China in World History

xii Preface

Taiwan

Hainan

YellowRiver

WestRiver

LiaoRiver

HuaiRiver

YangziR

iver

Yellow

Sea

East

China

Sea

South

China

Sea

Bay of Bengal

GobiDesert

Ku

nlun

Mountains

Gr

ea

ter

Hi

ng

ga

nR

an

ge

TianShan

Jinling

Mountains

Sichuan

Basin

Tarim Basin

(Taklamakan Desert)

Yunnan

Plateau

Qinghai-Tibetan

Plateau

Ordos

Plateau

Him

alay

anM

oun

tains

North

China

Plain

Manchurian

Plain

0

0 600 km

400 mi

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

OFCHINA

Over 10,

5,001–10,

2,001–5,

1,001–2,

501–1,

0–

Below sea level

Over 3,

1,526–3,

611–1,

306–

153–

0–

Below sea level

Elevation

Feet Meters

Eurasian subcontinent, which seems a logical starting point for this sur-

vey. For much of China’s history, Chinese rule only included the eastern

half of today’s People’s Republic of China (excluding much of Manchu-

ria in the northeast, Mongolia in the north, Xinjiang in the northwest,

and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau in the west and southwest).

The eastern Eurasian subcontinent forms a kind of checkerboard of

mountain ranges running north to south and east to west, surrounded

by steppe lands, deserts, and mountains. To the north of China are the