows that of oil, and the country's gas reserves are also abundant. Proven natural gas reserves in the country have already reached 38 trillion cubic meters.
Nonferrous Metal
The nonferrous metal reserves of the country are also abundant. The proven reserves of metals like tungsten, antimony, lithium, tin, rare earth and titanium rank first in the world, and reserves of copper, aluminum, molybdenum, lead, mercury and nickel are in the front rank.
Iron
The country's iron ore reserves have reached 44 billion tons - one of the largest in the world.
Uranium Ore
The country also has huge deposits of uranium ore.
Salt
China's non-metal mineral resources are also abundant.The types of salt produced in the country include sea salt, well salt, pond salt and rock salt. The salt reserves in Cha'erhan Salt Lake in the Qaidam Basin alone are as much as 25 billion tons.
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Unusual Fauna and Plants |
On the country's vast land, oceans, rivers and lakes live countless rare birds and unusual animals, such as Milu, the giant panda, the golden monkey ,Amur tiger, the white-fin dolphin, Chinese alligator and the lancelet. The country has over 1,000 types of birds. Some of the more prized ones are the red ibis, the red-crowned crane, the mandarin duck, the white-comb long-tail pheasant, the golden pheasant, the lark, the yellow-waist sunbird, and the red-billed leiothrix.
There are over 32,000 types of higher plants in China. There are 7,000 species of woody plants, of which 2,800 are species of trees.Of the most ancient seed plants - gymnosperms - there are 13 families and over 700 species in the world, and China alone has 12 families and over 300 species. Among them are the ginkgo, cathaya argyrophylla, dragon spruce and dawn redwood. In the Baiyin Aobao region of Inner Mongolia, there exists the only stand of dragon spruce in the world, about 5,000 trees.The dove tree, was thought to have become extinct a long time ago, but with the country's unique natural environment, it returned to prosperity in Guizhou, Hubei and Sichuan Provinces.
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